HAITI HOPE HOUSE
a better future through education and vocational training
PO Box 292 Orange, NJ 07051
April 2020 Newsletter
www.haitihopehouse.org
www.facebook.com/haitihopehouse
Our Mission Statement
The mission of Haiti Hope House, Inc. is to seek opportunities to help educate Haitian children, and train young adults in marketable skills in partnership with existing organizations and local communities in order to equip them for a better future and give them hope.
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In This Issue:
Staying Home Updates on the Learning Center Contact Us
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Staying Home Rev. Aguilh
I should be in Haiti at this time. For the past nine year, that has been a given, March is the time for the first of my two yearly trips to Mizak.
Unfortunately, the political situation since my last trip, the most challenging one at that time, far from getting better, has gotten much worse. In recent months, in addition to the violence and the roadblocks, is the brutal act of kidnapping for ransom. In fact because of these risks, last month, the US State Department issued a “Do Not Travel” (code 4) to Haiti directive.
So, as much as I would like to be there, as much as would like to see and encourage the children, meet and motivate the parents, talk personally with all the school principals, I am staying home. It is too risky to travel to Haiti at this time, and that was before the novel Coronavirus made its apparition there.
Thanks be to God for giving us a dedicated servant with whom I am in daily contact, and whom I trust to take care of things even during my absence. He is the HHH liaison, brother Isidor who continues to work tirelessly under difficult conditions, with the parents as well as the schools and the students, to ensure their success.
The following picture shows a meeting with the parents that he held last week at the Learning Center. It is a meeting that I normally would have with the parents this time of the year to look at how things are about half way through the school year.
I should be in Haiti at this time. For the past nine year, that has been a given, March is the time for the first of my two yearly trips to Mizak.
Unfortunately, the political situation since my last trip, the most challenging one at that time, far from getting better, has gotten much worse. In recent months, in addition to the violence and the roadblocks, is the brutal act of kidnapping for ransom. In fact because of these risks, last month, the US State Department issued a “Do Not Travel” (code 4) to Haiti directive.
So, as much as I would like to be there, as much as would like to see and encourage the children, meet and motivate the parents, talk personally with all the school principals, I am staying home. It is too risky to travel to Haiti at this time, and that was before the novel Coronavirus made its apparition there.
Thanks be to God for giving us a dedicated servant with whom I am in daily contact, and whom I trust to take care of things even during my absence. He is the HHH liaison, brother Isidor who continues to work tirelessly under difficult conditions, with the parents as well as the schools and the students, to ensure their success.
The following picture shows a meeting with the parents that he held last week at the Learning Center. It is a meeting that I normally would have with the parents this time of the year to look at how things are about half way through the school year.
With a late start due to the political unrest mentioned above, and now with the closing of the schools due to the Coronavirus, this is truly a very challenging year for all of us: parents, schools, students, and yes Haiti Hope House. We will have some tough decisions to make regarding the 2020-2021 school year roster.
As of this writing, we are at a passing rate of only 65%, and many schools are reporting grades for just one marking period.
Our hope is that the schools will not be closed for too long, and that a mechanism will be put in place to make up for some of the lost academic time.
As of this writing, we are at a passing rate of only 65%, and many schools are reporting grades for just one marking period.
Our hope is that the schools will not be closed for too long, and that a mechanism will be put in place to make up for some of the lost academic time.
Update on the Library Rev. Aguilh
If I remember correctly, I believe that I mentioned in the last newsletter that weather permitting, I intended to take another trip to Canada last fall to pick up the latest load of books collected for HHH by my wife’s nephew Duwalph.
Well, last November, I spent my birthday in Canada doing just that. I returned to the US with every available space in my GMC Terrain SUV filled with books. Thanks be to God, during a little lull in the violence in Haiti, in mid December, I shipped three oversized U-HAUL moving boxes full of books to Haiti. They arrived at the HHH Library in Mizak toward the end of January.
They have made a big difference, and many of the empty shelves are now full. The pictures below tell the story.
If I remember correctly, I believe that I mentioned in the last newsletter that weather permitting, I intended to take another trip to Canada last fall to pick up the latest load of books collected for HHH by my wife’s nephew Duwalph.
Well, last November, I spent my birthday in Canada doing just that. I returned to the US with every available space in my GMC Terrain SUV filled with books. Thanks be to God, during a little lull in the violence in Haiti, in mid December, I shipped three oversized U-HAUL moving boxes full of books to Haiti. They arrived at the HHH Library in Mizak toward the end of January.
They have made a big difference, and many of the empty shelves are now full. The pictures below tell the story.
This picture of the library’s left side was taken in Oct. 2018
Look at the picture below taken in January 2020
Look at the picture below taken in January 2020
The newly arrived books are being organized according to their genres, tagged, and registered before going on the shelf.
Now look at the left side of the library in the next picture See any difference?
We still have some empty shelves to fill, but more and more, the library is looking like a real library, with a lot of different books much to the delight of the entire community, especially the children. It is even more important now with the schools closed once again, this time because of COVID-19.
Thank you so much Doudou.
Now look at the left side of the library in the next picture See any difference?
We still have some empty shelves to fill, but more and more, the library is looking like a real library, with a lot of different books much to the delight of the entire community, especially the children. It is even more important now with the schools closed once again, this time because of COVID-19.
Thank you so much Doudou.
Update on the Security Wall Rev. Aguilh
Though the Learning Center has been fully operational since September 2018, there is still some work that needs to be done to enhance its security and its aesthetics.
I was always concerned about the cinder blocks wall around the LC campus, and the need to strengthen it with a steel reinforced concrete belt on the top that would bind together the individual sections which are connected only by the vertical concrete beams.
While in Mizak last September, and after I returned to the US, with brother Isidor managing it, we began and completed this project. See the pictures below.
In the first picture taken in December 2017 as the foundation for the main gate was being laid, one can see that only the adjacent sections of the wall were bound to each other by the vertical iron reinforced concrete beams.
The picture just above taken in September 2019 shows how the horizontal steel reinforced concrete belt binds all the sections with each other and with the vertical beams.
I was also concerned about the front part of the wall as well as the section which is the side wall of the storage building which connects to the wall on the left side. This part of the wall serves as the rear of the store room and of my living space. I was concerned about the security of the windows as much as how bad they looked. So, during January and February 2020 we rectified these conditions.
The following pictures show nicely finished walls and secured windows, from the main gate all the way around until the corner where my room back wall ends.
Again I give thanks to brother Isidor for his leadership and management of this project.
We still have a fair amount of work left to do on the wall, but for now, the most important part is completed.
I was also concerned about the front part of the wall as well as the section which is the side wall of the storage building which connects to the wall on the left side. This part of the wall serves as the rear of the store room and of my living space. I was concerned about the security of the windows as much as how bad they looked. So, during January and February 2020 we rectified these conditions.
The following pictures show nicely finished walls and secured windows, from the main gate all the way around until the corner where my room back wall ends.
Again I give thanks to brother Isidor for his leadership and management of this project.
We still have a fair amount of work left to do on the wall, but for now, the most important part is completed.
Here the masons are roughcasting the wall of the storage room with a cement rich mortar . When they finish this and have smoothed this wall, they will turn to the side wall which serves as the back wall of the storage room and of my bedroom.
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The mason is putting the final touch on the storage room wall. The front wall, starting at the main gate is already done.
The mason is putting the final touch on the storage room wall. The front wall, starting at the main gate is already done.
Putting the final touch on the right side wall. The first window is the storage room window, the second one is my bedroom window.
Contact Us
Please visit our website www.haitihopehouse.org . You can contact any of us listed below with your questions.
Rev. Franck Aguilh, Chair
revfranckaguilh@haitihopehouse.org
telephone: 973 495-7206
Mrs. Langirene Aguilh, Secretary
langireneaguilh@haitihopehouse.org
telephone: 973 420-7284
Dr. Michael Stewart, Treasurer
mjstewart@haitihopehouse.org
telephone: 917 584 - 6758
Rev. Geralda Aldajuste
pastoraldajuste@haitihopehouse.org
telephone: 732 207-7185
Mr. Ivan Kelly
iwkelly@haitihopehouse.org
telephone: 347 451-1592
Mrs. Saundra Austin-Benn
saustin-benn@haitihopehouse.org
telephone: 908 313 8628
Dr. Joy Traille
drjtraille@haitihopehouse.org
telephone:
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