The Gift of a Cow

Last fall, every evening around 5:30 or so I would go up to the roof and look out on to the farms surrounding the mission. I would sit there trying to figure out what I could do to help the farmers who tend the fields around to us. What I am doing with the vocational school will help Haiti in the long run, but it won’t really meet the needs of the everyday rural farmer. These people are the poorest of the poor, I am potentially helping their kids, but I also wanted to help them. I wrestled with a few different ideas, and I settled on an animal donation program. The idea was that families from the US could donate animals to families in Haiti. The families who we chose were families who had children in the school but couldn’t afford to pay tuition. These families were the poorest of the poor here in La Croix, and were struggling just to get by and survive. They really struggle when they get hit with big expenses like a large medical expense or a major home repair. Most of these rural farmers don’t have any access to any sort of capital or commercial finance, so their only option when it comes to big expenses is either going to a local money lender or forgoing the expense. This sometimes means that people have to live with a roof that lets rain water in, or with a debilitating disease. In some cases people will go to loan sharks, who charge a 200% or 300% interest rate, and many of those who go to loan sharks get caught up in a perpetual cycle of debt. One way people are able to save up money is to keep animals around. When they need to make a big purchase, they sell the animal at the market. If I could get more animals into the fields around the mission, the rural farmers would be better off.

I knew all of this information in my head, and it pushed me to collect about $3000 to purchase animals for Haitian families. Edvens, Roland, and Pastor Pierre all thought that the program was a really good idea, but there was still a small part of me that felt a little uneasy about it (for any of you who I’ve spoken to about my work here, you know that I employ a special hesitation to everything I do here so this shouldn’t be too surprising). I was enthusiastic about the program, but there was a small part of me that wasn’t sure if it would be meaningful to the families who purchased the animals. Is a goat really that big of a deal of a family in Haiti? How much would this really matter?

Well, we started giving away the animals last week and I began to see just how special this program was to the families. The families who we gave animals to were from all around La Croix, and some families walked an hour or two to retrieve their animals. Many of the children who came got dressed up, and everyone was incredibly grateful. There was a cow donated to the one family that lives in the Community of Hope. The father used to be a witch doctor, but when he converted to Christianity he felt that his life was in danger. He came to Pastor Pierre with his struggle, and pastor Pierre let his family live in the Community of Hope, found sponsors for his children to go to school at the mission, and now gave him a cow. Now the father works as a construction worker and his family is safely situated in La Croix. A boy named Anece lives across the highway from the mission. Anece has special needs and could not advance past the second grade. He is a good worker and helps his family as much as he can. He always clears Pastor Pierre’s hiking path. He received a cow and both he and his father were choked up when they left with the cow. One of the employees of the mission was given a baby pig, and she got dressed up and put her daughter in her Sunday church dress she came to collect the pig. 

Evaluating my how effective and how much value I add to the overall mission is extremely difficult. In certain cases I can see the work that I’ve done, but evaluating what would have happened had I not been here is seems almost impossible. I am proud to be an asset in the team that puts together the vocational school, and I think the school is better because of my help, but seeing specifically what I change is difficult. One indicator of success is community engagement; and the community was certainly engaged in this initiative. The people were grateful and I hope the animals will serve them well. Every family has to sign a contract saying that within the next year they will give the mission one of the animal’s offspring, and then the mission will give that baby out to another family in need. I feel good about these animals, but I also see an area where I can do more. I will be returning home in April for a week, and I plan on advertising the program again for mother’s day. If you want to give a goat for Mother’s Day please let me know.