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Hope4Haiti
There is much work to be done...

Following one of the worst natural disasters to ever hit the Western Hemisphere, the 7.2 earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010, we're left with many questions.



Pictured above is what's left of the small schoolyard at our adopted school, Institution Mixte Nao Community School, in Darbonne, Leogane, Haiti.   As is clear, the school has been destroyed.  

FAST FORWARD AHEAD>>>

Scroll down to Progress To Report to view the latest from the site of IMN.
Proof that our efforts are making a difference!

Our Hope4Haiti initiative, which started as a project to raise funds to build an addition, is now redefined as a project to help raise funds to rebuild the school.  As far as the cultural exchange that we'd hoped to derive from such an undertaking, suffice it to say the lessons being learned by all of us on this far exceed anything we could ever have imagined.

Prior to the quake few had ever heard of Darbonne, Leogane.  Being put at the epicenter of this major disaster wasn't in the lesson plans for these students or the staff and our friend and Director of IMN, Maxandre Bien-Aime.

To learn a bit about our adopted school, prior to the quake, and how we plan to go about helping them rebuild their school, please continue to read along.  We would hope that something here may move you to join our Hope4Haiti initiative and experience, first-hand, all the good that can come to you and your group by supporting Maxandre Bien-Aime and the staff and students at Institution Mixte Nao Community School in Darbonne, Leogane, Haiti.
Progress to Report!

Our efforts here are having a direct impact on progress being made at Institution Mixte Nao Community School and in turn the economy in Darbonne.

John Engle provided a very impressive update the first week of May.  

These videos show the two buildings that Maxandre has been able to complete since February 16, when they began to clear the rubble and begin construction.  Everything you're seeing in these videos and additional images on this site was achieved through our Hope4Haiti initiative.  



This is what it's all about folks!

Thanks to John Engle and Haiti Partners for this report!  An earlier update from Haiti Partners.

PLEASE CONSIDER MAKING A DONATION TODAY

If you're interested in making a donation to our Hope4Haiti initiative to help rebuild Institution Mixte Nao Community School (IMNCS), please follow this link to the Haiti Partners site.  Haiti Partners, www.haitipartners.org,  has agreed to act as the fiscal agent for our friends as they go about rebuilding their school.  

*NOTE/Details to follow to insure funds go to our rebuild project for IMN: If visiting this donate page below, please click Other Amount button and designate your donation there and then be sure to scroll down to the Comments box and specify IMN/Maxandre in the space.  Again, this will insure that your donation is directed specifically to this rebuild project.


To view one of the Co-directors of Haiti Partners, John Engle, on the site of IMN with Maxandre, visit:  




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How this all started -

Why Hope4Haiti?  

Our Kids4Good group learned that just 3 hours from the U.S. - by plane, there is a man named Maxandre. 

Maxandre lives in Darbonne, Leogane, Haiti and co-founded a school there in 2002 with his niece, Naomi.  Maxandre founded this school, Institution Mixte Nao (IMN), because he wanted the families in his community to have an alternate choice of education for their children versus the government run schools which are very rigid and punative in their approach to education.   Maxandre and his staff are not using corporal punishment as a tool to get kids to learn.  Unlike the government run schools, which teach all lessons in French, Maxandre is choosing to teach using Kreyol texts and Kreyol communications which is the main language in Darbonne. 

                                        "They are teaching without the stick."
                                                                                S. Archer, Maxandre's friend

Prior to the quake, the school housed grades K thru 5.  

Through our Hope4Haiti project we'd planned to raise at least $8,000, a goal that had more than doubled since we started due to the economy, so that Maxandre could build a second-story onto the existing school, and therefore offer additional grades to his community.

About 70% of the Haitian population is illiterate.  Most of these people live in hunger, without potable water or proper health care.   Few children in Haiti ever make it to 6th grade.

Part of Maxandre's dream is that, by working in a two-way partnership with various organizations, we can help children in Haiti acquire a modest education so that the rate of illiteracy may stop increasing and the children can improve their hopes for a better future.

LESPWA "Hope" Tapestry

Lespwa is Haitian Kreyol for "Hope".  

Our group was fortunate to host a visit from Maxandre in April of '08 and presented him with a very special Lespwa Tapestry that our group created by hand.   See Image >

The Tapestry was made from over 60 Batik squares that each Kids4Good member created themselves.  A special thanks to Ms. Misiora, the art teacher at Lace school and Mrs. Wakefield and the Sewing for a Cause group at EJH for their help in making our Lespwa Tapestry a reality.

Maxandre transported the Lespwa Tapestry back to Haiti and presented it to his students as a token of the commitment we're making to help them build the addition to their school.


UPDATE ON OUR TAPESTRY:

Maxandre managed to salvage the Lespwa Tapestry from the rubble of the school following the recent earthquake.

To read more about this:

The Trib coverage-


The Doings coverage of Maxandre's recent visit - 

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/burrridge/news/2051387,burr-ridge-maxandre-021810-s1.article

Our Lespwa Tapestry makes it home to Haiti!




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