More Goats than People: Beauty and Promise of the Nouveau Kiskeya Project

Though much of sea-shore is rocky, there are several sandy bays perfect for resorts and hotels at Nouveau Kiskeya.

 During our presentations to supporters and churches back in the United States, we often would say of Haiti, "There is no place where you do not find people."  However, during a visit to the area of Jean-Rabel, which is in the North-West Department of Haiti, we learned that we were mistaken.  We came to the Nouveau Kiskeya Guesthouse to lead three days of Timothy Leadership Training for 25 area pastors and church leaders.  Nouveau Kiskeya is a large piece of property on the sea-shore between Port-de-Paix and Jean-Rabel which, around 2005, was chosen as the location for a property development that would have seen the construction of hundreds of homes, two resorts, a port, an airport, and numerous commercial properties.  The idea was to have a place where expatriate Haitians could "come home to" and which would conform to the expectations for public services which they had come to know while living abroad.  Several individuals, including Pastor Robert Ulysses and Ted Boers, had lined up funding to begin the project.  After many years of struggles to obtain the concurrence of the Haitian government, Rene Preval's administration issued a "stop-work" order for the property (which was originally owned by the Haitian government).  Since 2008 the project has been at a standstill while only the Guesthouse (one of the first stages of the project) has been functional.

The rocky sea-shore of Nouveau Kiskeya

 Zach's first impression was "Where are all the people?"  In fact, the area of the Nouveau Kiskeya project is a harsh desert with only cactus and scrub-brush and a handful of human inhabitants.  There were more goats than people by far.  Soon, the participants arrived and training got started.  The training went very well despite the illness of one of our facilitators, Pastor David Maisonneuve.  The vision of Nouveau Kiskeya is a spiritual transformation of the area which will walk hand-in-hand with the physical construction projects.

The dry salt-pans of the Nouveau Kiskeya area where desert predominates.

Early in the morning and late in the afternoon, Zach got a chance to go hiking and take pictures.  Much time was spent extracting thorns from Zach's arms and legs due to the hostile vegetation.  Zach learned that the Martelly administration has lined up behind the Nouveau Kiskeya project and, Lord willing, the work will move forward!  Hopefully, in a few years the area of Nouveau Kiskeya will be full of people learning to live in the Grace of God.