Thinking of Haiti
Looking at the path of Hurricane Matthew, my mind is immediately drawn to our partner school in Nordette, Haiti. Our thoughts and prayers go out to our friends there. I am thinking about the rural village in the mountainous region of the Central Plateau where the children and families of our partner school, St. Patrick’s of Nordette, live. I am thinking about the many rivers and bridges that are likely flooding, cutting off parts of that country from important resources.
I first visited Haiti shortly after the magnitude 7.3 earthquake in 2010 left an estimated 316,000 killed and over 1.5 million displaced. After the earthquake, Colorado Academy formed a partnership with St. Patrick’s of Nordette, one of the 13 schools overseen by our original partner there, Pere Jeannot. When I met with Pere during the aftermath he thanked me for “experiencing our misery.”
Sadly, the impact of Hurricane Matthew will undoubtedly be significant if not all too familiar. We have received word that everyone at our partner school is safe, and we are excited to be visiting there with students in December. This will be the fourth year CA students will travel to Haiti.
Students attending the trip are currently enrolled in the "Haiti: A Troubled Past and Optimistic Future” course designed to find meaningful and sustainable ways to make improvements in conditions there. Since the partnership began, CA also has partnered with The Road to Hope, a nonprofit dedicated to helping the children of Haiti. The organization, founded by CA parents Richard and Lisa Harris, has provided funding and infrastructure support to projects in Nordette and elsewhere around Haiti. Through our partnership with the Road to Hope, as well as through the work of Colorado Academy student volunteers and teachers, a new St. Patrick’s school building was dedicated in early September, as well as a structure to house a cafeteria, meeting space, and kitchen. Future plans are underway to build a medical clinic there as well.
As we look back on the progress that has been made, we recognize that there is still more work that needs to be done. Hopefully, our students can brainstorm with their faculty advisors ways in which we can continue to respond to the community needs of Nordette, to build upon our successes and learn from our obstacles. Our thoughts are with Haiti.
See below for some readings on the current situation in Haiti:
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