Konbit Pou Potapiman

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 1^st phase: construct 3 rooms and latrines. 2^nd 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

On Sunday June 23rd ,as it is a yearly custom, Konbit Pou Potapiman (KPP) presented  the “Prix d’Excellence Eric Belfort” Awards  to nine students from various schools of the commune of Port-a-Piment. The 2018 recipients were chosen by the School Administrators for their best academic performance throughout the school year.

 

Usually the Award ceremony is performed at the Church of Notre Dame du Rosaire in Port-a-Piment after the celebration of Sunday mass. Since the church was destroyed by Hurricane Matthew, parishioners have been attending mass at the Salle Paroissiale and that is where the Award ceremony took place.

 

At the end of the mass, the Parish Pastor, Father Cherfils, introduced Mrs. Paule-Edeline Orcel, KPP board member in charge of the Award presentation, accompanied by Agr. Gerdy François, another KPP member. In attendance this year was the President of KPP Mr. Frantz Jean. In his allocution, Mr Jean took the opportunity to thank the parents, the teachers and the directors for their effort and guidance.

 

The students, one by one, went on the podium and were presented with a Certificate and a cash envelope to help bear the cost of higher education.

         

The 2018 recipients of the PRIX d‘EXCELLENCE ERIC BELFORT are:

Name	School
Jean Minold Rendische	Lycée de Port-a-Piment
Abigail Seide	Lycée de Port-a-Piment
Miermon Francois	Lycée de Port-a-Piment
Germaine Vital	E F A C A P
Vendinière Cayford	E F A C A P
Jullie Frederik	Ecole Evangélique Baptiste
Louinord Pierre-Louis	Ecole Evangélique Baptiste
Guerline Moise	Collège Stella Maris
Keveni Alcindor	Collège Stella Maris

Konbit Pou Potapiman will continue this tradition of rewarding academic excellence. KPP wants to say thank you to the family of Eric Belfort for providing the funds for this activity.

 

Thank you all for your support.

 

 

Carolle Paul

During the months of March, April and May 2018, a student contest, “Débat Génie Scolaire”, organized by the Haitian National Police and the Department of Education was held in the department Sud of Haiti. Fifty four (54) national public schools participated.. EFACAP of Port-a-Piment was represented by a team of 8 students from its class of 9eme Annee Fondamentale  (9AF).

The contest would challenge the students on their knowledge of French, Creole, Mathematics and general contemporary subjects.

The EFACAP School of Port-a-Piment was a participant and made it to the final stages.

The students first competed at the commune and district levels.

EFACAP of Port-a-Piment won all the preliminary phases and thus qualified to represent the district of Côteaux. The district of Côteaux is formed by the communes of Coteaux, Roche a Bateau and Port-a-Piment.

The finale was held in Cayes and was completed on May 25^th 2018.   EFACAP of Port-a-Piment won Third Place. The National School Ste Rose de Lima of Maniche and The National School of Colette from Torbeck won 1st and 2^nd place respectively.

We congratulate these devoted students for their tenacity and resolve.  We salute the students from EFACAP of Port-a-Piment for their engagement, motivation and will to beat the odds.  We congratulate the teachers for their service. We also recognize the school director, Prof Josue Paul, for his dedication and commitment.

Konbit Pou Potapiman is proud to have supported the EFACAP of Port-a-Piment and its students in this competition.

The students who participated and won the 3^rd place as a team are:

• Sofia Jean-Baptiste
• Vendimière Kryford
• Asline Guerrier
• Becky Toussaint
• Jean-Michel Clergy
• Idea Hyppolite
• Germane Vital
• Breslow B Francois

Congratulations to all the winners!

Background:

Jabouin is a small and poor village located in the commune of Port-a-Piment; a 1 ½ to 2 hours walking distance from the center of town.  On October 4^th, 2016, Hurricane Matthew totally destroyed the area, including its only school.Since that time, KPP has been assisting the school with payroll and school supplies.

Since the passage of Matthew, the school of Jabouin has been on life support. Classes are held under a tarp or in the open air when the heat is unbearable. When it rains, the kids are unable to attend school; at times for several days in a row.The tarp now must accommodate 4 classes, 4 teachers and 118 students.

 

The community of Jabouin, and the School Principal, Mr Mondin  Saint-Cyr, requested our help, your help,  to build a structure where the children can be safe from the elements.

KPP accepted the challenge, and since late in 2017, KPP has been making plans to rebuild the school.

 

The Plan:

KPP contacted 2 local firms for an estimate to build a modest school of 4 rooms, 1 Office with Storage and 4 Latrines. The estimates varied between USD 20.000 and 25.000. It is noted that some work and materials would be provided by the community.

KPP verified the deed of a piece of land donated by Mr Fresner Villarson,a local resident , and it also verified that the school had been certified as a community school for the commune of Jabouin.

KPP contacted different international organizations that build schools in Haiti. One such organization is considering our request. The engineer has so far made 2 site visits, and held a meeting with the community. A second community meeting is scheduled for April the 18^th. If the project is approved, the organization would provide an engineer, foremen and some building materials. The community, with the help of KPP, would provide sand, rocks, water as well as the workforce.

KPP held 2 drives to collect money for this project. A Giving Tuesday drive in November, and a Pledge drive held at our December gala provided us with a total of $ 5377.

On Friday, March 2^nd, 4 members of KPP Inc, having left from the States, traveled to Jabouin. They met the School Director, the students, the parents, members of the community. A meeting was held with the adults where Frantz J Jean, President of KPP, discussed with the residents the plan of construction and the expected involvement of the community. The group also visited the proposed site. On March 15th , Frantz J Jean and KPP member Emiel Jacob met with the engineer to review the requirements of the building organization.

 

Since our visit:

On March 16th, the community held a “Konbit” to clear the site of all foliage, rocks and debris….

On March 27th , sand and rocks were transported to the site by the residents, mostly parents of the students.

 

As of now:

KPP has not yet received a written commitment from the organization. If our request is denied, we will continue with our plans to erect the school, using one of the local builders.

We do understand that the money collected is not yet sufficient to build the entire school. But we have made moving to a better structure a priority, and we will start with what we have, and add rooms as funds become available.

By the next school year, the children of Jabouin should be moving into a better school.

We thank each and every one of you who is helping to make this dream a reality.  Should you wish to contribute to this cause, please contact us at: potapiman@yahoo.com or call at 516-2706144