“The Goat is Everything to Me”

Travel down a steep mountain path, rocky and dusty, to a community of thatch and rock homes in Marleguy and you meet Jean Baptiste. He is an elderly man – no one knows how old. He joined the La Gonâve Goat Project six years ago and after 3 days of training received a pregnant doe. He and his brother have worked hard to expand their herd of meaty goats, which they sell at market. His brother has been sick for a long time and requires regular medical care. Jean Baptiste says, “The goat is everything to me.”

Another 10 minute walk, and you meet Yaya, a charming, outgoing grandmother of two. She was in the first goat training class in the fall of 2003. She is raising her grandsons; selling her goats is how she sends them to school and feeds her family. Her doe has 3 kids at a time: one she keeps for meat, one she sells at market and the other she will breed again. Follow a smaller path back into a thicket of shrubs and trees and you arrive at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Bazelais. He is a teacher, and helps his wife with the goats. They have 6 children and use the goats to feed their family. They also sell goats at market and use the proceeds to add PVC pipe as gutters on their home to catch rainwater and funnel it into a cistern of rocks.

 

 

In the past 9 years, 260 farmers just like Jean Baptiste and Yaya and Mr. and Mrs. Bazelais have received training in goat farming through the La Gonâve Goat Project. Here’s how the program works: Jean Thony meets with a community leader from a village to select two dozen “responsible” people who wish to become goat farmers. Then he must purchase local does and breeds them with the resident bucks. Once the does are pregnant, Jean Thony brings the selected  farmers to the goat barn for 3 days of training on proper care of a goat. They learn about feeding, birthing, as well as how to check for illness or other problems. A farmer returns home with a pregnant doe. Jean Thony, the program coordinator, visits the farmers regularly, provides veterinary care and special goat feed, and also supervises the breeding and care of the bucks and does at the goat depot. This year, another 26 farmers are waiting to join the program; they will participate in 3 days of training, then receive a pregnant doe to start their own herd. Your contribution of $180 to the La Gonâve Goat Project gives a Haitian family the chance to become self-sufficient, to be well nourished, and to build a hopeful future.

The Gift of a Goat

The Gift of a Goat

 

In early November, I had the privilege of traveling to Lotorre with Jean Thoney, the administrator of our partnership’s goat project.  He was conducting a veterinary clinic for the farmers of that community.  After a torturous and, seemingly endless, ride in the back of a pick-up trip, we arrived at Lotorre and set up shop in a shady area under the trees.  Within minutes, people began converging on the area with strings of two, three, four goats.  Several farmers had five or more goats.  The partnership starts each participating farmer out with one pregnant doe and training.  Some farmers never advance past that first goat but others are able to build a business of raising goats, and we were happy to see that Lotorre is a real success story.

Jean Thoney gathered the community under the trees and introduced us a representatives of the partnership.  He explained that the money they would pay for this clinic did not cover all expenses and the partnership provided long term financial support.  We received a touching and warm round of applause and thanks.

Over the course of the afternoon, Jean Thoney vaccinated and treated over 50 adult goats and examined countless kids.  We had the opportunity to talk to several families to find out what the goat project means to them.  We were routinely told that goats allowed families to feed their children needed meat, that goats could be sold at market in order to purchase other foods and that goats could be sold for medical expenses or for school tuition.

The most humbling moment of the day was when we followed a woman named Monique to her house.  She has four healthy children yet lives in a tiny, decrepit house.  Monique told us that raising goats was the primary source of income for her family and that one time she was able to give a goat to a poor friend.  Monique, who has virtually nothing, gave a goat to another needier person.  In tears, we were able to comprehend the true meaning of the goat project.  Having goats  IS economic security in Haiti.

Sew for your life

No matter the language, a room full of women sewing has a lovely hum. We like to create, talk about food and children and…more importantly…laugh at our mistakes. Such was the case the last week of October on the island of La Gonave, Haiti. Laura Martin, of Ties That Matter, and Sandy Chai, of Beatitudes, Inc, had gathered to work with women to learn and to work as a group to better the lives of themselves and their families.

With a huge duffle bag of donated ties, scissors, thread and imagination they created Haitian dolls in lovely silk dresses. Each with a personality of their own, sewers and dolls alike, the room was filled with joy and learning. Heads tied in iconic silk scarves the dolls lacked only a big basket of plantains or mangos to be real.

The women listened and learned. They know all too well that their options are limited and they have children to raise and educate. It is humbling to see what women will do to give their children the basic necessities of life, especially when one comes from a nation that takes much of that for granted. And, there was no doubt in this room that this day represented the possibility that hard work and cooperation could make a difference.

It is easy to stand at a distance and think that all people can have what you have if they work hard enough. It is harder to stand in a room full of women and realize that they would do anything to have a better life. But, it is an easy way to make friends for whom you would do anything just to help them realize their dreams.

See for youself!

 

Pwoje Fanm

The Pwoje Fanm (“Women’s Projects”) Vocational Program

Pwoje Fanm (pronounced pwo-shay fom) began through the initiative of a Haitian Episcopal priest’s wife in 1990. She saw the need to teach marketable skills to young women who were unable to complete their formal education, and she began the program with 12 women who could not read.

Since those early days, the program has steadily grown. It offers several subjects, including cooking, sewing and embroidery, and at times it has had as many as 120 women enrolled. Tuition is approximately $50 USD per year. Students graduate in 2-4 years, depending on how many subjects they choose to study. Formal graduations began in 2002, and since then nearly 90 young women have graduated. The program is directed by Mme. Michelin Marès, who is assisted by 3 other teachers as well. Mme. Marès received her education at L’Université Mixte Nazarene in Port-au-Prince. Although the program remains a part of the large Episcopal ministry on La Gonâve, it has always been open to young women from outside the church as well.

Several years ago, a group of creative women from a church in Little Rock began to go on mission trips that were focused on working with Pwoje Fanm, and an enduring friendship was born. Beatitudes was eventually established to partner with the program www.beatitudesinc.org.

In April 2008, Beatitudes formalized its relationship with Pwoje Fanm. Previously, we had worked with them informally, through training missions and providing craft supplies as well as financial support. After spending this time getting to know each other, building our friendship and establishing trust, we traveled to La Gonâve in April to formalize the relationship.

We did this by drawing up a contract to hire the women to provide manufacturing labor for Beatitudes products, paying them fair wages in the local economy for their work. The women operate as independent contractors rather than as Beatitudes employees, and their participation is completely voluntary. In cooperation with the Pwoje Fanmdirector, we designed a system of quality control and shipping procedures, and we carefully worked out a piece-by-piece payment system. With this agreement in place, we are now establishing a steady rhythm of receiving good-quality product and sending wages back to the women. Beatitudes will continue to use 100% of the profits from sales of these products to benefit the program, as we continue the construction of their new classroom and start to raise funds for the professional trade school, of which Pwoje Fanm will be an integral part. We are just embarking on this new adventure with these remarkable women, and we are excited about the future!