Paula Prince, Program Manager, June 26, 2012
Most schools in Haiti have very few educational resources. Even basic schoolbooks are hard to come by. Hope for Haiti helps schools overcome this lack of access to resources in various ways. Our Back to School fund, for example, helps Hope for Haiti’s 40 partner schools repair school furniture, purchase school supplies and complete small repairs to school structures each year before school begins. Our Bookshare Program helps ensure that all students in our 33 partner primary schools in the South have books in the core subjects of Math, Science, Social Studies, French and Creole. Likewise, our Teacher Trainings help equip educators with essential educational materials on proper lesson planning and good teaching methods.
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| Program Manager, Paula Prince, gives jewelry-making a shot. |
Some of the materials used to make the jewelry. |
Recently, Hope for Haiti expanded our efforts to help alleviate the problem of lack of resources and lack of creativity in Haiti’s classrooms by launching pilot art and recreation programs in two of our partner schools (thanks to the generosity of The Parsons Foundation). Both schools began a weekly soccer class and two weekly art classes. One of the schools started a class teaching its students to create jewelry from beads made of recycled paper. The other school started a class teaching its students to make handbags and other accessories from a type of straw called “pit” in Haitian Kreyòl. The classes serve as a great demonstration of the creativity and dedication of all teaching staff and students involved.
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| Student makes a necklace. |
Student works on a necklace. |
Some of the necklaces the students created. |
Student cuts the strips of paper to make the beads. |
Last week, I got the chance to attend and participate in the jewelry-making class. Students were all smiles as they created beautiful pieces of artwork. When I arrived, there were two tables set up. At one table students used a paper cutter to slice cereal boxes into small strips that were then rolled into beads. At the second table, students thread the beads onto the elastic string to create the fine pieces of jewelry. Matline, preschool teacher during the regular school day, was the teacher for this particular class. Matline voiced great pride in her ability to teach the students something creative that can generate income for the school and build livelihoods for the students for years to come.
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| Look at the beautiful earrings they created! | Students wear their artwork. |