Haiti (MNN) — The so-called “next generation” is vital to any nation’s development. It’s especially true in Haiti, where less than 2% of students finish secondary school, and 40% of adults are illiterate.
Recognizing a widespread need for education, Starfysh placed it as one of their priority projects in La Gonave, Haiti. As a result, the remote mountain village of Makochon got their first school.
“A lot of children need to go to school, and the parents don’t have a way to send them,” Pastor Joppie explains through a translator. “Starfysh [is] helping us a lot: giving the children books, uniforms, bags for school, and feeding them.”
Starfysh transformed an unused, heavily-damaged church building into a four-room school building, complete with blackboards and benches. The school’s inauguration year was completed with 85 students finishing grades K-3, and a fourth-grade class was added for the 2013-2014 school year.
See pictures of the school on MNN’s Facebook page.
Serving as both the pastor of a neighboring church and the school’s principal, Joppie says children learn more than reading and writing.
“The first thing to teach them [is] the Bible, because they need to know God [as] their Savior,” he states enthusiastically.
Creole textbooks have Makochon parents bragging about their children’s new ability to read and write. “When the children [are] learning in French, they are not adapting the lesson as well. But…when we begin to teach them in Creole, it is easy for them to read.”
The school’s well-rounded educational system also includes lessons in nutrition, hygiene, gardening, soil management, and business creation.
Learn more about Starfysh’s educational program here.
Makochon’s rapidly-expanding school is bursting at its seams. Plans are underway for a new K-6 facility, but funding help is needed.
Ask the Lord to sustain the school in Makochon. Pray that more villages may be reached through Starfysh initiatives.
Pray that “God can grow [the school] fast to show people the Gospel of God,” Joppie requests.
