 Program Assistants Paula Prince and Jessica Jean-Francois with Father Belizaire, Director of Cherettes Primary School |
May 28, 2011
Upon arrival at the Notre Dame de Cherettes Primary school, Hope for Haiti and buildOn representatives were greeted by nearly 75 enthusiastic members of the Cherettes community. Seated outside on wooden benches, the parents and families of Cherettes were eager to participate in the first of a series of meetings held to assess the initial need and support for constructing a new school. It is the community members themselves, the men and women seated on benches beneath the lush tropical trees, who will construct the new block of three classrooms to serve the school’s 135 students. Men and women both young and old came, not only from Cherettes, but also from surrounding mountain communities up to three hours away in order to voice their excitement about the project. Together with Hope for Haiti and buildOn staff, they brainstormed strategies to recruit the additional teams of volunteers necessary to carry out such labor-intensive construction.
As the meeting became more animated, various community members spoke up in strong favor of the project and emphasized the importance of building the coalition of volunteers necessary to carry out the work. One woman sparked applause from the crowd when she expressed her support for the project, claiming that this opportunity was an “answer to the ‘s prayers.” When buildOn suggested that, if Cherettes was not interested in the project, another community could benefit from the construction, the crowd erupted in emotional shouts: “Non, isit la! Isit la!” (No, here! here!)
Hope for Haiti has been collaborating with buildOn, a non-profit dedicated to building schools with local resources in rural areas around the world, in order to pinpoint various rural communities in Haiti’s southern peninsula in need of new school structures. A lack of classroom space hinders Notre Dame de Cherettes Primary, a new addition to Hope for Haiti’s network of supported schools, and makes it an ideal community for investment in school construction. The school’s facilities are limited to a small three-room concrete building and several open-air, unfinished classrooms. The fourth, fifth, and sixth grade classes share the community chapel as one loud, oversized classroom. These issues – a lack of adequate classroom space and poor quality structures – contribute to reduced school attendance and make it difficult to provide quality education in the poor rural communities that schools like Notre Dame de Cherettes serve.
 Program Assistant Jessica Jean-Francois with Cherettes 4th grade class in Cherettes chapel |
 Cherettes community members appointing group leaders for buildOn project |
 Cherettes community meeting with Hope for Haiti and buildOn representatives |
Hope for Haiti’s support of Cherettes through teacher salary subsidies, as well as its strong partnership with buildOn, allow us to provide comprehensive support to education in this rural community. Because Hope for Haiti was able to identify the need for additional space in Cherettes and subsequently share these needs with buildOn, its partner organization is taking action to bring solutions to the community, its parents, and their children.
By Paula Prince