|
[See
August 2004 Update]
Background: Pichon is a remote
village in southeast Haiti, isolated
from the rest of the country by
rugged mountains and underdeveloped
roads. It has no electricity, no
telephones, no health clinic, and
limited access to potable water.
Haiti is the poorest country in
the Hemisphere. Its 6.8 million
people have an average monthly
income of $20. The consequences
of this poverty are depressing:
life expectancy is 57 years, the
child mortality rate is 70%, and
the adult illiteracy rate is 55%.
A vicious cycle of poverty, malnutrition,
poor education, and joblessness
keeps people from making progress.
Ekole Panou students singing
together in August 2003
Lekole Pa Nou (Creole for Our School)
was founded in January 2000 as
a means to break the cycle of poverty.
It began as a partnership among
local villagers, a non-profit organization
in Port-au-Prince and friends from
Lansing, Michigan. It started with
pre-school and kindergarten classes,
adding one additional grade each
year. We are now up to third grade
and will continue to expand until
we reach sixth grade. Photos of
this initiative can be viewed at http://homepage.mac.com/dlsmith19/PhotoAlbum1.html,
including the first consultation
between visitors from Michigan
and the villagers in Pichon, in
August 1999. The visitors, Pierre
Balthazar (who is originally from
that part of Haiti) and David Smith,
asked the villagers what they wanted
to do in Pichon that we could help
them with. The consensus was that
they wished to have a school for
the children.
That began twin processes of development,
in our view. One part was the gradual
raising of awareness of the needs
and potential of Pichon among a
growing circle of Americans and
Canadians. This was accompanied
by the gradual raising of funds
to cover program and capital expenses.
The other part was the gradual
building of capacity of Pichon
to develop and administer its school.
Local people were recruited and
trained as teachers. A governing
board and a parent association
were formed to administer and support
operations.
Connecting these two processes
were Liné and Nadia Balthazar,
Pierre's brother and sister-in-law,
who live in Port-au-Prince. They
formed a non-profit organization
(FREM) in Haiti, whose purpose
in rural development. Funds received
in Michigan are wired to the Haitian
non-profit, which pays the staff
in Pichon. FREM provides an indispensable
link that receives and disburses
funds (Pichon has a cash, subsistence
economy). Liné and Nadia,
without compensation, also supervise
the development of the initiative
with a combination of development
principles learned from Mottahedeh
Development Services training,
indigenous understanding of the
local culture, and a pre-existing
family reputation in the community.
Liné has attended the development
conference in Orlando for the past
three years.
Ekole Panou serves 165 children,
pre-school to 2nd grade |
Parents are an active part
of school operations |
Antoine Rafael, Ekole Panou
principal |
Current Information:
- Number of students: 165
(pre-school through third
grade)
- Number of staff: 8 (at
$100 each per month)
- Annual operating budget:
$16,500 (staff, Port-au-Prince
office, educational supplies)
- Fiscal agent: Peace Education
Center, East Lansing, Michigan
2004 Objectives:
- continue training for the
teachers (who were recruited
locally),
- provide up to four teachers
of English for secondary
students in Belle-Anse in
June. (This is the neighboring
town where Pichon students
will some day attend secondary
school.)
- make our annual "Michigan
delegation" visit to Pichon
in August,
- add fourth grade to the
Pichon school in the fall,
- initiate a micro-credit
program for Lekole Pa Nou
mothers,
- install a corn grinder
in Pichon,
- attend the Orlando international
development conference in
December,
- form our own Michigan non-profit
organization to sustain and
expand this work.
Spending Plan (Sept 2003-Aug 2004):
Budgeted operating expenses:
| $9,600 |
8 local staff in Pichon
at $100/mo. |
| $3,600 |
FREM (Haiti non-profit,
Liné director) office
rent, $300/mo |
| $840 |
FREM satellite Internet
connection, $70/mo. |
| $360 |
Educational supplies (books,
pencils, etc.), $30/mo. |
| $600 |
Formation of a U.S. non-profit
in Michigan |
| $1,500 |
Printing and packaging
of greeting cards to sell |
| $16,500 |
Total core operations |
Budgeted revenues:
| $7,500 |
Sale of greeting cards
(8/pack @ $5 x 1,500) |
| $1,000 |
Other fund-raising (Peace
Ed Center theater, etc.) |
| $8,000 |
Contributions |
| $16,500 |
Total |
Capital and other expenses:
| $2,000 |
Used four-wheel drive vehicle |
| $10,000 |
Diesel powered corn grinder,
installed in Pichon |
| $3,000 |
Sponsorship of summer English
tutors (4 @ 2 weeks ea.) |
| $1,000 |
Pichon women's micro-credit
program |
| $3,600 |
FREM travel to U.S. conferences
(4 @ $900) |
| $19,600 |
Total |
The design calls for the women's
micro-credit program to be administered
by FREM, which would lend money
to Pichon women to buy local products
and take them to Port-au-Prince
to sell. They would use money from
sales to buy rice and sugar in
P-au-P which would be brought back
to Pichon to sell locally. There
are a couple women who engage in
this kind of commerce, so a model
is already established. FREM loans
would be repaid, then re-loaned
to the women in order to fuel the
local economy. As capacity is built,
we hope this will lead to a community
bank operation that is locally
administered.
August 2004 Update
We have recently acquired a news
update from Pichon. The villages
surrounding Pichon were devastated
by a flash flood, which collapsed
most of a mountainside. According
to international standards, the
flash flooding occurred on May
23rd, in Mapou and Pichon, and
is a said to be a "major disaster",
which led to losses of human life
(more than 1000), a massive exodus,
and an irreversible environment
modification (a lake has been formed
in Mapou, on about 47 million square
feet of agricultural land).
FREM, along with private and public
organizations are undertaking emergency
actions such as:
a) Provisional shelters for 60
families (about 300 men, women
and children);
b) Food and humanitarian assistance;
c) Psychological assistance for
children (summer camp for 500 children);
Some Middle term actions are:
a) Permanent shelters for the families
who fell victim to the disaster;
b) Back to School planning;
c) Income generated activities,
Setting up of small fruits transformation
units.
Nadia Balthazar and Lou Lou Balthazar,
two of the organizers of Lekole
Pa Nou, will be coming to Canada
shortly, near the end of September.
We will post additional information
as we acquire it.
[top] |
