Haitian students are very eager to learn and they run to this school, finished in 2017. They quiz each other on their lessons after school. Many villages have no school.
Running to their new school
TROIS MARES is an outlying village of the market town, Fond Verrettes, way out at the end of the trail in Haiti's eastern mountains bordering the Dominican Republic. Three hours from Port au Prince on a good day, it's a treacherous ride through flooded river bottoms and around blind turns along high cliffs--not for the weak of mind or spine.
Members of Grace Lutheran Church in Teaneck NJ and friends from around Bergen County and beyond began partnering with The Light and Peace Mission in Trois Mares in 2008. The Mission’s main outreach is to provide a school for local children.
During our first visit in 2007, we met their only teacher and 30 students, who regularly met in the church. Since that time we have built up the school and completed many projects in the community as well.
Trois Mares celebrated its first graduation in 2016, with 10 students who qualified for further education. The Superintendent of Education for the district of Fond Verrettes called our school “a shining example to other area schools, which invite children to come but don't really prepare them to advance” grade to grade toward graduation.
To make this possible, American sponsors give regularly to support teacher salaries for the school, which now has a staff of 11, a principal, and two cooks for school lunches. We sorely need more sponsors to meet student need for more teachers.
This newest school building has 6 classrooms. They sent us this photo, but we are anxious for the students to show it to us personally when we visit next.
Outside of school
Future Forward for Haiti initiated the Alpha program in 2015, where 26 adults attended class from 2-6 pm every weekday and learned to read, many for the first time. While practicing their skills, they also studied principles of land management!
From that auspicious beginning, these same adults (mostly women) learned financial skills and created small business plans. We supplied a startup fund of $500 for micro business loans. As these loans were repaid, we enlarged the fund to $5000, borrowers built up credit. and progressed from $20 to loans as big as $80, as of our 2018 visit. Businesses included buying produce “low and selling high” at local markets, frying food for sale in Fond Verrettes, selling truck parts and repairs, and a community sewing enterprise. We are anxious to learn all the challenges and successes these entrepreneurs have seen since our last visit.
when we visit
We love to take small gift bags for each student. They include school supplies, toothbrushes, underwear, and an age appropriate creative toy. To the oldest girls and female teachers, give washable feminine hygiene kits, and reading glasses for the Alphas.
