Mission in Haiti
Click here to see photos from the mission activities in Haiti.
From the Mission and Justice Committee,
Written by Dave Porter
Remainder of 2010 Funding for Rays of Hope School in Haiti
The Mission and Justice Committee has allocated $3,000 for the purchase of educational supplies to support the students and teachers at the Ecole Mixte Rayon D Espoir school in Solino, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The school was surprisingly reopened in mid-May. Pastor Mathieu Ciceron, the director of this school and our partner in this endeavor, was astonished by the directive from Haiti education authorities to reopen the school. With the damage that had been sustained to the school and surrounding buildings by the January 12 earthquake, reopening the school had seemed impossible, and under United States codes the school would not have reopened without substantial repair to it and the surrounding buildings. Due to the directive to open the school, he has done his best to organize classes for the students in the safest parts of the school in the courtyard under a canopy and in classrooms farthest from the destroyed alley behind the school. There is some use of the mostly intact kitchen we helped finance.
Pastor Ciceron recently shared a new plan to provide school materials to students through a text book borrowing system in which all books are bought for all grades for this year and then kept by the school for borrowing by the students as they progress through the programs. Creole formatted writing tablets and other supplies such as pencils will have to be purchased as needed, but hopefully, these funds will cover most of those costs initially. With this plan in place, the Mission and Justice Committee is confident that this $3,000 donation will greatly assist the Ray of Hope School in delivering these education programs to these students. Mathieu will provide receipts for the text books and any other supplies purchased through this donation and reports as needed. He will also supply photographs of the books and materials in use by the students.
It is important to know that Mathieu has also begun work on a school and orphanage project near the Dominican Republic Border. This project in Fonds Parisien, was initiated with funds we had allocated to the Foundation Rayon D Espoir, of which this new project is now a part. At the time, he began using these funds for this new project, Mathieu was certain that the Ray of Hope School in Solino would not reopen.
The confusion in all of Haiti about these kinds of issues related to the re-establishment and delivery of education, de-construction and re-construction, food, water, sanitation, healthcare, employment, etc. are shared by us as we try to help Pastor Ciceron recover from the effects of the earthquake.
Concerning Future Travel to Haiti
Originally Dave Porter had planned to travel to Haiti again in July 2010 to help sustain programs that were supported from the March 6 to 14, 2010 trip with Pat Henneforth, Lamont Carolina, and Diane Ford Jones. The July trip became unfeasible for Dave, and he is now planning travel to Haiti from January 2-13, 2011, in order to attend a memorial service to be held on the one-year anniversary of the January 12, 2010, earthquake. During this trip a priority for our church will be to serve the Rays of Hope School in Solino and the start-up construction of the school and orphanage facilities in Fonds Parisien as planned by Pastor Mathieu Ciceron. Dave will also continue to study the feasibility of taking Keystone College students and faculty, congregation members, and other community members to Haiti in pursuit of effective and helpful relationships and partnerships. Those interested should talk to Dave as soon as possible.