Institution Classique de Rose Felix

Guilleme I is It is located in the Torbeck section of Les Cayes, one of the most populated regions of Haiti.   Guilleme's population is estimated at about 15,000 people.   Most of the people live without a pay check.  As a result of dire poverty, local parents usually give their children away for domesticity elsewhere.

 

These children are known as Restavék, a Haitian Creole term roughly translated as “Live With”.   The inhabitants of Guilleme do not have access to education; neither can most of them afford a daily meal for their family. Approximately, 20% of these people die yearly due to malnutrition, cholera, tuberculosis, malaria, and more.

 

Following an assessment, by our staff, of the multiple problems that this community faces, we started to build an elementary school designed to provide basic education for about 500 children.   Construction on the building is not yet complete due to scarce resources, nevertheless, with the commitment of our local staff and residents wanting to educate their children, the school is up and running

 

The children are taught by teachers in Haiti and supervised by both the local and USA LAM staff members.   Each classroom has a black-board, chairs, desks and school supplies.  If necessary, children are given school supplies. The ministry works with the local school system to prepare lessons in reading and writing that meet the local school standards.   At the beginning of the school program, the ministry assesses the students’ learning in the reading and writing, than places them in classes that will help them.   Students are supervised by the teaching staff and the local LAM staff on a daily basis. In order for the building project of the school to be completed LAM continues to solicit help from sponsors in the U.S. to provide the financial help for the program.

 

We have made considerable progress in our efforts to help our fellow human beings, but in order to reach our goals, we need your help.  These children need to be educated, and we greatly depend on your generous contributions in order for us to provide them with the education.

 

As the Chinese proverb has it, “If you are planning for one year, sow rice; if you are planning for ten years, plant trees; and if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.’ WHAT ARE YOU FOR? One might ask, “Why these children? Why now?” But one might also ask, ‘If not them, then who? If not now the when?

 

LAM believes that delivering education for all is highly achievable and brings other poverty dividends such as reducing HIV deaths by seven million and doubling child survival by 50% if mothers are educated. Literacy is a basic human right. Over 50% of primary school age children are not enrolled in school. One-third of girls over six never go to school and more than 50% of children attending school are overage.

 

Half of children under 5 are malnourished and over 7% of children die at birth. For every 100,000 births, 523 women died in Haiti, compared to eight maternal deaths for every 100,000 births in Europe and 80 out of 100,000 Haitian children never see their first birthday.

 

Approximately 30% of children attending primary school will not make it to third grade and 60% will abandon school before sixth grade. Less than 40% of non-public schools are accredited. Only  15% of teachers at the primary level have basic teacher qualifications (including university degrees), and nearly 25% have never even attended secondary school.   Approximately 75% of all teachers lack adequate training; many have just a 9th grade or 12th grade education, with no teacher training at all. Less than 20% of schools have electricity; 39% have potable water; 15% have a library. Over two-thirds of the labor force do not have formal jobs. Life expectancy is 61 years.