I’ve been communicating for several hours since early this morning with my three closest contacts in Haiti. It started with Benoit who always begins each conversation asking about my health and my family and friends. His next statement was chilling. “The bandits are trying to kill me.” Justin confirmed the fear and urgency in Benoit’s …
Tag Archives: GBCCS
The Alphabet School – A Literacy School for Adult Education
Five years ago, we first wrote about the “education triangle”, and we updated the original post in 2022 when we opened The Barefoot School. Speaking from experience, Mrs. tVM and I spent countless hours at the kitchen table helping our children with their schoolwork and encouraging them to complete it. I say with 100% certainty …
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The Children Are in School
Despite the gunfire and gang violence, we managed to complete semester testing at the Barefoot School in Cité Soleil in February. I received the report cards for 149 students this week. Regardless of performance, THESE CHILDREN ARE IN SCHOOL and are trying. That is MOST important: THEY ARE IN SCHOOL, which is a major accomplishment …
Water, Children, and Angels
Water is essential for life on Earth as we know it. Yet how many times do we curse it as it overwhelms us with devastating floods… how many times do we raise our fists to the heavens as rain refuses to fall on the hard, sun-parched land? In America, we take so much for granted, …
Living & Learning with Mustard Seeds
Two years ago, I envisioned supporting our work for the children of Haiti exclusively with the agricultural project that I committed to with my friend Dwight. Working in the excessive heat, limited water, and poor soil of the Sonoran Desert, we’ve learned another lesson that supports the ‘easier said than done’ theory. After a brutally …
Humbled by a Homeless Child
In Haiti, most children have a single set of clothes. IF a child attends school, a uniform is a requirement. Because the Barefoot School is open to everyone, we do not strictly enforce that requirement. As we prepared for the school year last summer, Justin’s budget included $4,500 for ‘uniform cloth.’ I was resistant to …
Toilet
Our Barefoot School has not had a functional toilet since we moved in last summer. Hygiene is as important as food and knowledge, particularly in an environment like Cité Soleil which has been experiencing a cholera outbreak in recent months. We have many things to focus on at our Barefoot School. Justin and Benoit wisely …
The Children Need Your Help
After a brutal summer characterized by unparalleled gang violence and delays mandated by the Haitian Ministry of Education, we opened the doors to the Barefoot School in Cité Soleil, Haiti last week. This will be our second scholastic year. Our relationship with the Guepard Boxing Club of Cité Soleil [GBCCS] which operates the school goes …
Doing the Right Thing
Over a month ago, we posted that the Haitian Ministry of Education had delayed the September 3 school opening to October 3. October 3rd has come and gone. Schools remain closed. Speaking to the United Nations Security Council yesterday, October 17, the Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean Victor Généus opened his remarks by stating, …
New School Year to Begin in Haiti
The Haitian Ministry of Education has delayed the start of the next school year for one month, until October 3. I have the budget for our Barefoot School in Haiti for the upcoming school year, now October 3, 2022, through July 2023. The total budget to operate the school for 10 months is $37,972.25. Our …