Here's a picture of the letter I sent:
If you would like to share this letter with your sponsored child, here is what I wrote:
Dear Name,
I wanted to share a Haitian game with you! The country of Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. I included a map and flag for you. The word "Haiti" means "land of the high mountains." Because Haiti is located in the Caribbean, it has a tropical climate. And it is home to three species of bats! I thought I would share about these bats with you! Have you ever seen a bat? We see bats in the evening when the sun is going down. They fly super fast and eat the mosquitos and other bugs. Juanito, Rosie and I love watching the bats fly! Bats use echolocation to find their food. Echolocation is when bats send out sound waves using their mouth or nose. When the sound hits an object an echo comes back and the bat can identify an object by the sound of the echo! They can tell the size, shape and texture of a tiny insect from its echo. Most bats use echolocation to navigate in the dark and find food. Bats also sleep upside down! I included a page of photos of each type of bat found in Haiti. The first bat species in Haiti is the Sooty Mustached Bat, which is very small and typically only weighs about 5 grams. Sooty Mustached Bats live in caves and typically eat at sunset! Skin flaps resembling a moustache cover its nostrils giving rise to its “sooty mustache” common name. The second type of bat is called a Waterhouse's Leaf-nosed Bat. This bat also lives in caves and hunts at sunset! In addition, to echolocation, the Waterhouse's Leaf-nosed Bat uses the sound made by the prey itself to locate it. The third type of bat is a Bulldog Bat. This type of bat can grow up to 12 centimeters. The Bulldog Bat can swim! And the Greater Bulldog Bat also eats fish in addition to insects.
The game from Haiti is called Osselets and children in Haiti play it with goat knuckle bones. To play, you need: five osselets. All you need for an osselet is something that can be tossed and that has a dot on one side and nothing on the other side (or sides). A dried bean would work well.
1. The first player begins by gently tossing all 5 osselets into the air and letting them land on the ground.
2. The player then picks up the ball, tosses it in the air, and tries to pick up an osselet before the ball hits the ground. The goal is for the player to pick up an extra osselet each time until she has all 5 in her hand.
3. Before the player can pick up the osselet, she has to turn it so that the side with only 1 dot is facing up. If an osselet or the ball falls on the ground before another is picked up, it’s the next player’s turn.
Love, Hannah
Feel free to copy this game to share with your sponsored kids!
