Change Lives with English Education

In this report I’m excited to announce some important developments about the English in Mind (EIM) Institute in Haiti.

If you’re a new supporter you may not know that EIM started simply as a group of local Haitians who wanted to improve their English. Their desire stemmed from a knowledge that, with English, they could find work in hotels, restaurants and offices.

In the summer of 2010, a member of that group, Brunel, approached us and made a simple request for us to provide native English speakers with whom they could practice their skills. We agreed and found that Brunel and his friends were meeting on rooftops, in tents, in churches, in fact wherever they could find space.

It was clear that there was a real hunger to learn English.

So, for the next 18 months, our volunteers worked to develop this informal group of aspirational Haitians into a formal school. Then, as our international volunteers left Haiti, the school was transitioned to local teaching and management staff.

Having previously selected the Cambridge English curriculum the local staff unanimously decided to call their newly independent school the English in Mind Institute, after the Cambridge textbooks. Brunel became the principal of the new school.

Over the years we’ve continued to meet EIM’s running costs with the help of amazing donors like you.

However, our former Project Manager for the school, Steph, has also worked tirelessly to support the school both financially, and to further develop EIM as its own organisation.

This July, Steph completed the registration of “Friends of EIM”, a US based 501(c)(3) organisation / charity. While establishing this new organisation Steph began fundraising directly for EIM itself. As a result our own contributions towards the school’s running costs have now decreased.

Moving forward we’ll continue to provide $300 (around £200) a month towards these running costs. We’ll also provide ongoing financial oversight by continuing to review EIM’s monthly expenditures.

However, we also want to officially recognise and salute the tireless efforts of Brunel, Steph and all the Haitian staff. Their dedication and talent have turned IDV’s original project into an amazing organisation in its own right.

In the last year alone 23 EIM students secured new employment because of their English and 2 received university scholarships.

While none of this would have been possible without Brunel and Steph, it also wouldn’t have been possible without your own generosity over the last five years. So thank you so much, and we hope you’ll continue to support the future success of EIM.

If you have any questions about these developments, or about the school in general, please don’t hesitate to email Andy@IDVolunteers.org. I would be delighted to hear from you.