Thanks to the generous donation from the Beacon Church of Long Island, the Beacon Chicken Program recently completed its month-long program of teaching and training students to raise meat chickens, a sustainable model for this community.
The classes were held daily, starting with theory and followed by practical application. Students were put in groups of 3 or 4 and were assigned a day of the week for caring for the animals. They were not allowed to miss more than 3 classes or risk being removed from the roster. Gerald Joseph, a locally-trained young Haitian farmer, taught the following topics: preparation of a coop, types of chickens, stages of the life cycle, food preparation, diseases and medicines, daily care and maintenance, butchering techniques, and managing the business (including cost models and profitability, market analysis, key contacts ect). We took the students on a field trip to visit a commercial chicken farm.
In the end, 15 of the 16 students finished the program (one dropped out) and 49 of the 50 chickens survived (we lost one a week before graduation). The butchered chickens were used for the graduation meal which was cooked by students of the cooking class, some of whom attended the chicken program. Each graduate received an “acknowledgement of completion”, a booklet of the lesson notes, a Praxis shirt and 2 live chickens. The remainder of the chickens was given to those who had supported the program and poor members of the area.
We are encouraged that a handful of the students were interested in starting their own business. Consequently, we’ve held follow up meetings to help with business plans and foster collaboration amongst interested students. Praxis is committed to helping entrepreneurs launch small businesses as we believe this is a sure step toward the economic development of Lavanneau.
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