November, 2020
Share & Connect Quarterly Newsletter
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New School Year Began October 19th at Bon Samaritan!
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School may be starting about a month later this year; however, Bon Samaritan School students are ready to catch up and get back to learning. The primary grades of Preschool through 6th grade have 10 full-time teachers.
Pere Phanord is being creative and persistent to keep all grades open while facing the biggest financial challenges yet. At this time, it is likely two classes (7th and 8th grade) will have to be closed due to the currency crisis causing insufficient funds to pay the teachers. All possibilities are being explored to combine classes or find another innovative way to continue providing education for children in these two classes.
The secondary school continues to grow as the only secondary school in the area (grades 9-13). The families of these 128 students are paying a higher tuition in order to earn a diploma that will bring opportunity for their young people. Education is truly the pathway to success. The SFHP goal is to keep that pathway open to all the children of Bondeau.
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Employees Yahou, Michealange & Molien pictured above.
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Our Bondeau Partners in Business...
3 Jobs Provided!
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As a community economic sustainability project, our Bondeau partners are managing a 4 month-old business of raising chickens to sell for meat at the market.
Oversight and management is provided by the Chicken Broiler Project Committee composed of respected community members. See them pictured below (Steevens, Wilcaire, Mireille, and Adrien).
They have hired 3 Bondeau residents (pictured to the left) to care for the chickens from hatchlings until they reach saleable weight. The 3rd round of chickens (1020 chicks) have been successfully raised and sold this past week!
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Extreme Currency Crisis in Haiti...
Recent actions by the Haitian government have artificially inflated the value of the Haitian gourde in relation to the American dollar. In September, the exchange rate was 125 gourdes to the dollar. The new exchange rate is 63 gourdes to the dollar.
If you want details and explanations you can read more in the Miami Herald and the Haitian Times. Most economists believe that this change is not sustainable, and that the exchange rate will soon return to the previous level.
For the South Florida Haiti Project, the money that is sent every month for teacher salaries now covers only half of the payroll. This puts Pere Phanord in a very difficult position as there are not funds to make up the shortfall. This new government policy could be devastating for not only Bon Samaritan School, but all the SFHP initiatives in Bondeau.
This sudden drastic exchange rate change is also potentially disastrous for Haitians who depend on remittances from the United States. Haitians in the diaspora regularly send money back to their families in Haiti. In 2019 that amounted to $1.65 billion. For a country whose entire GDP totals $9.659 billion, these remittances are huge.
Please join in praying for a resolution to this currency crisis.
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Bathrooms Being Built at the School!
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In many ways, it's a miracle in progress! For years the Bondeau community has identified sanitation as a desperate need at the school and now finally their dreams are being realized. The UTO grant awarded this summer to South Florida Haiti Project is specifically for this bathroom project and piping clean, potable water into the community. After years of trying (not very successfully) to maintain latrines at the school, soon students and staff will have 12 functioning bathrooms at the school and 4 showers available to the community.
This project is utilizing water from the wells drilled in 2017 which were disappointingly not potable; now blessing is found from this water for essential sanitation. Haitian Engineer Makenson Senoza has been contracted for this exciting project that is expected to be complete in approximately five months.
“Access to safe water and adequate sanitation services has proved to be one of the most efficient ways of improving human health. [It also] has other important benefits ranging from the easily identifiable and quantifiable (costs avoided and time saved) to the more intangible and difficult-to-measure (convenience, well-being, dignity, privacy, and safety).” -- UN World Water Development Report
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Thoughts of Bondeau...
Beginning with this issue, each newsletter will feature “thoughts” from someone who has been to Bondeau— every person is unique sharing their own gift(s) of skill, talent, love, and relationship— each one has a story. They will decide what their focus will be: it may be their memories of Bondeau; or perhaps it is what happened after their time in Bondeau; or it could be about Bondeau relationships formed; and more! Be it about the place, the people, or the experience... whatever is shared, may these personal insights enhance and expand our understanding of our Bondeau partnership.
Sara Patterson shares...
Bondeau. What comes to mind when I think of Bondeau? It might be the beautiful singing at the flag raising at the start of the school day. It might be beautiful smiles of young women who make bows to raise money for their education. It might be the meal bags put together every year through careful production lines of amazing volunteers. For me these are all wonderful moments, but I also think of the memories that amazed me at the time. The insane traffic through mountain roads. Haitian Nurses that would show endless patience with non bilingual volunteers. Good Samaritans who stopped to help change the tire of our van transporting precious medical supplies. These are a few of the many memories that I hold dear to my heart. I’m happy to have helped, even in the smallest of ways, such a wonderful community of people.
Sara visited Bondeau 3 times... once as part of a maintenance mission team working on the secondary school wing and twice as a member of a Healthcare Mission team as a non-medical assistant. We are so grateful for Sara and her work as a committed partner!
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NEW Healthcare Plan!
The SFHP Healthcare Coordinating Team has collaborated with our Haitian healthcare professionals to formulate a plan for Bondeau to have regular, ongoing healthcare. Working as a team, Bondeau will have:
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SFHP School Nurse 5 days a week
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Monthly visits by a ARNP (Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner)
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Quarterly visits by a doctor who will also be available for consultation and telehealth when necessary.
This team will begin with a 2-day Mobile Clinic at Bondeau supported by nursing students from our partner FSIL (the nursing school in Leogane)
Funds are needed to begin this plan as soon as possible.
Will you please help bring healthcare to Bondeau?
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Filled with Gratitude for YOU...
Your prayers, your donations, your volunteer time... strengthens and grows our partnership with the beloved community of Bondeau. Your support enables the SFHP initiatives of Education, Healthcare, Economic Sustainability,
Clean Water / Sanitation, and Infrastructure to happen.
Thank you!
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GIVING TUESDAY
A day when the world
comes together to give
Have you heard about #GivingTuesday— the global day of giving? Celebrated on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (in the U.S.), #GivingTuesday provides a moment to pause, be grateful, support causes you care about, join together with friends and colleagues and share your stories on social media. South FL Haiti Project is participating...
A great time to give your Year End gift!
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