Ordinary stuff

A few weeks ago I was walking a footpath in Haiti inspecting our summer's work. It was peaceful and ordinary - people stopping to talk to neighbors on their way to their farms, a man handing a mango over a hedge to an old lady, a girl with a slotted spoon and a pan of hot oil frying up plantains for a smiling customer.

This was not the Haiti of headlines. This was human Haiti. People tucked into their communities, doing what needs to be done, working to put food on the table, worrying about somebody they love, feeling proud of something. It was ordinary stuff, the stuff we all do, the stuff that makes us human.

When I bent down to see a little boy's truck, what caught my attention was the string because it was tied to an imagination that could see what I could not - a noisy 'taptap' piled high with people and sacks. What I saw was a toy made out of junk. It made me think, what is it we don't see when we look at poverty in Haiti?

One thing our imagination has been tied to is a star over Haiti. We could see it helping us. Now you can see it too, because it is powering our entire operation from processing farmers' crops to irrigating our nursery and truck garden. Without the expense of a diesel generator, we are doing more to help people. Imagination pays off.

Solar batteries can run our whole operation for three days without sun.

Lastly, this summer we sustainably increased the food supply for more a community of six hundred people suffering hunger. It's the kind of stuff we do that is NOT ordinary. 

Take care,

Rob

Rob Fisher, Exec. Director

PARTNER FOR PEOPLE AND PLACE, INC.

St. Barthélémy's Band Camp!

While school is out of session, St. Barthélémy's band continues to play! We are deeply grateful to everyone who contributes to St Barthélémy's musicians - from student sponsors to instrument donors and all of our supporters in between! Thanks to each of you, these students can fine-tune their musical talents while building on their academic skill sets and bringing about beautiful melodies within and beyond St Barthélémy! If you're interested in sponsoring a student or supporting the school, click here: https://tinyurl.com/43rfxrc9. If you have instruments to donate, send us a message or email us at info@bethleministry.org! Scroll down to see a clip of the band in action!

Here is a clip of the talented St. Barthélémy band playing Ah ! Les crocodiles (The Crocodile Song) for all of St. Bart's students before the 2023-2024 school year came to an end! Note the youngest students dancing along to the nursery rhyme's tune!

French lyrics and English translation of the song below!

Ah! Les crocodiles

Un crocodile, s'en allant en guerre,

Disait au r'voir à ses petits enfants.

Traînant ses pieds dans la poussière,

Il s'en allait combattr' les éléphants.

REFRAIN (bis)

Ah ! Les cro, cro, cro (bis)

les crocodiles

Sur les bords du Nil, ils sont partis,

N'en parlons plus.

Il fredonnait une march' militaire,

Dont il mâchait les mots à grosses dents.

Quand il ouvrait la gueule tout entière,

On croyait voir ses ennemis dedans.

REFRAIN

Il agitait sa grande queue à l'arrière,

Comme s'il était d'avance triomphant.

Les animaux devant sa mine altière,

Dans les forêts, s'enfuyaient tout tremblants.

REFRAIN

Un éléphant parut : et sur la terre,

Se prépara ce combat de géants.

Mais près de là courait une rivière,

Le crocodile s'y jeta subitement.

REFRAIN

Et tout rempli d'une crainte salutaire,

S'en retourna vers ses petits enfants.

Notre éléphant, d'une trompe plus fière,

Voulut alors accompagner ce chant.

Refrain

Ah ! Les cro, cro, cro (bis)

les crocodiles

Sur les bords du Nil, ils sont partis,

N'en parlons plus.

___

The Crocodile Song

Once a crocodile, set off to fight a battle

Taking his sword, he waved his kids goodbye

Off through the dust to join his worthy comrades

Wagging his tail in search of elephants

Oh, the cro-cro-cro, the cro-cro-cro, the crocodiles are

Marching to the Nile to find an elephant to fight

Oh, the cro-cro-cro, the cro-cro-cro, the crocodiles are

Marching up and down to get their rival in their sight

Walking along they sang their battle songs

Chomping the words with lots of shiny teeth

If you could see them walking there so proudly

You wouldn’t want to be their enemy

Oh, the cro-cro-cro, the cro-cro-cro, the crocodiles are

Marching to the Nile to find an elephant to fight

Oh, the cro-cro-cro, the cro-cro-cro, the crocodiles are

Marching up and down to get their rival in their sight

Oh, the cro-cro-cro, the cro-cro-cro, the crocodiles are

Marching to the Nile to find an elephant to fight

Oh, the cro-cro-cro, the cro-cro-cro, the crocodiles are

Marching up and down to get their rival in their sight

Out of the blue, the elephants were waiting

They couldn't wait for the battle to begin

Poor crocodile! It’s better to start running

Into the Nile, a great time for a swim!

Oh, the cro-cro-cro, the cro-cro-cro, the crocodiles are

Marching to the Nile to find an elephant to fight

Oh, the cro-cro-cro, the cro-cro-cro, the crocodiles are

Marching up and down to get a rival in their sight

Beekeeping Success at Nazon!

Welcome to Nazon! Nazon is the NGO Espérance et Vie’s farm located just outside of Terrier Rouge, on which it grows produce, including for the lunch program at the school. 

The goal of farming at Nazon is to increase food security, reducing reliance on purchased (and especially imported) foods, since the pricing and availability of those items can be problematic. Crops grown in 2024 at Nazon include okra, cassava, limes, squash, papayas, coconuts, and black beans. 

In 2023, the NGO leadership team identified that Nazon was also an ideal home for honey bees, which could yield a cash crop to help fund the NGO’s various programs. The NGO partnered with Villages Apicoles Horizon SA (Viahsa), a Haitian organization focused on facilitating beekeeping in Haiti. When Pastor Leigh and Executive Director Rennae Henry traveled to Haiti in May 2023, they visited the facilities of Viahsa, along with the NGO’s CFO, Jean Robert Bouloute, Chief Association Officer, Sarah Bruno, and Guerlyn, one of the NGO staff members who received beekeeping training. 

The director of Viahsa explained their mission to facilitate honey production in Haiti and gave a tour of their entire operation. Viahsha’s facilities include a hive construction center, their own thriving hives, education/workshop space, a building equipped for processing the honey, and of course a storefront.

Functioning a bit like a co-op, Viahsa provides hives, bees, training, and technical assistance to its partners, such as Espérance et Vie, and will also purchase, process, and market the resulting honey. In fact, when the travelers were in Cap Haitian on their way to fly home, they saw Viahsa products on the shelves of an airport shop!   

Following the May 2023 orientation, Viahsa delivered an initial set of hives to Nazon (a hive is a “ruche” in French). The project has been highly successful, and the first crop of honey was harvested earlier in April 2024.

The first set of hives did so well, in fact, that, following this initial harvest, an additional set of hives was then added!

In addition to providing a source of funds to the NGO, as a result of the beekeeping project, the crops at Nazon have a more reliable source of pollination, helping ensure greater food security for the school, and two employees of the NGO learned marketable new skill sets. We say Au Revoir to Nazon, as we prepare to leave after a visit to the crops and hives, thankful for the many ways that the work of Espérance et Vie at Nazon benefits the people of Terrier Rouge!