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EDUCATION BRINGS HOPE, AMONG THE RUINS    
Victories and Struggles in the Mountains of Southern Haiti
by Susan Turbeville

As daylight breaks, children dressed in yellow and white gingham uniforms with book bags of every shape and size appear on roads and trails throughout the Grand Colline Mountains of southern Haiti.  Some walk hand in hand, laughing and talking as they journey to school.  Haitian teachers await the children’s’ arrival.  Assignments and class information fill the chalk boards lining the walls of the classrooms.  Some arrive to a six or eight room building constructed of concrete while others attend schools built of banana bark and tin.  Regardless of the structure, one thing is certain; the children have come for a purpose – Education.  In a country where the literacy rate is 45%, and where public education is dysfunctional, the opportunity to learn is a privilege.  Today, the Haiti Education Foundation (HEF) provides kindergarten through high school instruction to over 10,000 students throughout the mountain villages of southern Haiti.

HE DROVE FRANCES TO A SMALL VILLAGE WHERE VOODOO WAS PRACTICED AND THERE WERE NO SCHOOLS…AND LIFE WAS BEING LIVED AMONG THE RUINS.

It all began thirty-two years ago, when at the age of 60, Frances Landers began traveling with her husband, the late Dr. Gardner Landers, an Ophthalmologist, to a hospital in Haiti where he performed cataract surgery on many Haitians who were needlessly blind.  Frances met Father Jean Wilfrid Albert, an Episcopal Priest serving as hospital chaplain, who told her how desperately the children of Haiti needed education.  He drove Frances to a small village where Voodoo was practiced and there were no schools….and life was being lived among the ruins.  The poverty stricken children, with bloated bellies and blank stares roamed around aimlessly.  

After seeing the hopelessness in the children’s eyes, Frances came back to her hometown, El Dorado, Arkansas, determined to help.  Armed with photographs and the goal of raising enough money for one school for 400 children, Frances asked for help from her church, family and friends.  Thus, the first school and church at Mercery, Haiti was established in 1981.  Upon her return to Haiti, Father Albert showed Frances the new facilities.  She watched as many of the children walked miles to school.  She saw the students’ smiling faces as they proudly sat in their desks with Bibles and textbooks.  Frances hoped that someday, these children would be able to read their Creole Bible to their parents.  Believing that her work had been done, Frances returned to the United States.  However, this was only the beginning.  

The Haiti Education Foundation was established specifically to provide education to the children in the mountains of southern Haiti at the mere cost of $55 per each yearly scholarship.  One hundred per cent of all donations go to Haiti as designated by the donor, with nothing taken out for operating expenses.  

For over 25 years, Frances has worked tirelessly raising funds to insure that the children of Haiti would receive their education.  That education brings HOPE to countless students across the region.  She has also worked diligently to communicate the needs of the children and of the schools they attend.  People have responded in a number of ways.  Many send regular contributions to support the Haiti Education Foundation’s main focus, the scholarships, and other needs of the school children.  Some churches and organizations have adopted schools or developed mission teams to provide services.  

A minister from North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has led groups over twice a year for the past six years.  The focus of his groups has been medical in nature.  Recently, his teams were involved in the distribution of reading glasses and sunglasses to older members of the school community.  While the villagers were lined up to be fitted, the school children were treated to a showing of the Jesus video in Creole.  Following the video, the students were given cross necklaces and played outside with the members of the mission team.  The villagers finished out the visit by preparing a meal of beans and rice and fresh fish in appreciation of the mission team’s visit.  The team visits three to five schools on each trip to Haiti.  

MANY HAVE COME TOGETHER TO WORK IN ALL ASPECTS OF LIFE IN THIS POOR AND, BY SOME ACCOUNTS, FORGOTTEN COUNTRY.

An Episcopal church in Macon, Georgia, has adopted the St. Marc church and school in Trouin, Haiti.  The American parishioners have raised some of their funds for this project by selling Haitian coffee to their membership.  They fund the feeding program at the school and provide extra teacher training for the staff.  In addition, they have helped the women of the Haitian church organize the Daughters of the King program. This group encourages the women in their faith and sees to the needs of the church.  The group has grown and now other congregations have requested help in implementing the program in their church.  Mission groups involved with water purification, such as Living Waters of the World, and solar power have volunteered countless hours to help better the lives of the Haitians.  Many have come together to work in all aspects of life in this poor and, by some accounts, forgotten country.

The affects of the 2008 hurricane season are still evident in Haiti.  Mountain side streams that once only spanned a few feet are now laden with a bed of rock a quarter mile wide.  Many road ways are washed out – some four feet lower than they were only months earlier.  Debris from destroyed houses lines the washed out roads.  But, as always, and as we have always seen, there is an incredible resiliency in the faces of the people of Haiti.  

The markets are full of produce and goods.  Mangos, grapefruits, papayas and other fruits fill the baskets of the vendors.  Beans, corn and bags of rice also line the market streets.  Women carry chickens and turkeys, bound in baskets, into the crowd to trade.  Homemade lye soap, shoes and clothing are displayed in booths.  As one travels through the mountainside, farmers are seen working their fields.  Animals graze along the roads as well as in small pasture areas.  A Haitian translator commented as a group looked in disbelief at the incredible amount of rock that had tumbled into the valley from the cliff above, “At least the people will not have to carry the rock down the mountain to reconstruct their houses…it has been delivered for them!”   And so, one way or another, life is moving forward.    

Haiti Education Foundation students are about to complete another school year.  The beginning was rough…but just as the community has moved on, so have our teachers and students.  Despite damages to all of our school structures, principals and priests have worked to insure that the children have a place to attend school. 

Immediately following the storms, school faculty met to dry out wet books and gather salvageable supplies.  People from the school villages came together to help clean debris from the schools sites and to set the rooms back up for classes to begin.  Funds donated for hurricane damages were sent over to make repairs that the people could not provide.  We continue to work with our Haitian counterparts to repair the damages so that all will be ready for school to begin again in September.
   
In late April, I traveled to Haiti with a group of five, two from my home state of Arkansas and two from South Carolina.  My Arkansas buddies had never been to Haiti, so it was wonderful to be with them as they saw the schools for the first time.  We stayed at the Guest House in Cherident and were able to visit with the priests, Pere Vil and Pere Desire and also attend church with them on Sunday.  New bathroom facilities are being constructed at St. Matthias (the school) and the project is looking very good. 

From Cherident, we traveled to the Jacmel area on the southern coast.  We visited four HEF schools in that area; St. Esprit at Marigot, Transfiguration at Duvillion, St. Thomas at Lavaneau and Christ Roi at Monchill.  The children were all doing very well, as were the teachers.  There is just nothing more exciting than visiting these classrooms! 

The equipment and supplies are extremely simple…no computers or white boards…yet as long as class is in session, every eye is on the teacher!  The children are like little sponges…soaking in all that they can learn.  I want to share with you an article that John Lowery, Student Ministry Director at First Presbyterian church wrote for the church newsletter.

As we look to the future, we continue to be inspired by the huge potential that education brings to the youth of Haiti.  The main focus of the Haiti Education Foundation continues to be raising $55 scholarships for our 10,000 plus students.  Not only do the children benefit from learning to read, write and compute math, the Haitian teachers and staff are given the means to provide for their families.  An additional area of expansion to our program is in the area of nutrition.   While most families are able to provide food for their children, we realize that it is a struggle.   We also know that it is very hard for the students to concentrate on learning when hungry. 

The Episcopal priests in charge of our HEF schools have established that for .25 cents per day, a Haitian child can be fed a nutritious meal…that is only $5.00 per month or $60.00 per year.  We have often seen the children eat what they want and then pass the rest to a parent waiting with a younger child.  The affects of this nutrition program are far reaching! 

We have all asked ourselves, “How can I possibly make a difference in someone else’s life, especially in a place where the needs are so great?”  This is how - Give with confidence!  The Haiti Education Foundation is a 501(C)(3) organization that gives 100% of every donation as designated by the donor. 

There are no overhead expenses deducted from your gift.  If you give $60.00 to feed a child, a child will be fed! If $550.00 is given to educate 10 children, ten children will be educated.   It is that simple.  Join us in making a difference in the life of a child.  EDUCATION brings HOPE. 

Author : Susan Turbeville is executive assistant to HEF founder, Frances Landers.   She travels to Haiti at least twice a year to visit schools and meet with the priests.  Susan is also responsible for communications with visiting mission teams and the Haiti Happenings newsletter.  She and her husband, Joe, have two children and live in El Dorado, Arkansas. For additional information or to donate, please visit our web site at www.haitifoundation.org.

Email : Susan Turbeville