A Haitian Thanksgiving
With leftovers from last week all but gone, and thoughts turning toward Christmas, the Hotes Foundation wanted to pause just long enough to share these Thanksgiving feast photos sent to us from the mud-hut village in rural Haiti we’ve been assisting.
700 villagers turned out dressed in their finest as Chef James and his staff cooked up a meal that rivaled any Thanksgiving dinner back here in the States. For a rural village in the poorest country in the Northern Hemisphere, providing this level of good nutrition cannot be overstated. Neither can providing its villagers with a sense of normalcy, decency, pride in themselves, and the idea that they too are valued. “We feel like we are living in America,” local villager Antonio Masse said, “because we are eating Thanksgiving dinner at the same time they are eating it.”
Diners were treated to turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, lasagna, rice and beans, even pumpkin and apple pie. It was a meal the like of which had never been seen in that remote village. Throw in a fashion show and dance and it was truly a day to remember.
Eighteen months ago, this village was just another dirt-poor village in rural Haiti. Today, with help from the Hotes Foundation, they grow their own food, have a daycare, a daily feeding program, a medical clinic, soccer league, and more. This small village in a country so often buffeted by hardship, pain and disaster, is a shining example of what can happen when you Change Giving to Going and personally engage in helping others free themselves from the yoke of poverty.
From the Hotes Foundation to Chef James, his cook staff and all the people of the village who have taken the initiative to work hard and better their lives, we wish you a belated and heartfelt Happy Haitian Thanksgiving.
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