Vassar Haiti Project

Grace and Sam share their experiences in Haiti:

Haiti was an incredible experience in terms of personal growth, relationships, and information gathering for all initiatives, especially education. We started by visiting the Secondary School and having a meeting with our 22 scholarship recipients. Facing the six girls and sixteen boys, it was a little awkward at first, but after our ice breakers, the meeting gave way to an open and honest conversation. From this meeting, the consensus was there needs to be many changes for the future including an increase of supplies, many more text books and reading books, improved living conditions, and more frequent servings of breakfast and lunch. Concluding our second Secondary School visit, we dispersed one Luci light to each student. These solar powered, inflatable lights will enable students to study and do work even after the sun sets, improving their living conditions and education. The other school we met with is the Primary School in Chermaitre, where we met with a group of students and a group of teachers separately. The teachers were very thankful for all the work VHP has done in building the new school and ensuring regular pay cycles. They believe there needs to be more food in the lunch program and the breakfast program must be reimplemented. The teachers also expressed interest in developing an Adult Education plan and curriculum. Information gathered also revealed there is no curriculum on human trafficking, despite Haiti being the 7th most trafficked country in the world. The meeting with the primary school students also went well; they agreed more food is needed at school. In addition, they need text books and reading books and would enjoy musical instruments—we postulate recorders for the students could be a good start. Overall the students were very receptive and thankful VHP and their honor and persistence through school makes every second spent on VHP 10x more worthwhile.

Luci Lights

While our meetings and interactions were constructive in helping us glean important information about the schools, the commitment of all of the teachers and students was evident and compelling. At the meeting with the primary school teachers, all of the instructors expressed their appreciation for our efforts to improve their jobs and help them better facilitate their roles, roles which they know are critical for their young students’ growth and achievement. And the teachers’ quick and unanimous support for kickstarting adult education classes stands as a testament to their yearning to spread education to the wider community. Giving them the Luci lights for their classrooms as well literally and figuratively brightened up themselves and their excitement for teaching, which was pleasing and reassuring for us to see. Along with the teachers’ enthusiasm, the patent motivation and fortitude of all of the students was striking and inspiring. A trend emerged among the mindsets of the primary and secondary school students: that their drive for educating themselves stems from a deep desire to exploit their potentials and passions by becoming contributing figures in society. This desire has catalyzed in them an admirable perseverance: despite scarce meals, insufficient textbooks and supplies, and two-hour hikes to get to school, these students remain dogged in pursuit of their educational goals. As a group of young, dedicated students ourselves, the connections that we sensed with the students, who bear such different origins from us, exemplified and reaffirmed the universal power and importance of education.