Haiti Cheri Part II

 Over a year ago, I wrote about the state of Haiti and the biggest effort I believe that, if executed completely, would create dramatic change, which is free, high quality, nurturing elementary school education for 100% of the Haitian population. I am happy to say that although there are currently high rates of kidnappings in Port-au-Prince and some political chaos, things have drastically improved from 2019-2020 where the violence and disruption of life was so drastic that schools could not operate. I am also happy to say that the coronavirus has not had a noticeable effect on Haiti and they opened schools early this year to make up for lost time. Schools in Haiti opened on August 4th. 

We have been able to send some financial support to Maroquee Community School in Maroquee, Haiti, which is outside of Cap Haitian. This school is run by the family of one of our grassroots' school's founders. We have sent students to this school to take a national 

sixth grade exam and I personally have visited twice. The director sends me messages and pictures at least weekly. We also have dozens of families involved in one of our schools here in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic that come from this area of Haiti. My husband's family is from the next town over. So although I am not physically in the same location, I feel like I have a fair amount of insight while being far away. 

It warms my heart to be able to provide funds to this school as it is extremely impressive how they are able to get their students through the national 6th grade exam each year, while functioning with so very little. School takes place in the church building. Students do not sit in individual desks or have access to many materials at all. In Haitian culture, clean uniforms, neat hair (short for boys), and proper shoes are of high importance. You can see in pictures that the students look beautiful in that aspect, but that it would be extremely difficult to run school in that setting. 

Now, when I say that these educators get their students through the national sixth grade exam, I don't mean all of their students, or at least not on their first try. The statistics that were shared with me a few years back (can't find an online resource right now) was that nationally, there is a 40% pass rate for this exam. We sent seven students over the course of two years in 2012 and 2013 I believe, and three passed. This was quite a big deal for these students as we got them passports and paid for their transportation, where they had to stay overnight. The test is also in French, which our students have less exposure to. 

After having observed different educational projects that we have funded, I feel certain that the best thing to do is to support already functioning schools who have a proven track record, but have financial need, such as the Maroquee Community School. The administration already knows how to make a goud go as far as it possibly can. They have already proven their dedication to education.    

In my first Haiti Cheri post, I shared an article that explained how other countries, including the U.S., refused to recognize Haiti after gaining independence, and made

progress very difficult for them. I am now reading a book about Papa Doc, whose real name is Francois Duvalier, who was a Haitian dictator from 1957 to 1971. I am reading the book in Haitian Creole with a student who I teach online, but also with the motivation of including chapters and questions in our 7th and 8th grade textbooks. The book is written by a man from New Zealand who sailed to Haiti in 1949 and ended up staying there. It also gives accounts of the U.S., France, Germany, the UK, and Italy showing up and abusing Haiti for money. However, the book also gives numerous accounts of successful aid that came from the U.S. 

The article also mentioned the reparations that France made Haiti pay after Haiti gained independence. Ironically, France threatened to attack if Haiti did not agree to pay 150 million francs, which is ten times what the United States paid for Louisiana. Of course logically, France should have paid Haiti for the slave labor and abuse, but they apparently had a very warped sense of justice. This article explains the history of the reparations in detail and puts the amount into perspective, saying that that amount of money was several times France's annual budget, let alone Haiti's. The author also wisely states that, "Haiti should be at the center of the global movement for reparations". 

First of all, let me say that I feel strongly that an international effort should be made to push for justice to be served here and for payback from France to go directly into providing what I have previously stated: free, high quality, nurturing elementary school for 100% of the Haitian population. Yes, high school, college, trade school, and much more is important. Please read my first post for why I feel like elementary school is THE MOST important, if a top priority must be chosen. 

An important question is, if such an international law suit were to be successful, is the trustworthy infrastructure in place to carry out what should be carried out with the funds? This is always an extreme concern among Haitians regarding their leadership, unfortunately. This issue is brought up in the Papa Doc book as well. With the high amount of NGO presence in Haiti, perhaps what would be ideal would be a team composed of government officials, local representatives and educators, and NGO leaders in the area of education, with a strong system of accountability and a game plan. I would think this would be extremely powering to the Haitian people. Rather than being given aid, or charity, being given what is rightfully theirs and invested into their children, their future. 

Second of all, I have often observed what I find to be a very strange practice among Haitians, or should I say Haitian criminals, which is demanding and pressuring for money from someone who absolutely does not have the means. Haitian friends have commented on the same phenomenon. They do not seem to care whether or not the person they are pressuring has the means to the money, but they demand that the money appear. This is what happens with kidnappings. An outrageous amount of money is demanded as ransom, and it always seems to be in USD. 

Perhaps this practice somehow trickled in through the huge act of extortion France imposed on Haiti, as it was not paid all at once, but there was a consistent practice of France demanding and pressuring for their outrageous pay. Again, there are also accounts of other countries who did the same, though to a lesser extent, of course. If you think about it, that is exactly what France did. They did a mass kidnapping and then extorted unrealistic amounts of money in exchange for giving people their lives back. 

Let me finish this post by saying that when I wrote the first post and said I would post again with ideas, it was the idea of a serious movement to hold France accountable, requesting that reparations be repaid and that money be invested directly in education. However, for some reason, a year has gone by and I never wrote that follow-up post. I suppose it's because I was finishing up with my M.Ed., of which I obtained in May 2020. After that, the race issues came to the forefront of my newsfeed, along with American politics in general, and I just didn't feel ready to write about this yet. 

But something else happened in November 2019 when I wrote that last post. A woman from Canada volunteered with us for a few days. She taught art and physical education in our school in Padre Granero, accompanied by a translator. We have well over one hundred volunteers come each year, except for 2020, and a small percentage turn into student sponsors. However, this woman contacted me shortly after and decided to sponsor 14 of our students at level 3, which is our highest committment at $50 per month. She became our most generous monthly sponsor ever, by far. 

Once everything began to shut down in March 2020 due to the coronavirus, she started sending extra funds to help with food distributions. In June 2020, we started fundraising to pay a downpayment on a building to serve as the permanent location for Colegio Costambar

where we send our top students to high school. This woman was responsible for almost half of the $38,000 raised, plus she chipped in to help redo the rotted roof in the school in Padre Granero! 

A few months later we caught up over the phone. She was wanting to do more!! I mentioned that we should not invest too much in the structure of the Padre Granero building as we still owe a mortgage on it. She asked how much we owe. I said $40,000 US. She asked what I thought if she would pay that off!!! By the year's end, she sent that amount and even more to help pay off our debt for our other school in Muñoz!! 

Here is part of what I wrote in a letter that went out with our 2020 giving reports: 

"42% of our 2020 income came from a series of donations from one person who first got involved with Project Esperanza volunteering in late 2019!! She is a Canadian woman who wishes to remain anonymous. She gave at this level without even the absolute security of a tax deduction, as we are still in the process of registering as a charity in Canada. Although she wishes that her name remain anonymous, she does want one name to be celebrated and receive the honor for this wonderful news. That name is Jesus Christ."

Lastly, our wonder donor's husband is from Paris, France. Thanks for reading.