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Part II: Projects lead the way in efforts to connect schools
WEYERS CAVE — Megan Samples and Mike Aronoff didn’t know what to expect when they checked the solar oven they’d placed in a field near Blue Ridge Community College on a mid-December afternoon. The sun was out, but a cold wind blew, and the temperatures were below freezing.After two hours, the SunOven should have heated up to 400 degrees, but in the Shenandoah Valley in mid-December? Not likely. Haiti, of course, would be a different story, and that’s where the SunOven is headed. There’s no shortage of sun — and warm temperatures — in Haiti. Samples, Aronoff and the rest of BRCC’s Students for Free Enterprise will take the oven to the island of La Gonave next month to train an entrepreneur and help get his baking business going. Haiti Outreach Foundation will provide supplies and support the project. While they are on La Gonave, the group also will continue a successful trend in helping Haitian families raise rabbits for sale. In a country where jobs are precious, creating a sustainable home business is a powerful enterprise. Already SIFE, along with Haiti Outreach Foundation, has helped establish a rabbit cooperative supporting a number of families in Zabricot. In January, the group will use funds students have raised to purchase rabbits for a similar operation in Signeau. “We are currently arranging for the rabbits to be purchased and transported from the Zabricot Cooperative on LaGonave — which will add to the sustainability of that cooperative as well,” said Rebecca Evans, the SIFE advisor. “We’re excited. The demand for rabbits is incredible and the opportunity these entrepreneurial farm ventures offer the poor is life changing.” In Staunton, a new partnership with Haiti is budding. In the gymnasium at Stuart Hall School in early December, several hundred middle and upper school students scurried through the doors to designated spots along the walls. There they packed up bags of small gifts — toys, barrettes, party favors — and bagged them up for new friends, half for girls, half for boys. Then they wrote letters and students taking French classes translated them into that language. They were making gifts for boys and girls in Haiti. Stuart Hall, along with five area Episcopal churches in Staunton, Waynesboro and Bath County, work in partnership with the teachers and students of St. Marc’s School in Cerca La Source, a remote village in the Haiti’s Central Plateau not from the border with the Dominican Republic. The gathering of churches and Stuart Hall is called the Haiti Collaborative. Step by step, project by project, fundraiser by fundraiser, the collaborative has committed to helping St. Marc’s School. The partnership could result in funding a five-classroom school, help with teachers’ salaries, provide a daily meal. It is remarkable how little money would take to meet most of these goals — $1,540 per classroom, $38 a month for a teachers’ salary, $46 a month for the head teacher. Feeding the 150 registered students a daily meal of rice and beans is among the most costly commitment, $1,600 a month for food, labor and equipment. Only having started regular conversations and study since June, the Haiti Collaborative members have not committed to any specific level of help, a step they will make as the partnership develops.. But even as those decisions are being made, the church congregations and vestries are gathering funds for St. Marc’s School, and the gift packages have been sent. Pere Walin Descamp, the priest who oversees the school project in Cerca La Source, sent an early thank-you note. Descamp visited Trinity Episcopal in April, sparking much of the interest in partnership. “On behalf of all the parents, students and the staff of St Marc’s school/church in Cerca La Source, I just want to thank you so deeply for this your kindness to the school kids more especially. I am very sure that they will enjoy these wonderful gifts,” he wrote in an e-mail. Benefits of the relationship run deep and wide. Kelly McFarland, a senior at Stuart Hall, helped lead the school project. It is a natural fit with her interest in community involvement. “It really makes a difference when one person gets involved,” she said. “The students here are so willing to help out. It’s so satisfying.” .. .. As part of the Haiti Collaborative, the upper school began raising money this fall to buy gifts for the children of St. Marc’s. It was to be a symbol of their friendship. By hosting a “dress down” day, during which the students could wear jeans and T-shirts for a small donation of $2, and other contributions, the students collected $320. McFarland said most of the students were hooked as soon as they heard the facts of Haiti, how little money its residents make and how seldom children get regular meals. “They go right into, ‘I want to help. How can I help?’” The congregation of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Staunton has sponsored several children through Chemen Lavi, a nonprofit founded in part by Patrick Eugene, a James Madison University student from Saltedere, Haiti. “People were leaving shoes at the door of the church,” said Earlette Anderson, who added the project started after Eugene spoke to the congregation about the needs in Haiti. “That’s what God wants you do, to share your blessings with others,” she said. “And that’s what we do.” .. .. ……………….. Permission to republish granted by Cindy Corell
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