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Dear Supporters
This is the first of our bimonthly bulletins from Haiti and St Croix, telling you about our progress and the conditions in Haiti. HCS now also has a Facebook Group - hope you will join!

IN ST CROIX
In January we had our Annual Fundraiser which was a big success, thanks to everyone who participated, volunteered, and came to enjoy the day! We raised OVER $35,000. See photos, attached.

IN HAITI
In January HCS staff also made two trips to Haiti, by direct private jet-flight from STX to Port au Prince, thanks to an anonymous donor.
We delivered twelve crates of baby and child clothes and shoes, and several more of dental and medical/hygiene supplies including toothbrushes, bandages, multivitamins, folic acid for pregnant women - all donated by YOU, OUR SUPPORTERS.

THE CREW
Mathilde and Bruce were accompanied by Helene Shearer from Arizona, an experienced accountant and former CFO for non-profits, who is setting up a system of accounting and financial management for us here and in Haiti, and donated a laptop to be used in the village.
Also on the trip were Doug Mockett, who is coordinating the logistics of delivery to the villages of clinic and school equipment donated by a Stateside recycling organization; and Hillair Bell, who will be spearheading our future coffee-marketing program to bring economic growth to the region, as well as finding a Public Health Professional for our clinic's set-up and the vital health survey of our villages' population .

THE SCHOOL
While in the village the expedition saw the huge progress on the 4000 sq. ft school-building - all roofed and stuccoed, with classes already going on inside. Doors, windows and furnishings are being built. A large area around the school has been planted, with 2 to 3 acres of beans for the food program, to help with providing school-lunches, construction worker meals, and delivery of cooked food to nearby hamlets. Cooking is done in three huge 10 gallon pots on open fires, we are currently researching improvements to provide useful stoves and increase fuel efficiency.

ADULT EDUCATION
The women's education and sewing group was active and received some bales of fabric with joy, they are soon to begin making clothes. A men's tailoring class is also planned, run by the incomparable Myrlene Dutrueil who will have a great opportunity to start educating the villages' men!

WATER SUPPLY
The visitors also saw the improvements to the current spring used by the village, with a concrete catchment, cover, and standpipe. Unfortunately in the dry season (January) the flow was only a trickle, and Mathilde observed children she had never seen before who have had to climb long distances up the mountain from other areas to use our village's water... We have just completed our MAJOR water survey, engineering proposal and funding estimates to give the village piped water from a much stronger and purer spring further up-mountain, and are sending it out to the first big donor organizations and individuals who we hope will help us!

SPONSOR A CHILD
The Sponsor a Child program has proved very difficult to manage due to the lack of experience and expertise in the village with cameras, computers, limited access to translation, to communications media, and the speed of growth of the school. WE THANK ALL OUR FAITHFUL CHILD SPONSORS FOR THEIR PATIENCE... NOW INFORMATION AND PHOTOS OF THE KIDS ARE SOON TO COME! Mathilde will begin training Sophie Dorlus, our future Health Outreach worker, to survey the families and children, photograph them, recording important data for the Clinic, and for Sponsors to receive annual updates on their child, and information on the family's living conditions and future needs. Current pictures of the children we have photos of to date are online at

http://picasaweb.google.com/haitisupport/AuCentreStudentsRenaissanceSchool2008

NEXT
Mathilde arrives in Haiti in April for six weeks intensive action, including hosting another expedition of volunteers from STX (again by donated jet-flight) in May. A news-reporter will be going on the trip, as well as Mandy Thody, HCS admin secretary, who will assist with organizing data collection, and conduct a feasibility study on the local clay sources for villagers to produce pottery for use in the area. We hope that one of our water proposal donors will also accompany us!

ROADS
Mathilde will also be facilitating the building of a new road, initially for motorcycles, that will bring Au Centre almost an hour closer to the outside world, by cutting off a huge loop of the journey from the national highway.
This will cut the hour-long motorbike or mule ride for the medical staff to ten minutes! Labor will be donated by the villagers while we provide our engineer, "Boss" Roland, and our Local Executive Director Timou Montina, who oversees the entire program in Au Centre.

We think you will all agree that things are progressing wonderfully well especially given the current economic climate, and we, and the villagers of Au Centre/Beaumont are so very grateful for all your help! Do you have a laptop you could donate? We are bringing our Haiti organization on-line and need laptops. Do you have a vehicle? a motorcycle? We urgently need these on St Croix and in Haiti. We'll ship from anywhere!
We also need treadle sewing machines...

WE THANK YOU FOR STANDING STRONG ALONGSIDE HAITI COMMUNITY SUPPORT IN MAKING SURE THE HUMAN TRAGEDIES IN HAITI ARE NOT FORGOTTEN. EVERY DAY WE ARE AMAZED AND ENCOURAGED BY THE WORLD'S POOREST PEOPLE - CHANGE IS POSSIBLE WHERE HOPE IS NOT ABANDONED!

MATHILDE AND BRUCE WILSON