Although I’m currently still working away in Haiti the clock is now well and truly ticking. As of today EDV’s international volunteers have 49 days left in Haiti!
As I explained last time our construction crews are working flat out to complete our commitments before we leave. However working equally hard are our volunteer English teachers and scholarship team who have the critical task of transitioning our on-going projects to local leadership.
Our English education programme started almost as soon as we got to Haiti in June of 2010 but has come a long way in the time since. It began as an informal language exchange with volunteers learning Kreyol and helping Haitians develop and practice their English. However, English is a key vocational skill and with less than 1 in 50 Haitians holding a steady, wage-earning job demand for the class meant the original format soon became unmanageable.
So, with the support of many volunteer teachers, the programme was restructured to use a formal curriculum with the students working towards recognised Cambridge certifications. Today we have 120 students spread across 4 different levels of class, depending on their ability, and at least 150 more on a waiting list to join.
We knew right from the start of the formalised classes that this was something we wanted to continue after our volunteers left Haiti and so, over the months, we’ve been working with the best English speakers to develop their own teaching skills. Now, with less than 2 months left, we’re preparing to fully hand over classes to our 6 Haitian teachers who will become EDV staff in December.
To support this work one of our amazing volunteers, Debra, who also developed the formalised programme, recently cycled over 1,000 miles from Lands End to John O Groats in the UK with some friends. They kept a video diary of their two week journey, the last day of which is here:
This was an epic undertaking and we’re all incredibly happy to be welcoming Debra back to Haiti in November to help manage the final transition.
The other on-going initiative that we’re very excited about is our Scholarship programme. Free education is virtually non-existent in Haiti and many children simply don’t attend school. This essentially leaves generations of Haitians trapped in a cycle of poverty as the children of poor parents grow up unable to find jobs and send their own children to school.
To counter this we’re aiming to provide primary school education to 100 children in three different schools. This is an ambitious 5 year plan which will require a lot more funding to succeed. However, thanks to a generous grant of £5,000 which we recently secured from the Evan Cornish Foundation we now have funding secured for 50 children until at least March of next year.
If you’ve been following my blog over the past year you may remember our work at the Foyer D’Orelph orphanage and school. Between March and June we constructed 5 classrooms at the orphanage and our scholarship programme will start here by funding teachers salaries and school meals for the children.
The kids at Foyer D'Orelph orphanage during their first day of school - the classroom and furniture were also built by EDV volunteers (click for more pics)
This is an amazing achievement made possible thanks to the tireless work of dozens of volunteers from all over the world and we’re now delighted to be handing over day-to-day monitoring and evaluation responsibility to Jhonson, one of our most trusted local staff members.
I’m definitely sad to be leaving soon but I’m delighted that EDV’s efforts will be continuing in more than capable Haitian hands.
Anyway, both of these programmes need more funding in the long-term so if you’d like to donate to Education in Haiti then visit: http://www.edvolunteers.org/donate or simply text EDVH11 £5 to 70070 from your UK mobile.
