CanEducate continues support in Haiti

Help for Haiti - Day of School

CanEducate is thrilled to announce its continued partnership with Help for Haiti. CanEducate is formally extending an additional $20,000 USD grant to Help for Haiti for the 2021 year following two successful years in Haiti. The $20,000 contribution will go towards tuition assistance for 450 students. CanEducate will cover close to 40% of the total program tuition costs for the 2021-2022 year. Keeping with our underlying philosophy, the parents will pay a portion of the tuition costs so they have a vested financial interest in the success of the program.

2020 partnership accomplishments

As was announced in the 2020 CanEducate press release, CanEducate provided an $11,000 grant to Help for Haiti in mid-2020. With this contribution Help for Haiti was able to cover the food transportation costs from the Feed My Starving Children warehouse to north Haiti. Between September and December 2020, both schools supported in Haiti through CanEducate’s partnership with Help for Haiti have received a total of 280 boxes of food for the approximately 500 enrolled students. These schools are Institution Nouvelle Étoile de Bethléhem (INEB) in Cap-Haïtien and Institution Mixte Martin Luther (IMML) in rural Marmalade.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the temporary closure of both schools, Help for Haiti didn’t provide any tuition support to either school between March and June 2020. One school resumed classes in July 2020 when the Haitian government lifted the mandated quarantine; and a financial contribution of $1,500 was provided to support their efforts. The other school didn’t resume normal classes but held special classes for the 9th graders who had to take a mandatory national exam latter the year; hence they didn’t receive any monetary transfer for that period.

Through the partnership between CanEducate and Help for Haiti, 76% of INEB’s students were beneficiaries of the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) during the school year 2019-2020. Their tuition fees were reduced by 40%, factoring in family history and economic status, with 67% of these students being girls. IMML had 246 students enrolled during the same school year and because the students at IMML were more disadvantaged, Help for Haiti has supported every student by forfeiting 40% of their tuition fees. For the school year 2020-2021, Help for Haiti is supporting 30% to 36% of the tuition fees to all INEB’s students, or 112 students and 60% of the tuition fees of 181 students at IMML. All funds are transferred per trimester and after parents have made their contributions to their child’s tuition.

While more work can always be done, CanEducate is proud to have supported students in Haiti in partnership with Help for Haiti to provide for food and tuition assistance during such challenging times. CanEducate will focus on tuition assistance going forward, but we felt it was critical to step in to help secure food for children in need at a time when food was scarce.

Other 2020 Updates in Haiti

Construction of a new school for INEB was scheduled to be completed in March 2020 but was delayed due to a mandated COVID-19 quarantine by the Haitian government. With prayer, patience, and perseverance the school opened its doors at the new location in November 2020. It is now in full operation with all its classrooms, kitchens, electrical power, and toilets.

Sadly, 2020 saw students and parents fall further into acute poverty, as the pandemic simply exacerbated the challenge Haiti has been battling for several decades. The pandemic and the mandated quarantine caused massive job loss in Haiti. Students, parents, and communities were severely impacted. For many students the one hot meal they received at school was likely the only meal they would eat for the day. A quick response was needed. Help for Haiti is grateful and proud to have been in a financial position to create a COVID-19 relief fund in the amount of $20,000. These funds were a one-year award from the Light a Single Candle (LASC) Foundation. The relief fund was used to provide food relief and PPE supplies for three consecutive months to 238 families within the Haitian community. The success of this project and positive feedback received from the Foundation has made Help for Haiti eligible to receive one-third of the initial award to continue relief efforts.  

Adult Entrepreneurship Program

Because Help for Haiti couldn’t hold training sessions and meetings, the staff had to strategically manage the program differently to complete tasks. Help for Haiti completed the second year of the One Hen Adult Program, secured additional funding of $25,000, graduated 150 adults, established 10 Entrepreneur Circles, and provided small business loans to 15 graduates of the program.

2021 CanEducate Ambassador: Louna Jean-Pierre

Louna Jean-Pierre: Louna is in 4th grade and a top student. She has been a student at the Institution Nouvelle Étoile de Bethléhem (INEB) school since Pre-K1. Her favorite subjects are French and Math. She has two brothers who also attend the school: Edisson Bien-Aimé in 2nd grade and Anderson Jean-Pierre in 3rd grade. Her mom expressed how grateful her family was to be beneficiaries of the Tuition Assistance Program and voluntarily said she would love to become a family ambassador for CanEducate.

With Louna’s dad selling used electronics devices on the street and her mom selling cold beverages from their house, they would not have been able to send the children to school without being in the Program. Her mom also said “the Tuition Assistance Program helps me to have more money to feed my family…without the support I wouldn’t have been able to do so”. Louna was an honor roll student for the first semester with a 9.04 grade (A+) out of 10. She said that she would want to go to college someday to become a dentist.