Day One: Unleashing Kids and Teachers in Haiti

by buildingaschool

On August 29th I left Canada for Miami to catch a flight to Port au Prince, Haiti, to meet my son and a wonderful group of dedicated volunteers, each with distinct areas of expertise. Our plan was to work with teachers and school children in Haiti. In Miami I met up with William Stelzer, a freelance artist/filmmaker specializing in digital media. Bill brings extensive experience, having worked in Haiti about 15 times since 2008. Bill joined the group to teach as well as to film.
Sept1-2013Bill

As soon as we landed in the Port au Prince, we were met by Adam Holt and Junior Monrose. Adam is the one I give credit to for organizing the complex scheduling of activities.
Sept1-2013Adam

The Unleash Kids program recognizes unsung heroes of the One Laptop per Child movement. These people are interviewed live worldwide about their work in liberating kids through electronic and outdoor exploration. Junior is the Haitian coordinator for the Unleash Kids project.
Sept1-2013Junior

Before leaving the airport we connected with Christine Low who works on the Mother Tongue Books project. (http://matenwaclc.org/mother-tongue-books/mother-tongue-books-2/) With her was a lively young woman who will be teaching in La Gonave throughout 2014.
All of us rushed off to dinner together where we were immediately immersed in discussing what languages are best used for teaching . Her friend Michel DeGraff, a Haitian professor of linguistics based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US says, “Learning to first read and write in a foreign language is somewhat like a toddler who is forced to start walking with a blindfold, and the blindfold is never taken off”. We read through about a dozen of Christine’s books and later went to her guest house to see more of them. I bought 4-5 of them as a gift for a Haitian teacher friend of mine.

During dinner we were joined by a Haitian friend, Jeanide Joseph, who taught at another school that I have visited in the past. Jeanide is a lovely young woman, adored by students, who excels at things creative and artistic. She agreed to join us on our journey later in the week to give us a hand.
Sept1-2013Jeanine

The next day George Hunt arrived. He is a technical guru and has been part of the team producing “server software” for laptops used in schools in various countries.
Sept1-2013George

Sora Edwards-Thro arrived on Saturday after a long long journey by boat at night, followed by many tap-tap bus rides. Her work near the Dominican border adds depth to the group dynamics. Junior Monrose has recently travelled to her site to help inspire her teachers. Her site is uniquely a desert climate. She works in a community with children who are particularly disadvantaged, being poor even by Haitian standards.
Sept1-2013Sora

Another teacher who has been trained on teaching with laptops is Elisabeth, who came to assist us from Léogâne.
Sept1-2013Elisabeth

A remarkable group all of whom work well together!
Thus ends the first day of this 6-day project, targeted to Unleash Kids.
Submitted by Marie Holt
Sept1-2013MFsmaller

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