By Kenneth Simmons
Guest Writer
Several
months after the horrific earthquake devastated Port-au-Prince in Haiti, I was
commissioned along with a colleague, Ms. Judith Cowan, to travel to Haiti to teach
English as a second language to a small group of college students who had
attended the University of Port-au-Prince before it was destroyed. Our mission
was sponsored by the “I Have a Dream” Foundation which is based in Richmond,
Virginia..
The students
with whom we worked lived in a small mountain town, Hinche, which is located
about fifty miles northeast of Port-au- Prince. It takes two and a half hours
to drive there from the capital city because of the rugged roads that traverse
the ravines and rocky mountain
sides. The majority of the citizens of
Hinche have never had electricity, and roughly five percent are employed. The
average earnings for a day’s work is
approximately five dollars.
Though poverty is rampant, the people were rich in love, and spirit, and
decency, far more than most of those I have encountered in my homeland. The Catholic Church where we lived was filled
with the town’s people at six o’clock every morning and at regular mass on
Sundays.
Our
assignment was to help the students reach an acceptable level of English
proficiency so that they could succeed in our American Colleges. The foundation
had promised to bring our eight students to the United States and enroll them
in colleges where they were to be supported until they graduated. Afterwards,
they were to return to their home country as strong leaders. The students were
extremely motivated and worked diligently with us from eight in the morning
until three thirty in the afternoon as
we tried our very best to immerse them in the English language. Never in
my thirty plus years of working with young people in our public schools had I
experienced the pleasure of such good manners, motivation and a willingness to
learn as when I worked with the students in Hinche, Haiti .
We returned to the U.S. in November of 2010; four of the
students arrived in August of 2011 and were enrolled in J. Sargeant Reynolds
Community College in Richmond, Virginia. The other four students were to arrive
at a later date because of a lack of funding, but to this day, they still
remain in Haiti. After one year of studying at Reynolds, the students were
informed that the foundation had depleted its funds. Two white families quickly
picked up two of the students for sponsorship. One family enrolled one of the
female students, Lude, at Averett University in Danville, Virginia. Lude is
doing very well and has almost completed her studies there. Berry, one of the
male students, was picked up by another family and is about to complete a four
year degree at Elizabeth City State University on the coast of North Carolina.
He is doing well also. All four have maintained 3.0 averages and above.
Our concern at this time is the well-being of brother and
sister Frandy and Suze Prince. They have been on their own for the last year
and now are at risk of losing their student visas if they are not able to
receive assistance right away. All four of the students were issued student
visas in order to come to the US., which
means that they must be enrolled in
school on a full-time basis. If the students lose their visas, they will have
to return to Haiti with dreams and hopes deferred. Frandy and Suze have not
been able to acquire sponsorships but did receive some assistance for the last
year from a community organization and an attorney and her family. The attorney
and the organization made it clear that their resources were temporary. As of
August 1st, the two students have been abandoned. The “I Have a Dream” Foundation does not feel
any obligation to continue to support Frandy and Suze. The brother and sister
have completed their studies at the community college and were informed that as
of August 1, 2014, they had no place to live in Richmond.
Thank God, Frandy and Suze were admitted to Johnson C. Smith
University for the fall semester. Fortunately, we have been able to assist the
two students in acquiring an apartment near the university. JCSU was able to give each of them five
thousand dollar for the year which means that we must raise thirteen thousand
dollars for each of them for the entire year tuition making it a total of
twenty-six thousand dollars in all. We are seeking an additional six thousand
dollars for rent which gives us a total need of thirty-two thousand
dollars. We know that after this first
year, the students will be able to earn full academic scholarships for next
year based on their academic performance.
We have not been able to find a family or even a church in
our community to sponsor our two students; therefore, we desperately are asking
you to assist us in making a tax deductible donation so that these two young
people can complete their education and return to their home country prepared
to lead Haiti into a future filled with promise, hope and prosperity.
Please mail your donation to:
The Suze and Frandy Scholarship Fund
c/o Mechanics and Farmers Bank
P. O. Box 33594
Charlotte, N.C. 28216
Thank you for your support.
About the Author