Teaching Work Ethics

Because the trees have been stripped from Haiti the top soil has washed away. Especially in La Digue there is no top soil at all. Here at our compound over the last year Lifeline has been planting moringa trees, coconut trees, banana trees, and other plants native to Haiti. When you drive into Lifeline you immediately notice how green and lush the compound is becoming with all the plants, trees, and even some grass. Unfortunately, we don’t have a Lowes to get lawn fertilizer but we do have natural fertilizer. Over my month that I’ve been in Haiti I’ve become known as the crazy American poop lady because I’ve been going to what’s known as the local donkey stall where people from the mountain leave their mules and donkeys when they go to the market and I’ve collected the manure. Today we helped the Haitian economy by hiring four Haitian boys to shovel donkey poop. Everyone came out to give me advice on standing upwind from the blowing, dry, aromatic dust of the manure.

We had the back of Lifeline’s mule full and were able to fertilize almost all of the plants and new trees. This was the second dose of fertilizer and I anticipate the plants by March to have a large growth spurt that they would not have had.

In addition to fertilizer we have also been shredding dried banana leaves for mulch. One of our burn patients needed a little bit of money to go home on a taptap one day so we told him we would give him the money if he would collect the banana leaves. He happily obliged and came back with two huge bundles. He has now done that twice for us. We’ve also had a few young girls who told us they were in need of shirts. In an effort to teach work ethics that you work to receive, we had them come to help shred the leaves that the young man had brought us.

We’ve had a great time working right along side the young teens as they learn work ethics and at the same time we build lasting relationships with them. This evening there were some more teens who wanted some things so for the price of one coke, they shredded leaves. We had fellowship and kids who had never talked to me before practiced English with me, and we ended with one of the kids praying. He prayed to bless Haiti and to bless the plants to make them grow and thanked the Lord for this little bit of money. Who would have thought that we could develop such a bond with these kids over banana leaves and poop!

-Kathy Caden