Educate Haitian Immigrant Children in the DR

Teachers recently formed a committee among the older students in the school and have been teaching them about taking responsibility over some things in the school and learning to manage things as well. They led them each to make a small contribution of money, with one of them being the treasurer and money handler. They then used this money to purchase jugs of water so that water is always available for drinking in the school. This is an expense that the organization has not covered, but they found it to be a need that the school had. We also have some donated fortified rice and recently purchased a stove, pot, plates, and utensils. We have some oil as well. We mainly lack the ingredients to make a sauce to serve with the rice. We are very impressed that teachers are taking the initiative to teach students about collaborating and taking responsibility over some of the school's needs. This really shows their appreciation!

Last week was Holy Week here and there was no school. It marked the end of the second trimester, so we gave out report cards last Saturday. This trimester was truly a great one! Volunteers led students and teachers in learning about solar energy through constructing their very own shoe box solar ovens and a larger one made out of plywood to serve the entire school. We tried them out by baking cookies and hot dogs. After two hours, the cookies were hot goo, but some of the hot dogs bubbled and cooked! Other activities that took place this tremester include each student filling out an "About Me" page to share with their sponsors, and

Also, in February, a Delta Sigma Theta group from Chicago visited with the desire to learn about the documentation issues facing Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic. We invited a representative from the Haitian consulate in Santiago to join them on their visit to answer their questions. They also raised funds to help 4 of our students, 3 parents, and one teacher to get passports! The passports have not yet come in, but they were paid for the day of the visit and should be arriving any day.

The four students who are receiving passports are 4 of our 5 sixth grade students, (the 5th received his passport from his sponsor). All will be traveling to Haiti in late May or early June (the exact date has unfortunately not yet been announced and has been moved up from late June due to the World Cup taking place in late June) to take the national exam. So they are in their final month preparing for that! And then everyone is looking forward to Change My Stars summer English camp!

Thank you for your support!

Links:

• Organization website
• School Blog