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Delmas Project

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Road To Hope is excited to be working with the Delmas School near Port Au Prince. Partnering with the ‘Hope For Haiti’s Children’ organization, we will proceed with the completion of a retaining wall behind the nursing school facility. This location was severely damaged during the earthquake in 2010. This school suffered the loss of 35 nursing students and one physician. Being reduced to piles of rubble, the local people, many who were parents of students, cleaned up this site and began the painstaking process of rebuilding.

In the upper photo toward the left back, you can see the yellow building towering above the brick structure. It’s a house, nearly teetering on a hilltop edge, looming over the back area of the Delmas School. The owner of this home cannot secure the property or hillside. Of course, it’s terribly dangerous to the Delmas School, which sits at the bottom of the hillside. A wall that will secure the hillside is being built, construction to be completed soon.

The Delmas School has enrollment of 480 children and 24 teachers along with office and school staff. The school provides daily preschool, kindergarten, and instruction in pre-K through high school classes. In the evenings, the Delmas School provides nursing school for 130 adult students.

Dedicated and hard working, we are grateful to be able to work with this organization. And knowing that our donors believe that education is the key to a successful future, this project fits wonderfully within our goals this first month of 2012.

Rich Harris and Jesse Schumacher

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Rich Harris and Jesse Schumacher were in Haiti Nov. 2011 to visit our project sites and review possible future projects. They were overwhelmed at how well the Mathone School project has progressed. On time and under budget, this project reflects the spirit of the future in Haiti's poorest cities.

Rich Harris enjoys a moment during the lunch program with a group of students at Mathone School

Jesse Schumacher stands at the stairway entrance to Mathone School

Mathone School is fully operational! A new building with a kitchen feeds students a hot meal every day. We also built a separate building that houses the latrine. A third building secures the water treatment system. This site is a source of much pride for all of us. A tremendous amount of work has been done and we have many, many donors to thank!

Inside Mathone School

As we continue determining the best use of our funds, we see so many possibilities. From clean water supplies to soccer fields to new schools and full blown sustainable communities, Road To Hope is there making every dollar count!

So much to do and The Road To Hope is definitely up to the task!

Mathone School

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Mathone School site: (as of September, 2011)

Even Google Earth can’t find exactly where Mathone Haiti is!  Literally. Mathone is an area 10 miles southwest of Cap-Haitian, the second largest city in Haiti.  In this rural town of Mathone, there are hundreds of children in need of a safe school site.  We are very happy about this progress!  We’ve nearly completed the rebuilding of the Mathone School.  This started as simply four walls, no roof and a 4 foot drop down dirt floor, which meant when it rained… the property was nothing but thick, deep mud.  We now have a full fledged school with a level cement floor, secure walls and lightweight but durable roof.  This is entirely due to our wonderful donors who believe that the work we do in Haiti is worth every penny.  You can be sure these children and their families are grateful for not only having a safe building for the children to go to school, but a safe shelter for the entire community. Educating children happens even when the odds are against it.  To have traveled to these remote locations and witnessed the conditions where teaching continues to take place, one cannot help but be moved by the perseverance and will of the Haitian people. We are so excited to be involved with these truly life-changing projects, where, because of The Road To Hope and our generous donors, many more children have the opportunity for an education.  We are working on a second sight we refer to as, “The Green Field Project.’  Updates are forthcoming.

Here is the “before” photo (you can see some block wall work in background, the large opening is the front entrance that dropped down to the dirt floor):

 Current photo, The Mathone School (all walls newly reinforced and plastered inside and out with a level entrance and cement floor):

 

  

Clean Water Project

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With no community water source, people in rural communities are forced to walk long distances, sometime miles, to a water source, usually a muddy stream.  This often means that children miss school as this chore typically falls to them.  Additionally, water is gathered from the same source, at the same time, as people bathing, doing laundry, etc.     The attached photo shows a well on the Mathone school property.  The Road to Hope worked directly with other organizations to get the well installed.  We are working to finalize the installation of the solar powered water filtration system The Road To Hope has funded. Located in the beautiful Haiti countryside among some of the poorest families in our hemisphere, the Mathone School provides food and education for hundreds of children.

 

Jamie & Ali

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Jamie and Ali McMutrie are sisters residing in Pittsburgh and Haiti. They have worked tirelessly to help Haitian children, many who are orphans. And while their concerns for Haitian's orphans is no less important than before, Jamie and Ali's goals have matured in many ways. Their main focus is Haitian families... many of whom would lose or have to give up their children due to extreme poverty if it weren't for the loving and capable care Jamie and Ali provide. People are learning how to build their lives and care for their families due to these two women's efforts.

As they continue their work to improve the lives of so many children and parents, they strive to keep families together. They're focus is on 'family support' and education. The need is great. They have refocused from helping care for orphans to actually helping families stay together. More children are staying with their biological parents as a result. More parents are finding work and earning income as well.

Jamie and Ali provide much needed aid; funds, training and tools to allow families to work and keep their children. This is a huge project, indeed. The ongoing support to keep these families together is unique work in Haiti and is helping entire communities!

They've also been successful in helping families grow food. The seeds planted earlier this year continue to provide food and jobs for many families. Many crops were quite successful.... peppers, beans, carrots, onions, lettuce, spinach and corn. Watermelon is one of the most successful crops. Because the particular watermelon grown is different than the local melons, the farmers are able to get double the price for them. One family even makes enough money with their crops that they no longer need assistance from Jamie and Ali. Another family is making enough money from their crops that they have started to build a small house on their land. There are also some families raising chickens, rabbits and pigs. They are even growing different things to feed the animals so that they do not have to purchase food for them. All in all, their work is truly making a difference. And they won't stop here... check back often because Jamie and Ali aren't nearly done. We'll keep you updated on the many projects they're working on.