Our Partnership With Mathone

Road to Hope and the community of Mathone crossed paths in 2011 when Road to Hope was still trying to find its sea legs. Mathone is a little group of homes and huts in Northern Haiti, along the highway between Acul du Nord and Cap Haitian. In 2011, many of the children had little hope of attending, let alone finishing school. Their school was an open air, muddy expanse where learning was difficult.

They received sporadic meals at school and students were often unable to attend due to illness. Others had to assist their family in household duties and many had to make a 1.5 mile trek each way to and from their homes to fetch water. And if they were able to attend there was the mud...so much mud! Walking through it, sitting in it...it was everywhere! Attendance hovered around 100 with students coming and going depending on their access to food, water and...(you guessed it) mud!

Road to Hope worked with community leaders and our partner Lucner to take an existing shell of a building to provide a more appropriate classroom environment. We then added a well for students of the school, their families and others in the community to use. With the construction of a proper school, regular lunches, consistent teacher salaries as well as help with resources for uniforms, books and supplies the school has held steady at over 160 students. And for the first time the school participates in the official National Exams, producing around a half dozen graduates each year.

Our Partnership With Nordette

In 2011 when Dr. Mike Davis, head of school at Colorado Academy (one of our community partners in the U.S.), was welcomed in Nordette he was greeted with these heartfelt words: “Thank you for coming to share in our misery.” This wasn't said tongue-in-cheek. They needed our help. While the sense of community is strong in Nordette, life had always been hard. In 2011, the community had a modest school which provided education 120 kids, 5 days a week. The school building was too small for the number of kids wanting to learn.

Nearly one third of the school children sat outside under a makeshift, wall-less thatched roof structure. Yet, rain or shine, they showed up to learn. The Road to Hope, partnering with the community of Nordette and Colorado Academy, made the decision in 2012 to help change the trajectory of Nordette by building a nine room school, digging a water well, and ensuring that every child gets a meal once per day during the school year. Since that day the sense of community in Nordette has grown stronger, and come to include us as friends and partners.

The students of Nordette are eagerly learning in the new school. The well will soon be providing clean water without requiring a daily 4am hike down and up the mountain with a 5 gallon bucket carried by women and children of the community. And with newly planted mango trees, plans for a clean and efficient latrine system, and an eventual medical clinic, things in Nordette are looking up.