Where He leads...: Haiti: Give the gift of education

Haiti: Give the gift of education

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While at a thrift store recently I passed by a teacher's companion about October. It was a thick book filled with dozens of pages of creative ideas and activities for teaching about this colorful month. I can still remember learning about the seasons in elementary school. Our teachers would adorn the walls with decorations representing each month. I'd head home after school, ready to proudly display my collage of leaves we'd collected outside and glued to the paper. I couldn't imagine a day in class that didn't include some creative learning activities.

As I've spent the last decade traveling to and living in countries where the majority of children do not share the same privileges I had growing up, I've realized that one of the main things I've taken for granted throughout my life is my education. And growing up in a town with a good public school system, my education was essentially free. For 13 years I was able to attend great schools, with trained and devoted teachers, learning everything from geometry to physics, poetry to French, and even clay and ceramics. For free. While I mostly enjoyed school, I know I had my "But I don't want to go to school, Mommy" days. I had no idea what a privilege my education was.

Let's consider Haiti. You can google "Haiti education statistics" and find a list of sad figures:

50% of children are not enrolled in primary school
Less than 1/3 of those children will reach the fifth grade
1/3 of girls over the age of 6 never attend school
More than 50% of children enrolled in school are overage
Less than 5% of students graduate high school (I've seen statistics as low as 2%)

And one survey indicates that "Haitians who are 25 years and older received on average only 4.9 years of education and only 29 percent attended secondary school".

When I think of the incredible education so many of us have had, my heart breaks for the kids I've passed on the streets of Haiti who've had to trade their pencils for a broom. Instead of putting on a brightly colored uniform like other kids in their community, they stay home and help cook, clean, and fetch water. Granted, most Haitian kids whether in school or not help with household chores, but too many kids in Haiti are missing out on an education because their families can't afford to send them to school. School in Haiti is not free. The majority of schools in Haiti are privately managed and the fees per child per year range from $125-180. Parents are also expected to purchase a school uniform and dress shoes for each child. When you consider that 75% of Haitians live on less then $2 a day and 50% of Haitians live on less than $1 a day, education becomes a luxury that many families cannot afford. In my experience, this is a common reason many parents surrender their children to orphanages. I think of Maxolyn who I met in 2012 and how she approached me about giving her boys to my friend's orphanage because she wanted them to have an education that she could never afford. That conversation is what triggered the school sponsorship program that I've been heading up each summer since then.

1st row: Debora, Jeff, Samuel

2nd row: Snaïder, Dialine, Djoubens

3rd row: Esaie, Dave, Marisol

4th row: Verley, Joulie, Christele

For $200 you can give the gift of education to a child in Haiti. Your gift will pay for school enrollment and provide a uniform and pair of shoes for the school year. There are twelve kids I need to find sponsors for this year. You can see their photos and names above. If you would like to sponsor a child for the 2015-2016 school year you can send a check made out to Hannah Sterling to P.O. Box 4878, Maryville, TN 37802 or you can make a donation via Paypal by clicking the button below. I'll be taking the school sponsorship money with me on my trip to Haiti July 14th so I need to receive your donation by July 10th. Feel free to include the name of the child you would like to sponsor, otherwise I will choose one for you. Once all the children are sponsored I will send you more information about your sponsored child.

I want to thank many of you who have helped these kids over the years. Several of you have been repeat sponsors. Thank you! And thanks to my sweet friend Kylie's 6th grade class at Maryville Christian School, one child out of these 12 has already been sponsored. So only 11 to go! Thank you for considering giving the precious gift of education to a child in Haiti! What a difference a gift like this can make in the life of a child and for the entire family!