A Literacy Center In Las Mercedes

                                      

A young girl in Anse-a-Pitre, Haiti, washing in a canal 

shared by cattle and other livestock.

We had the pleasure of bringing a donor “Douglas” to Pedernales in January 2011.  Douglas is a respected person who has a family foundation that funds education. 

The success of the Children of the Border (CotB) and the high esteem in which the young Executive Director, Sebastian Velez, is held is becoming legend.  In a village far away from Las Mercedes, DR, village elders had prepared a formal proposal requesting that Sebastian build a school in their community of Fond-Jeannette, Haiti. 

Douglas met Sebastian and became interested in this project.  Douglas wanted not only to fund the project but to actually help build the school with family and friends.  He hoped to do this during the summer of 2011.

Even though this building project in Fond-Jeannette would draw limited CotB resources away from the principal project at Las Mercedes, Sebastian was giving it serious consideration.  He began to prepare a budget for the undertaking and soon realized the extent of the challenges that the project presented.  Building materials would need to be transported to Fond-Jeannette and transportation would need to be negotiated with sources that are not reliable.  Water is critical for a building project and it would take nine months to accumulate what is needed to begin.  A general contractor would be needed to ensure timely work and proper use of resources.  And actual ownership of the land on which the school would be built was uncertain.  All of this was compounded by the cholera epidemic in Haiti which added to other handicaps associated with travel to and lodging in Font-Jeannette.

While these issues were being uncovered, plans were being made to bring Douglas to the Dominican Republic, to Las Mercedes, to see the operations on the ground.  Douglas understood that it was unlikely that CotB could begin building a school in Fond-Jeannette this year but Sebastian hoped that Douglas would see the educational value of a literacy center in Las Mercedes.

CotB would be vastly more effective in raising the living conditions in the communities it serves if community residents could read.  For example, residents cannot read instructions posted by the well on how to keep the well head clean which puts the water supply at risk of being contaminated with E. coli or cholera.  Residents cannot read leaflets on how to chlorinate water and must rely on verbal instructions.  Residents cannot follow the doctor’s written instructions for prescriptions.  And the cooperative nature of the community is reduced because they are not able to understand and execute written contracts among themselves or between the community and CotB.

The education guidelines of Douglas’ foundation focus on projects like building an elementary school but not on establishing a literacy center for adults.  Nonetheless, Douglas was sufficiently impressed with work that Sebastian is doing and clearly understood the value of a literate community.  He pledged a personal gift to establish a literacy center in Pedernales. 

Sebastian is back on Harvard’s campus working to complete his PhD by May and get a teaching job.  He continues to manage the growing operations in Pedernales through Skype communication with staff.   Annie Ryu, AB’13, is working to establish a volunteer program with students who have an interest in development countries.   And I am back working with other small nonprofits that are also trying to change their part of the world.  I am glad to be part of their labor.