ESPN.com

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Guitton School

Exciting news!!

The school in Guitton is beginning their fourth week of school!!  When visiting Haiti in October, my team and I began to ask questions to find out what needed to be done for school to begin.  We discovered that students needed uniforms (mandated my the Haitian government), school supplies, chalk boards, desks, teachers, and curriculum.  We sat down and discussed this with the pastor of the church and he was very excited about the prospect of beginning the school.  We asked him to find some estimates of how much money we would cost to obtain supplies, who could teach the classes, and how to register the children, and we all agreed to meet back in two days.  Well, if you aren't aware, Haitian's speak Creole.  We had been communicating with the pastor through a translator, and there happened to be some mistranslation.  Two days later, rather than discussing registration, the student were being registered!!  All of the plans had been set in motion, and teachers, material for uniforms, and building supplies were prepared.  We were starting a school!! Rather than waiting until the beginning of the year, three weeks later, 76 haitian students between the ages of 2 and 17 arrived for their first day of school!  These students are receiving an opportunity to go to school, free of charge, something that is very uncommon in Haiti where there is no public school system.  If you would like to sponsor a child, to ensure that they will be able to receive a free education, you may visit www.mfillmore.com/haiti or www.smihaiti.org/guittonschool to find more information and pictures of the students, school, and payment options if you would like to support financially.  It only costs 200 dollars for a student in Haiti to receive an education for an entire year!!  Only 200 dollars can dramatically transform a life and a future for each one of these children!  What a better way to share our blessings?!


Loveline, affectionately nicknamed Nashley by her family, in her uniform
on her first day of school

Haiti

I recently took a trip to the country of Haiti.  This in my second time to visit this impoverished country.  I went one time before the devastating earthquake, and this recent trip occurred after the quake.  I had an amazing trip, and thoroughly enjoyed visiting my Hatian friends.  The point of my trip was to help rebuild a school that had been destroyed by the earthquake, spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to lay the groundwork for a school to be started in the village of Guitton.  Guitton has never had a school in its history, and the children in the village are vastly uneducated.  We hoped to be able to raise money to operate a school out of an existing church building, employ 6 Haitian teachers and 1 principal, and to teach the students about Jesus.  I worked with an organization called SMI Haiti who have have been doing work in Haiti for the past 15 years.

Millie and I