Of Spoons and Chickens…

The first batch of spoons made by men in the woodshop in Haiti made it to the US in November!   There are currently three men making the spoons and they are so excited to be doing something to support their families.

Monsieur Yvon is a friend with a wife and several sons. He is a carpenter by trade but jobs are often few and far between. We have used him for several projects in the last few years and he is enjoying making the spoons.

Monsieur Yvon shaping a spoon on the shave horse

Soner was a lobster fisherman but then he got sick last year and was unable to do the deep dives needed to continue doing that. He has helped around the base with various things, watching for ways to help. With a wife and two daughters to provide for, he is glad to be working in the shop.

Samuel is a young man whose father died over a year ago leaving him, his mother, and four younger sisters with no way to support themselves. He is excited to be working in the shop, learning a skill.

The men are making these spoons out of strong exotic woods, many of them scraps left from building the boat earlier in the year. The spoons are fashioned by hand, sanded to a very smooth finish, and oiled with food grade flaxseed oil.   Almost every time someone picks one up, they go, “WOW!” at how smooth they are.

We are giving the spoons to friends for a $30 donation to JUST MERCY. If you would like to have one, go to www.justmercy.org and click on the Spoons/Woodworking tab. This project is a “hand up, not a hand out” for these men in providing them a way to support their families. Please help if you can and receive a beautiful spoon!   (Additional pictures below this post.)

Another project that finally got going was a long planned chicken house! Fairview Christian Church in Carthage, MO took up a collection months ago for this project. The year was so busy with so many things, it didn’t get done in a timely fashion but finally, we have a chicken house and more planned!

The original plan was to build a large chicken house to hold 200 chickens. Many of these houses are being built all over Haiti. Some friends of ours were among those getting them but as time went by, we learned some things from them that made us change the plan.

The main problem is that the time to market the chickens is about six weeks. Many people with the chicken houses have to personally hand carry the chickens long distances to the market, making trip after trip, trying to get them sold. If they don’t get them all sold at that time, they start losing money as feed costs, etc. continue. Also, the organization putting in the chicken houses puts in several at a time, placing the chicks at the same time, and so the market is “glutted” at the six week point making it even more difficult to sell the chickens.

So we changed the plan and for the first chicken house, we put in a smaller one to house about 25 chickens for one family and plan to build more, giving each family a source of both eggs, food, and the option to sell the surplus eggs and chickens.

The basic frame of the chicken house was built at the base and carried up the hill to be assembled at the site. We had brought plastic covered poultry wire into Haiti in our luggage as rusting wire is a big problem. It is probably the neatest strongest little chicken house in the country! We put it at M. Yvon’s house above Kakok. It will be exciting to see how this works out for them and we may learn some things before building the next one. Our thanks to Fairview Christian for making this possible!

Of course, all of these “projects” go on in the midst of things God brings to our door on a daily basis: Medical needs, helping the helpless, sharing God’s love, feeding the hungry, loving the children, doing what the Lord would have us do.

JUST MERCY would like to thank all those who have prayed, given financially, and come to serve over the past year. You have been such an encouragement as God has proven Himself faithful over and over as we come against difficult situations and He supplies the needs in so many way. We are grateful!! May God bless you!!

Samuel gouging out the bowl of a spoon

Soner shaping the spoon with a machete

Strong Beautiful Spoon!

Putting the chicken house components together

Sideview of the chicken house