Newsletter

MARCH 2018 NEWSLETTER

Dear GDAC Supporters,

Marcy and I just returned from an exciting visit to Mombin Crochu, Haiti. It was evident that the GDAC-Haiti organization is becoming recognized and admired. Just look at all the folks who attended their End-of-Year meeting on December 15th, 2017, not because they are all currently members, but because they all want to become members of this good organization (photo below). While we were there, the President of the Committee (Merilien) was even asked to speak to another group about GDAC’s organization. Kudos to this fabulous community! I am pleased to support them and tell you more about them.

Could part of this success be attributed to the marriage of young and old? Of traditional and future-focused? Last year, Marcy and I spent time with the older, more traditional committee (which we found out is the “Regional Committee” of GDAC-Haiti). They are the farmers receiving our goats and giving goats away to their friends and neighbors. They are the folks working the peanut plantations in order to make money to purchase more medicine for their animals. They are still fully dedicated, enthusiastic and working to conduct mobile clinics, organize care of the community garden and oversee day-to-day activities in Mombin. Here are many of them below:

Although we had met some of the young, future-focused people last year, this year, the whole group was in Mombin Crochu with us. These energetic, ambitious young people are the GDAC “National Committee”. They are in the photos, below. From left to right in the second photo: Justin, President; Edghy, Advisor; Fabienne, Events Manager; Alfredo, General Secretary; Lunandja, Human Resources Manager; Cadeson, Operations Manager; John, Financial Manager; Dr. Marcy Brower, Chief Veterinary Officer, GDAC-USA; Dr. Rolland Cadet, Advisor; Terri, President, GDAC-USA.

These young professionals are bringing an educational background to the group. For example, Fabienne has been working on some of the intricate and difficult details for the truck, such as whether people should be charged by volume and distance, or by weight, etc. (More on the truck later.) Lunandja told me she had begun creating a schedule for the mobile clinics so people will know the dates, times and places the clinics will be held so they can prepare in advance. She is also working on a system which will lessen the chaos during the clinics, such as giving the participants numbers and then having the vet agents call the next number in line (sounds simple, but it is not!). They are even making plans to conduct a GDAC fund-raising event in Port-au-Prince.

It seems young people tend to move from poverty-stricken, rural areas to the big, exciting cities all over the world. Most of those people never look back. But here are 7 incredible young people wanting to come back home to help family and friends. It is not an easy thing to do, yet they are doing it. And it’s awesome.

GDACs primary focus has been goats, because 1 goat can bring a family out of desperate poverty. Plus our goat program gives people the satisfaction of becoming contributors to improving life in the community by giving another family a goat once their own herd is established. I erroneously thought we would be giving goats away every year, but they just do not mature that quickly. Therefore, GDAC will not be passing on 13 – 14 goats to more people till the end of this year or the beginning of next year.

The Haiti folks are disappointed with the slowness, but I reminded them that each goat requires that we provide a shelter and medicine. Instead of giving away the 3 female goats we purchased last year, they will be used to start a small herd of our own. That will provide the means to give away goats every year in the future.

The major focus during the past year became better care for all animals, not just goats. Once GDAC started having “mobile clinics”, demand sky-rocketed! When Marcy and I visited in January of 2017, we participated in one of the first mobile clinics. They conducted another 18 clinics during the year, caring for approximately 4,800 animals! Unbelievable!

We call them Mobile Clinics because the veterinary agents pack up medicines and travel to agreed-upon destinations in the 74 square mile wide district where people will bring their animals. People bring goats, pigs, oxen, horses, donkeys, mules, roosters and even rabbits. I have noticed that dogs and cats are still not deemed worthy of care, but at least the other animals have begun to get attention. Some animals receive preventative care, such as worming or flea medicines, while others are treated for illnesses and injuries.

Pigs, horses, donkeys and tons of people at one of the clinics, below.

One of the highlights of our trip this year was the mobile clinics that Dr. Marcy organized with other veterinarians she has met. Dr. Judy Batker from Equitarian Initiative has focused on Equine health specifically in the Milot/Citadel region of the Northern District for a number of years. She often partners for those events with Dr. Kelly Crowdis of Christian Veterinary Mission, who agreed to come to Mombin too. They brought with them 9 men from Milot that Kelly is training, and 4 American vet technicians for the clinics. And of course, the 3 Vet Agents from Mombin Crochu participated as well.

Bottom right is Dr. Kelly Crowdis, and to her right is Dr. Judy Batker, supervising Nadege (one of our Vet Agents) castrating a horse. The men with purple shirts are from Milot.

During the clinics, each animal received a physical exam and was given parasite killing medication, vaccinations and treated as needed for health problems. The “crowd pleaser” was equine castrations. They are rarely performed around Mombin due to lack of expertise, lack of appropriate medicines, and it can be a dangerous operation. Our Doctors had medicine that put the animals “to sleep” and lidocaine to help with pain control, which made crowds gather because they had never seen horses fall down to the ground and stay there like that. The team performed 16 castrations during 1 ½ days!

December (the other Vet Agent we sent to school) gets to practice castrating too under the supervision of Dr. Batker and Dr. Crowdis, while Nadege and a Vet Agent from Milot help him.

In just a few short years, we have seen the majority of people start with “my animals don’t need medicine”, then move towards, “well, they could use some medicine if I don’t need to pay for it”, then on to “I could contribute some money towards the medicine”, and finally, we are starting to get to the point of “yes, this medicine helps my animals, and therefore helps me, and I will pay you”. Nobody batted an eye at paying a small amount for the medical care their animals received this year.

Another highlight of 2017 is the training of 2 Vet Agents from Mombin Crochu. Without them, we could not conduct these extremely popular and necessary mobile clinics. I have highlighted them in a past newsletter, but they have become so important to the community that it bears repeating. Mr. December Alchemy is about 50 years old and has a farm in one of the distant areas of the district. Ms. Nadege Cadet is in her 30s, and lives in town. They started the 12-weeks of classes conducted at Ag-Horizon by Christian Veterinary Mission in Des Chappelles last April. Their last week of classes is this month. The certificates of completion that they will be receiving from Ag-Horizon are recognized by the Haitian Government. During the year, December and Nadege have practiced their skills by going to other mobile clinics with Dr. Crowdis, Mr. Acky (the primary “supervisor” of the school), and visiting veterinarians who teach the classes. You can see them in action in the photos above.

12 weeks of training is not much compared to the years of training and experience of a doctor. But consider this. Haiti has over 10 million people, is almost totally agrarian, yet has only 55 Veterinarians in the entire country. I have been told that few of those 55 veterinarians actually work in the field, but work for the government in offices. Also, Ag-Horizon is the only school devoted to veterinary training in all of Haiti, and their courses were started just 2 years ago. Nadege and December are in the 2nd graduating class! Based on these “facts”, our two new vet agents, combined with our existing, more experienced vet agent, Marc, are providing “superior” animal care to the Mombin district compared to most of Haiti because of your support – our fabulous donors. GDAC is making great strides in increasing the health and welfare of the animals in the district. I do care about the health and welfare of the animals, but I must point out that they are also a means to the end, which is improving the health and welfare of the people.

On another front of life improvement is trees. GDAC-Haiti gave away more than 5,000 starter trees in 2017! Wow. I really love that in a land that is so denuded. They continue to concentrate on trees less likely to be cut down for charcoal, such as orange trees, coffee and Benzolive trees. They have been doing such a fantastic job of planting trees that I asked why it seems like I never really see improvements in the environment. To my dismay, I learned that in general, only about 10% of the trees planted make it to maturity. We need to continue to support their efforts and encourage them to keep planting. Nothing is quick and easy! Maybe in 20 years we won’t be able to see the mountains in the distance through the trees? (Below)

SO WHERE ARE WE GOING IN 2018?

The work being done right now is fabulous. The community of Mombin Crochu is so happy to have the 48 families with increased incomes because they now have goat herds, and is looking forward to adding 13 more families to that towards the end of the year. Thousands of animals are benefiting from our new Vet Agents and their ability to provide care, which continues to increase in demand. We plan to send one, if not two more people from Mombin to Ag-Horizon for training, and perhaps provide a motorcycle for the Vet Agents because the district is so large they often walk up to 6 hours with medical supplies to care for animals.

With an eye towards self-sufficiency, we are looking at purchasing a pair of oxen and plow so people can increase the size of the peanut plantation they use as a means of making money for medicine. There is also talk about making peanut butter themselves instead of selling the peanuts, in which case, they may want some processing equipment. In the next newsletter, I hope to have photos of the transformation of the meeting house from poles holding up a rag-tag tarp to a beautiful tin-roofed, enclosed building.

I would like to close this newsletter with the realization of a new dream for me. During February of 2018, GDAC purchased a MACK truck. Many years ago I saw people hungry and malnourished, while food rotted on the ground. You just can’t carry that much produce to market on your head or on a bicycle or a donkey. Now, with this truck, people can load up their mangoes, avocado, etc., and get them to Cap Haitien or Port Au Prince. Not only will those markets absorb all the food Mombin Crochu can grow, but will provide a higher profit than the local, smaller markets. Yet I am afraid of the conflicts the power of such a vehicle can bring to the community. And so I end this newsletter asking for your support in love and prayers for Mombin Crochu to navigate the difficulties with success, and to bring improvement to life for all members of the community. Below: Our new truck with Merilien, President of the Regional Committee and Justin, President of GDAC.

As our donors, I hope you are pleased with our 2017 accomplishments, and our plans for 2018. Thank you for your continued support. If you would like to make a financial contribution, I would be happy to accept your check made payable to GDAC:

Terri Christy

3425 Sumter Ave So

St. Louis Park, MN 55426

GDAC is a 501(C)3. 100% of you donation is tax-deductible and goes directly towards projects.