Introductions

Well it is Thursday, and we leave next Tuesday, so preparations are in high swing. Five of us are traveling together, all are board members of the Haitian Education Fund (HEF).  The HEF raises funds to improve education on the central plateau of Haiti, by partnering with the Hinche diocesan bureau of education (known as the BDE).  Each of us is also involved in our own Virginia parish's Haiti ministry.  All but one of us has traveled to Haiti before, and each of us will have our own story to tell.  We are:

Kathy Dowdy from Holy Family in Virginia Beach.  She is the chair of the HEF board.
Colleen Hernandez from Our Lady of Nazareth in Roanoke.  She is one of two vice-chairs.
Irene Saul is a former member of Our Lady of Nazareth now living in New Jersey, but still helping the cause of education in Haiti.
Monica Walker from St. Thomas Aquinas on her first trip to Haiti.
Me, Kathy Gross

So here is my story:

I made my first trip to Haiti in 2002, on a lark.  As it turned out, it was the first HEF board trip.  I had never before traveled to any place like Haiti and I was deeply moved by the beauty and grace of the people, as well as by the poverty and environmental devastation.  I remember visiting an orphanage founded by the Sisters of Charity (Mother Teresa's order) after we arrived in Port au Prince.  There were rooms filled with paint-chipped cribs with malnourished children.  My heart broke with the realization that some of these children might not survive, and those that did had a very rough life ahead of them.  Later on that trip, we met with members of the diocesan bureau of education in Hinche (BDE).  They outlined their vision for improving education.  Supervisors who started as excellent teachers have been trained in teaching teachers how to improve their teaching.  These supervisors visit all of the Catholic schools in the diocese and observe teachers teaching.  I remember my initial thoughts:  "Yes!  Education is the ultimate answer to this grinding poverty!"  I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit leading us to partner with the BDE to help them to achieve the dream of improving education for the children of the central plateau.

Since then, I have traveled to Haiti every year, at least once, and in the past several years, several times each year.  I have been privileged to watch as education is slowly improving.  This year, CRS and the Kellogg Foundation have funded a two year teacher training program.  The first sessions with teachers began in August.  Some of our Virigina parishes have twins outside the Hinche diocese on the island of LaGonave.  They wanted their teachers to participate if possible.  Because of our relationship with the Hinche BDE, we were able to ask about this possibility and the twin parishes were able to make this training a reality for 10 of their teachers.

Our purpose first and foremost for this trip is to listen to members of the BDE and to supervisors as they explain their hopes for this school year.  Secondly, we will be visiting a number of schools and will visit computer labs where they exist and review barriers to computers in other schools.  But I will let our computer expert, Monica Walker write more about that.

We hope that you will enjoy hearing about our pilgrimage!
Kathy Gross