Let us start by thanking:
- Mondin Saint-Cyr (Principal of the community school of Jabouin)
- BuildOn Organization
- Parents and community of Jabouin
- Contributors to the pledge
- KPP
We did it! The community school of Jabouin is becoming a reality.
A little history to bring everyone up to speed on how the community school of Jabouin started and how we ended up with the construction of the new school building.
Creation of the School
If we didn’t have a dreamer, or someone with great vision who was willing to take chances when most people would have seen obstacles or failures, today the community school of Jabouin would not have been a reality. Mr. Mondin Saint-Cyr, the dreamer, the visionary – who saw a need for the community and took a leap of faith to start a school without the resources needed to sustain it.
Shortly after the earthquake of 2010, Mr. Saint-Cyr who was teaching and living in Port-au-Prince at the time went back to his home town of Jabouin supposedly for a short visit. Once there, he realized the children of the area needed a school and decided to open one. Around the time he started the school, he met Frantz J Jean (KPP’s president) and asked for KPP’s help. From there, a partnership began. KPP since then has been assisting with payroll and school supplies. Before Hurricane Matthew, the school had 4 classes, 4 teachers and 108 students.
Destruction – Hurricane Matthew
As we all know, Hurricane Matthew devastating the Southwest of Haiti. Jabouin which is located about 2 hours walking distance from the town of Port-a-Piment, suffered devastation beyond what most of us can imagine. Of course, mother nature did not spare the school that so many of the children in the area depended on.
Mother nature struck a devastated blow to the school but that did not discourage the dedicated teachers and Mr. Saint-Cyr (the principal). They were determined to save the school. They went into action by setting a temporary site to conduct classes. Classes were conducted in open air or under a tarp. Around noon or early afternoon, the heat was unbearable. No need to say, when it rained, the kids couldn’t attend school; that used to be for several days in a row.
The community school of Jabouin after the devastation of Hurricane Matthew.
Our Partner for this Project
As we saw pictures of the conditions where children were attending school, KPP sprang into action. We decided to start a fund-raising campaign to rebuild the school. We took part in Giving Tuesday for Thanksgiving in November 2017 and did a pledge drive at our annual Gala of 2017. Altogether, we raised $5,952.00.
Although we didn’t have enough money to build the school, we decided on a ground-breaking date of June 2018. Like Mr. Saint-Cyr we decided to take a leap of faith. Somehow, we believed in the saying, “where there is a will there is a way”.
Of course, we didn’t stop there, we contacted several organizations and friends of KPP in Haiti to see if they could help us. We knocked on a lot of doors but finally, BuildOn agreed with us: the community of Jabouin needs a school. BuildOn is a non profit organization which specializes in building school in villages lacking adequate eclassrooms. BuildOn’s presence in the South is very much welcome. Headquartered in Cayes, the schools built are structurally sound to withstand earthquakes, hurricanes, and severe storms, and many BuildOn schools served as community shelters So BuildOn partnered with us to realize this project.. They decided the project will be done in 2 phases. The 1st phase: construct 3 rooms and latrines. 2nd phase: based on the success of the school, come back and construct the additional room with an office and storage. BuildOn is providing an engineer, foreman and the bulk of the building materials. The community with the help of KPP is providing sand, rocks, gravel, water and some materials as well the payroll for the workforce.
As a complementary project provided by KPP, we are looking into constructing a well to provide water for the school and the community at large.
Realization of the Dream
As of this writing, the school has not been completed. But the building should be ready for September.
Community School Building of Jabouin – Construction in Progress
Let me conclude with a translated note from Mr. Saint-Cyr :
“On behalf of the committee of parents, the teachers and the school’s administration, we want to thank everyone who contributed toward the construction of the school of Jabouin. To the members of KPP, your contribution means a lot to the community and to the children. I wish God will continue blessing us and give us strength to continue working for our community.”
Yves Sidney