In March 2013, a chicken coop project was started at the
Foyer Notre Dame de Lourdes. Rendez-vous:
Haiti fund raised and managed the construction of a chicken coop at the new
location and some of the older children learned to care for the twenty-five three
days old chicks, nurtured them to maturity, and after six weeks they were sold
for their meat. Twenty-five laying hens were purchased and are currently
dutifully producing one egg a day.
The foundation of a poultry business was established. Now it
is time for Phase II. Significant revenue can only be generated from a larger
herd of meat chickens and plans are made to not only increase the size of the
production but also for marketing, and distribution.
The challenges are many: funding for a match grant from La
Guilde, France, to finance all aspects of the increased production but also
simply finding healthy inexpensive feed (compost is not an option since there
is no composting material produced at the Foyer, there are never any leftovers
of an organic nature), finding enough chicks to buy and the necessary roosters so
that the production can be sustainable. All seem like small challenges in the
Western world but in Haiti they are huge problems.
Our faith is that as with every aspect of this venture, one step at a time, we make progress. Three months ago the children were still living in confined spaces, and last week they were still in complete darkness after nightfall. Today at their new home, they sleep in a clean modern space, have a roof over their heads at meal times, attend classes on the premise, have clean drinking water , light after dark
and one egg a day.:)
