RVH May trip

Plan “C “is in place, the water filtration system will be installed after we leave but Maud is anxious to create a space for volunteers to be housed; a constant stream seems to have come all through this year and their help can be invaluable.  For instance, Bérengère, a French communication specialist is at the Foyer for three weeks and we have been revising documents to facilitate the effectiveness and happy adjustment of future volunteers who so far have come from France, Canada and the US.  This trip Jason from the US built new partitions and roosts in the coop along with Nathalie, who also ran group therapy sessions with some of the teenage girls.

Rendez-vous: Haiti is collaborating financially and in planning with Maud to build three volunteer rooms at the new location.  Construction has started.

We are also focusing on making a more efficient chicken coop since the meat chickens and laying hens need to be separated and cardboard boxes have been used to roost.  Yesterday the last of the meat chickens were sold.   A nice accomplishment!  Those are the original chicks that have grown to full potential and needed to go to market if we want to generate revenue. The start is promising but profit on 50 birds was only $ 83.

As for the egg business?  We have found that feed is expensive: it will take 43 hens to lay 300 eggs a week to simply pay for their feed. To make a long story short, it means that profit will only be generated if we expand the production.  The incubator we just contributed will serve that purpose and with good planning and a little help from above, every 3 weeks or so it can produce 48 chicks. Now, we are looking for a strong healthy rooster of the same breed!!

Maud and Edouardson’s challenges will also be to develop a steady market. Currently friends and workers are purchasing the eggs and the chickens for meat.  Did you know that white chickens just eat, get fat and sit there all day whereas the brown laying hens are curious, constantly on the move and investigate any pair of legs that walk into their coop?

Jude, Mano, Pouchon , Wondlet and Jonkher produced more Zanmi bands and we have an order for fifteen from a Loyola alumn in Long Island who will sell them to her friends. Thanks Cecilia  :)

Another nice happening: Samuel is discovering aquarelle painting and made a lovely scene of women seeking water from the river. ( see picture below)

Samuel, 14 , first attempt at aquarelle painting!

Maud & Catherine in front of new boys 'dorms.
 Funded  by Food for the Poor and  friends of  FNDL

Curious red hens investigating  intruder !

Finding eggs is such fun!

Nathalie & Jason building roost

Meat hens just sit there!  Do they know ?

Nathalie & Kiraya

Jude & Angelo making more Zanmi bands.  
First batch sold out!

New volunteer rooms will be on top of " the fortress"
named so because of its solid construction.

Berengere came on her own from France
& gives  great academic support to the adolescents

Mother's day at the Foyer NDL

Sunday wasn't Mother's day here in Haiti, but mothering is very much part of the menu of day for volunteers at the Foyer.

When there are 97 ( yes , one more child has joined the group, severally abused by her brother in law while living under her sister's care) , there is hardly anytime when one doesn't mother. Be it the little one who needs her calcium supplement for rickets, the twin who are constantly asking for attention with their request for things to do, or one of the youngest, born in the streets of Port au Prince, who reluctantly wakes up from a long nap on the floor next to the other twenty five little ones. May be for those who come stay at the Foyer, Mother's day is every day: the children have so much love to give.

Where there is hope.

Some of the men ,trained by Ray and RT1 ,who have worked off and on (when the funds are there) to build the three now finished buildings, came to understand that they needed to develop other sources of income.

We encouraged them to think about starting their own businesses and Louis Jackson has; his purified water shop is looking well , he has started repaying his loan and his wife is the proud manager while he pursues his other job as a tailor. He had asked me for wedding clothes catalogues to be able to produce more contemporary dresses that would boost his production.

Others have also started thinking along those lines: Andy has developed his knowledge of computers and started a computer “ fix it” business and wants to expand to sell software and accessories. We exchange emails about how to develop his business and expand his customer base.

Gilbert, after we sat down to do the math, gave up his idea to purchase large quantities of water bottle caps from the Dominican Republic and retailing 25 cents caps from his cell phone. We are now discussing a car washing business. He is researching location and tools, and today he emailed that he has found the perfect location. He is negotiating with the property owner.. Little by little…

Unexpected challenge.

Before heading out to Haiti this past Spring break, I wrote about the probable challenges the chicken coop project would encounter. Sure enough, there were a few, but I didn’t expect the one that is really blocking progress in establishing the business.

While there, Marco, Maud’s trusted colleague and driver took me to the best places to purchase chickens. We opted for the store with the largest inventory of chicken related material, ordered and paid for the 50 chicks and 25 hens. The chicks did materialize and are doing well under the watchful care of Edouardson, one of the older boys of the Foyer. The hens? Well, that is another story: apparently they are harder to come by, the shop keeper didn’t tell us that and they are still not available, won’t be for another six weeks!!!!!

So it isn’t enough to have plans, to build the coop, to even have the funds (thanks to my generous friends and the Loyola community)….hens that lay eggs, the source of potential income, are hard to get!

They are growing wings

Spring break in Haiti.

Essay writing competition in  the  evening. 30  participants

Spring break in Haiti.The chicken coop is built and Edouardson, 17 years old orphan, living at the Foyer, clever with hands on project, has built a make shift incubator for the 50 chicks ( 3 days old) arriving tomorrow.  The 25 laying hens will go directly in the large coop, and Maud has promised me pictures as soon as she can.

I am back in the US, a little disappointed not to have seen the chickens settled in their new coop, but getting ready to go back to class on Monday. I can’t wait!  I have with me 30 essays written by the teen-agers of the Foyer about their lives. The penman ship and care they took to write those will reveal the pride they had in being able to share something with friends in the Loyola community and it is in French!! A great exercise for my students J

Four boys excel at making Zanmi bands, those solidarity bracelets that Rendez-vous:Haiti club and Enactus will market and sell at Loyola to support educational projects at the Village Notre Dame de Lourdes. I brought back a limited supply, and we will test their success. The card making competition bears fruits and a few boys show real talent; Samuel, Angelo, but also Fedner, Jude and Gary. Raphaella designed unique looking flowers.  Those cards will be available at tables outside the cafeteria and the stadium at Loyola University Maryland on set dates.

Other good news: Food for the Poor is breaking ground and started building the dorms! Target finish date; end of April! It seems amazingly short, but they have a team of 50 workers and …the money!

Next?  Looking to finish the construction of the vocational center. Vocational training, I am convinced is the way to give many young people a future, higher education is not for everyone and doesn’t necessarily lead to jobs in the Haitian economy.  We have the foundation and are looking for $ 50, 000 to finish. That is 10 donors at $ 5,000 each, am I doing the math right?  It seems doable, doesn’t it? If you, who are reading this, have any lead, please contact: rendezvoushaiti@gmail.com J mesi

Evening of gimp bracelet making

Djouna plays at being little Mom to Odeline

Adina ( 16 on March 18) wanted a picture with Madame Catherine 

Fedner ( 12) practices drawing.

Mano ( 14) loves to make gimp bracelets and sell them to his friends, also good at making Zanmi bands.

No hand wahing , no meal, it works!

Marie- Andre applying herself to write for the essay contest.

Jude and Andelo making Zanmi bands.

Magadala, polio victim might  get an operation to walk better.

Wondlet always happy, older brother of 3 sisters,
lost their mom last december. He is doing well now.

Let's spell L O Y O L A  ....  ok one more letter!

Waiting for the birds

The coop is built and the birds ordered. There is no shop that one can go to and just pick up 75 live chickens...oops!  

The 1 to 3 days old chicks will need an incubator style cage when they arrive Friday or Saturday, sort of like a brick oven,  for a few days until they get strong enough to be let loose in the large cage. 

After discussing the project further, Maud and I decided it would be best to start with both egg production and meat production  to give time for everyone involved to learn about raising chickens and to start marketing for future sales location to see what would be most profitable.  100 lbs of feed costs US $32.50 and will be used in a week by the 50 chicks that  will be ready to be sold on the market in 6 weeks.

We have also ordered 25 “prêtes à pondre” hens of the Israelite type because though they are more costly to purchase ( US $ 12.50) they will not only produce a high quality brown egg per day but will retain their resale value as meat hens, selling for $ 8.50 each, once they stop producing in 18 months.  

Day 1 chicken coop foundation

Day 3

Icee hand sawing rafters

Day 5 Ready for the last touches

Andy, Bellegarde, Icee , RT1 trained, gave up their Sunday to  have construction go faster.  Today  is  Wednesday and the coop is done!

I HAD NO IDEA about the complexity of chicken farming!!!!and I can only guess the remaining challenges. 

It will be interesting to follow the evolution of this project.

Tuesday at FNDL

Cool today .....in the 80s and overcast ( it even rained for 10 mn last night) dogs have settled down... crows still noisy.. street vendors calling out their ware...children's spoons busily scraping their breakfast bowls..Jo giving quiet directions to one and all..dogs back at it...their barks can cover all other noises...

 

Today's challenge..to get the guys to finish the coop........they need to install the wire mesh and as of last night I don't think they had a clear idea of how to do it...and no material for it.

 

Last night was the essay writing competition. More than 25 highschoolers were surrounding the 2 long tables in the only lit space of the Foyer, some on the floor using their knees for support. Maud was mercilessly asking for immaculate penmenship and neatness. It has been so interesting to read what the children have written about their lives at the Foyer. Most seem to be content, well adjusted and grateful, one has disturbingly revealed he feels trapped and can't wait to leave. I believe it is the young boy who already ran away for a few weeks but then decided it was still easier to live within the rules of a Home than in the street.

So far I have rewarded the production of Zanmi bands, card drawings and we have paid the older boys when they were being trained and participated in aspects of the construction. It occurred to me that academic pursuits should also be rewarded, some of the children want to become doctors or engineers and Maud is pushing them to excell in school. Not easy..many of them are really behind for their age. Before living here , they had no formal regular education and they struggle to catch up. French is their second language but essential to their highschool education and for college.

It is 7 am and I have already enjoyed excellent coffee, and tasty toast with "mamba piquant", a spicy homemade peanut butter..am ready for this new day.,