Hope in Haiti Kawo Sponsors,
It is beautiful and sunny in Seattle! I am also looking at the beautiful and sunny faces of your Hope in Haiti sponsor children in Kawo, Haiti. In a few minutes, I’ll drop them in the mail and you will receive your updated sponsor card for 2012. Hopefully you will be excited to see their new picture and some pictures of the school and of Dixie meeting with each child.
Thank you so much for your willingness to continue to invest in the children of Haiti. It really is an amazing thing that we do and is life changing for them. A couple things to remember when receiving your updated card. Sometimes names and name spellings change from year to year. In Haiti, there is no official dictionary or spelling protocol. Also, many parents cannot read or write so each child’s name spelling is whatever their current teacher tells us it is – and opinions often differ. My name, Rachel for example, has multiple spellings and if my parents didn’t tell me my official spelling, everyone could spell it differently if these chose. On the children’s age, they often look much younger than American or Canadian children – partly this can be due to malnutrition. Also, their parents usually don’t have birth certificates or paper calendars so sometimes they forget how old the children are and their ages can be approximate and not exact. This sounds crazy for our first-world way of life but when you travel to the mountains of Kawo and see the way the people live, it does make sense. Children’s ages also often don’t correspond with an appropriate grade because many never had the chance to go to school so they are simply starting at grade 1, regardless of age. I hope this helps. Lastly, on this year’s sponsor card, I included a letter from Dixie about how this trip was so don’t forget to flip it over!
Thanks again for your generous support and please don’t hesitate to call or email me if I can be of any assistance to you or if you have any questions regarding your Hope in Haiti sponsorship!
Rachel
