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Happy New Year to all of our partners in the Haiti Project.

We are starting off the New Year with a new web site and blogging platform. www.PartnerInHaiti.org. We are still under construction but we are using it to send this blog. I will continue to email these to those of you who receive it by email.

We will be heading back to Haiti shortly. We are expecting that our new truck will be out of customs and ready to roll when we return. This is a major step for the Haiti Project. Transportation has always been a problem that is both time consuming and expensive.

On our return one of the first projects on the table is providing formation for the teachers. Long time team member Cecile Muller is spearheading this three week long project. The project will begin with a meeting of selected teachers and leaders of the educational community to determine the most pressing needs and design the formation process. There will be special emphasis on using libraries. We are all very excited about what this means to the teachers and the students.

Haiti is well known for its political instability and even though we have just gone through a period of relative peace, the country is at another crossroads and desperately needs all of our prayers. There are so many needs that are neglected when any government is bogged down in internal conflicts. This is especially obvious in Haiti.

One of the issues that affect the children of our community is that the government has pulled back on its support of private schools, and has cut off food supplies for private school lunches. This has added to the challenges of feeding the children in our schools. Up until this year, one of our five schools received food from the government. Loosing this support, along with the loss of support from several parishes in the United States, results in the children of Riviere Mancelle schools not eating every day.

There are several groups with private schools that are collaborating together to provide a united front to address these issues, but lack of a stable government is making things difficult.

In our absence gardens were planned on being started at the schools. We are eager to see what progress has been made. This is a big step. Once the gardens are developed they will provided an important contribution to the school lunch program, along with teaching improved methods of maximizing yields in small areas. In spite of the importance of these gardens they do not address the immediate need of feeding the children. Please consider a small gift to help bridge the gap. Many people working together accomplish big things.

God’s blessings and his peace through the New Year

Bob

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