Raising Rabbits in Haiti

When I met with Marcus Corn, HCO’s Peredo Campus Manager, the first time in 2016, we had a long talk about rabbits. He has had a vision for how HCO could empower families through raising rabbits for production, and God has provided an opportunity to explore how this type of outreach might bless the communities in SE Haiti.

In early May, Marcus and two of our guys from Peredo, Renel and Jimmy, went to Gressier, about three hours from Peredo, to meet with Hares for Haiti and take one of their rabbit training courses.

Hares for Haiti is a unique program that “equips Haitian farmers with the skills needed to successfully raise rabbits as a source of food and income while extending the love and grace of Jesus Christ. This is a microloan program where the farmers will repay the costs of the cages and return rabbits to bless other families with this same business opportunity.” They have trained over 200 rabbit farmers so far, and the program has been very successful. For example, the Hares for Haiti main trainer has a 6-year-old son who is raising 30 rabbits and is putting himself through school with the money he makes off of his own rabbit business!

Marcus, Renel, and Jimmy came back from the training with 8 rabbits, including two that were pregnant. Marcus hopes that over the next 8 months or so that the rabbits will increase from the initial 7 rabbits to 60-70 rabbits. We are on our way to that number already as one of the pregnant rabbits has had 7 babies! Once we have the first target number of rabbits, they will train 10 people as rabbit farmers and start them with two rabbits and a cage.

We are excited about exploring this new endeavor to see how it might to help the people of Peredo and SE Haiti earn a sustainable income. Please join us in praying for Marcus, Renel, Jimmy, the rabbits, and those God will help us identify as our first rabbit farmers! “I have come that they may have life and life in abundance,” (John 10:10).

by Cameron Mayhill
US Director