Guest blog written by Education Team Leaders, Emmy and Wood Parker

As many of you know, our CCH education team that was scheduled to visit Haiti in January was cancelled due to the political unrest.  However, in February a few of us went to Haiti to encourage our Haitian staff and the teachers and directors of the schools we support.  .  We believe that we were successful in demonstrating our continuing commitment to the schools and communities.  We returned from Haiti with happy but also heavy hearts.  We experienced highs and lows, which we want to share with you. CCH’s education program is making a huge difference with teachers, students and communities.  CCH and our Haitian friends are thankful for you.

The months-long period of unrest has had significant impact on CCH’s ministry and the entire country of Haiti, especially common people in the cities and the countryside.  Schools have been closed, businesses have been shuttered, and transportation throughout the country has been disrupted.  There have been food and fuel shortages, periods of violence, electricity outages, and widespread hunger.  For several months, CCH has not been able to send teams of volunteers to carry out our mission in Haiti.  Thankfully, now schools are back in session, most roads are open, and there is a widespread, yet fragile, sense of normalcy.

When we arrived at CCH’s Isaiah Guest House, the highs were seeing our Haitian friends eager to be back at work and listening to their stories.   The lows were that some of our part-time staff have moved to the Dominion Republic or elsewhere to find full-time work.

The students and teachers you sponsor attend/work at three of the 28 schools CCH supports in Haiti: EMEVO, Lavanneau, and Mont Fleuri Schools.  The highs were that we got to visit all these schools plus five more in the short time we were there to see how they are working hard to salvage the school year.  We provided them art, math and French lessons written by Education Team members.

The highs included honest conversations with the school directors (principals).  A few quotes from directors:

“The time students are in school is time for the nation to grow.” 

“Time the students are not in school is time that is harder and unsafe for our children.” 

“Children are afraid and the school encourages them to come to learn to be leaders and grow up to be change makers.”

The highs were the students were attending school.   The lows were that many days have been missed at schools.  Most Haitian schools did not start till December or January.   At one city school the students have missed 70 days.  A high is that one rural school had a community meeting in which everyone agreed that they were not going to close school and they would keep the students safe.  That school has been closed only 10 days. 

The high is that some creative teaching has been going on.  Check out sponsored student Chadna’s beaming face with a poem she wrote (below).  The low is that teachers are falling back on memorizing information to ‘’cover’’ the curriculum when so much school time was lost.

The highs were the teachers and directors met in November and decided what is the most important part of the curriculum they should teach and what parts they will have to skim over or delete.  The low is trying to cram a year’s curriculum into a very short window.  The highs are that seven teachers are in normal (teacher) school again this year finishing up their teacher certificates.  The low is that both the stress of teaching and being a student, the economy, feeding their families, political unrest and fragility of the country makes life hard. The highs are students and teachers are being fed daily at the schools.  The lows are that many families are unable to have regular meals at home.

The highs were things we observed in the schools:  Smiles and gratitude to be back in school, sustained silent reading, students with books, quiet (not silent) classrooms, early childhood children singing, dancing and using learning tools, school gardens planted. When we were there these seedlings (below) were under banana leaves so the baby plants will not shrivel up in the heat. 

The highs were seeing students we love. The lows were some students are no longer attending because the family had to go elsewhere to hopefully find work or the child is living with someone else.  Another low is the fact that because the schools have not been in session, we have not been able to get pictures to you of your sponsored student. This will happen in the next few months!

The highs are that mobile health clinics are happening again at the schools.  The lows are that we were unable to have them from September to December!  The low is that we saw deep poverty, misery and uncertainty in this fragile time.  Many people have obviously lost weight.  The high is that we saw joy, hope and gratitude among our Haitian partners.  Please join with our Haitian partners in prayer for Haiti.  One of the directors shared this quote with us.  “The one who kneels in front of God can stand in front of anyone and any situation.” 

The CCH Education Team will be going to Haiti April 18-May 2.  Please pray for us during this trip, and continually for all the students and teachers in Haiti.