We
bring the thanks and blessings from St. Marc’s to all the members of our Haiti
Collaborative for the generous gift that has allowed them to begin construction
of the new school. Father Walin, who has been our very gracious
host for this trip, also sends his sincere thanks and prayers for our continued
partnership.
Traveling
in Haiti has been an uplifting experience for
us. Although conditions are dire, there is energy and hope in the people
creating a force evidenced by visible improvements - in roads, in schools and
in the spiritual life of everyone we encountered. It has been
particularly uplifting to see Father Walin at work. He has fourteen
parishes with nearly two thousand people. He is assisted by five very capable
seminarians. Father Walin drives up to three hours to reach some of his
parishes. Along the way he is constantly stopping to greet people, to
make pastoral calls and to give rides to people. His energy and commitment
are an inspiration.
During
our visit we saw five schools (and one hoped for school) in various stages:
·
St. Andre’s in Hinche is a
large school with about 900 students from Hinche in the morning and 330
students, displaced from Port-au-Prince, meeting
in the afternoon. This school is strained by the displaced students but
has a curriculum that appears to be as rigorous as our schools.
This school is a success story.
·
St. Patrick’s at Lacorbe is
a remote school that is functioning but the building is in need of repair.
Father Walin is now searching for a second partner school in the USA that would
be interested in helping. Despite the remote location, this is Father
Walin’s largest parish. We attended worship service there and felt the
energy and good will of the people. Again, this is a success story.
·
St. Mathias at Thormonde is
a two-story school that is partially completed but construction has been
stopped because of structural concerns. An engineering firm has evaluated
the structure and made recommendations for structural improvements.
Funding is needed before construction can be restarted. This school is an
example of the construction problems we need to avoid.
·
Thomasique
is a small village with no school or Episcopal Church. We saw a group of children studying in an
informal setting and discussed with some local townspeople their desire for a
school and a church. We were very much
impressed with the strong desire for an education these people demonstrated.
·
St.
Benoit’s in Mombin Crochu is the school partnered with St. George School in San Antonio. This school is nearly complete but
an added $13,000 is needed to complete the roof. Faculty
member Jennifer Wickham, accompanied us and is taking back the challenge
of raising the additional funds. Again, this school will be a success but
our lesson is that construction costs are higher than originally estimated and
we need to be aware of the true cost.
·
St.
Marc’s in Cerca-La-Source – our partner school – has just purchased land for
the school and the foundation has been dug. They are excited about the
opportunity to have their own building in the near future. Our challenge
is to use the lessons from the other schools to make our partner school a
success as well.
Challenges:
Our partner school has made some decisions about
school location and construction since the initial planning. The original
school location was outside of town on land donated by the government.
The building committee from St. Marc’s - a group of seven members from the
church together with the director of the school and the director of education -
had two concerns with the location. First, the Haitian Government
has not always been stable and the people worried that they might invest in a
new school and the land could be taken back by the government to be used for
another purpose. Second, they were concerned that the distance from the
center of the community would discourage some students from attending.
One of our trippers, Rush Dixon, is an architect. His evaluation is that
any modern city planner would locate the school where it is rather that on the
location offered by the government.
The impact of this decision is the costs will be
higher than originally thought. The land price is $9,000 and it has
already been purchased. The school foundation is designed for five
classrooms, one office and one restroom/storage area. This is
approximately the same size as the school in Mombin Crochu. The cost of
the Mombin Crochu school is now estimated to be about $45,000. Also, the
request of Bishop Duricin is that 10% of all gifts be sent to the
diocese. This means that approximately $50,000 will be needed to complete
this school. The land at Mombin Crochu was purchased separately and cost an
additional $23,000.
Using these numbers as estimates for our partner
school in Cerca-la-Source, approximately $60,000 will be needed for the school
plus the land. We sent a little over $18,000 in May so we have a fund
raising need of $42,000 to complete the school. Estimating has been a difficult process. There is a tendency to ask for what they feel they will get
rather than asking for what is needed.
This can leave a project underfunded and partially completed. We will attempt to avoid this in the future
by estimating from actual costs at Mombin Crochu plus releasing funds to build
in phases. The phased approach will
ensure completion of one section before beginning the next.
Where do we go from here?
·
Continuing - Pray for the support and commitment needed for a successful
long-term partnership.
·
July through September – Hold meetings at each parish, providing
information on our trip and the needs at St. Marc’s
·
June – Investigate opportunities
for grants in support of the Haiti Collaborative (do you want to mention
·
July
– Haiti trippers discuss fund raising efforts and a monthly gift package to St.
Marc’s. Prepare recommendations to make to the full collaborative at the August
meeting.
·
July
– Architect Rush Dixon will send drawings and recommendations for the St.
Marc’s school to Père Walin.
·
August
– Get comments from Père Walin and incorporate into drawings. We suggest waiting until agreement is
reached before releasing additional funds.
·
September – Send our plan and
schedule for fund raising to Père Walin
·
September and continuing – Begin raising funds and send
money in stages as construction continues in scheduled phases.
·
October: Possible mission trip with veteran and new missioners to
a)
see/assess progress on St. Marc’s, b) build more/deeper relationships,
c) buy art and handicrafts to sell during the holiday season in our churches as
a major fundraiser (Michele Edwards to coordinate with executive committee and
new collaborative chief?)
Haiti Trippers:
Roger Bowen – trip leader
Michele Edwards – Trinity, Staunton
Kim Wood – parent, Stuart
Hall School
Blair Fairbrother – Trinity, Lynchburg
Cindy Corell – Tinkling Spring Presbyterian, News
Leader
Phillip Johnson – Emmanual, Staunon
Sam Sheridan – St. John’s, Waynesboro
Rush Dixon – architect, Charleston, SC, Michele’s
brother
Jennifer Wickham – ex-officio member and advisor,
St. George School, San Antonio, Texas