Voix et Actions

On August 4^th, I met James Duracin.

James is the son of the Rt. Rev. Jean Zaché Duracin, Episcopal Bishop of Haiti, and leads a Haitian group called Voix et Actions (Voices and Actions) which is seeking scholarship sponsors for Haitian children. In Haiti, he met Emily Pifer of Grand Island, who brought him to meet with members of the Episcopal Diocese here to further his cause.

Surprise #1: There are no public schools in Haiti. How does anyone break out of a cycle of poverty without access to education? While many families are struggling to provide food, the annual tuition of $250 plus the costs of books and uniforms is formidable. Children simply don’t go to school.

Surprise #2: There is still debris from the earthquake in the streets. That’s right: lots of money was promised to Haiti (only two countries have now fulfilled their pledges), but it’s all earmarked for sexier causes with sexier results. No one is sending millions of dollars to clear rubble, not when they can be sending vaccines and food. The rubble doesn’t get moved, traffic doesn’t flow, vendors aren’t patonised, rebuilding can’t start...

Surprise #3: Here I am forgetting my French to learn Creole, but Haitian children need to forget their Creole and learn proper French to get jobs. Yet, of the population of school-age children, only 50% enroll in school. Of those, 30% will drop out before Grade 3, and 60% will drop out before Grade 6. Here’s the math done for you: only 20% of the population gets a Grade 6 education or above, which explains why the average literacy rate in Haiti hovers just below 50%. Unless they’re learning French some other way, only 20% will be employable in tourism or in industry (large companies are waiting for the rebuild to locate in Haiti, but until they clear the streets…).

It’s no big secret that political corruption is keeping much-needed funds from getting where they need to go, unless where they need to go is to the French vacation homes of government officials. The Episcopal Church of Haiti is operating along similar lines as Habitat Haiti, if with less force. Creating jobs, educating people to make them employable, and channelling funds to create tangible results while international pledges remain unpaid or undistributed. The more I hear about conditions there, the more anxious I am to get there and do my part, even if it means getting on a plane first.

As an aside, Emily is in Haiti teaching English, but is still learning Creole herself. I’m hoping to hook up with her for some practice coffees once I learn some more verbs. So there’s the bright side: help is on the way.