On September 4, 2016 Corky Terry and Jean flew to Cap Haitian. The airport was much different than Port Au Prince……calmer and nobody clambering to carry our luggage. We were met by Father Adrien Pierre. The drive from Cap Haitien to Fort Liberte took about forty minutes. The roads were hard surfaced and good. The area is agricultural, we passed many mango groves and sweet potato fields. The people on this part of Haiti appear taller and healthier. We did not notice the rust colored hair in children which indicates malnutrition.
We stayed at the Palace Hotel which was about 6 blocks from the beach! We would walk there in the evening and the water was so warm. There were a few families swimming. The Palace Hotel was brand new, The third floor was being completed while we were there. We stayed on the second floor and had a room, with a bath ,fan and screens on the windows. In the mornings, we would have breakfast and be on our way with Father Adrien as our guide.
We determined a sewing school would be a good project. With Father Adrien’s help we found a space that has 2 rooms plus a bathroom and electricity. The space has about 6 windows, so lots of light. The rent will be $800.00 a year. We met a woman whose name is Metellus Ange-Guitie who will be our sewing instructor. Currently she makes school uniforms for primary and secondary school and nursing uniforms for student nurses. She has an electric sewing machine at her house, Kenmore. We were able to see her work. She wants to be an instructor. She reads French; all of the patterns have French instructions.
We met Edy and Denex Etienne who are brothers and engineers. They want to volunteer with Father Adrien to help out in a solar pump at a piece of land where crops can be grown and goats are pastured. Andy Whipple of Atlasta Solar in Grand Junction Colorado plans to donate and install the pump in the spring of 2017. Denex can be a big help for Andy as much of the equipment can now be purchased in Haiti, saving lots of money on shipping.
One day we went to the border of the Dominican Republic and Haiti…it was chaos!
Father helps many families with tuition for school, it costs $200.00 a year to go to school in Haiti plus uniforms are required. We met some of the families. It was wonderful to see these appreciative people. Father gives a family 2 goats and at the end of the year the family returns 2 offspring goats to Father and so it continues feeding the poor in a sustainable way.
We purchased 5 Janome electric sewing machines and have been given lots of fabric and sewing accessories and are ready to go. Kristi Smith will be teaching the classes as she did in the first sewing school we started. Kristi is an amazing teacher and skilled sewer with a tremendous amount of patience. We are going on Friday January 13, 2017 and hopefully Corky can join us. We will be there for 10 days……prayers and donations appreciated!