It was a dilapidated block building with tin roofing and a dirt floor, but that day it became a seminary classroom.  The CPI Team had traveled to Chauffard, Haiti to continue our work in this remote, farming village.  Kendal Anderson, pastor of The Crossing Church (a CPI Church Partner), had also brought a team and had prepared a series of seminars for the church leaders in Chauffard.

The meeting was about to begin when I found my place at the back of the room on a rickety, plank bench next to an elderly Haitian man.  He flashed a warm, genuine smile at me, motioned hello with a tip of his hat and quietly said, “Bon jou.”  I extended my hand to him and he placed his weathered, calloused hand in mine.  He, like so many of the men in this village, had spent a life working the land, loving his family and serving in the community.  He pulled out a Bible, notepad and pencil from a tattered plastic bag and turned his attention towards the front of the room.

My Friend

Kendal had begun his introductory remarks and was passing out an outline that had been translated into Creole.  My back row friend and me both took our outlines and prepared to fill in the blanks and follow along with the teaching.  Kendal asked everyone to turn to a specific book in their Bibles and the other 15 Haitians in the room began flipping pages and locating the reference that had been assigned.  Kendal began to lead us through the outline, giving us the key words needed to fill in the blanks.  A few minutes passed and I glanced over at my friend and I realized that he was lost.  He still had a warm smile on his face, but it was mixed with a look of confusion, embarrassment and appeal.  He motioned to me for help in filling out his outline while his Bible lay open to a book that was not referenced in the teaching.  He could not read or write.

He was not unintelligent or unmotivated.  I am certain he had accomplished much in his life.  The sheer fact that he had lived well beyond the median age in Haiti (57 years) speaks of his determination and endurance.  The problem was that he was never given the opportunity to learn how to read or write.  Education in Haiti is for the privileged and this man was not among them.

Kendal continued his teaching, but I could not bring myself to focus.  I sat there imagining the opportunities and relationships that I would be excluded from if I could not read or write.  The world is filled with complex truths, beautiful realities, diverse streams of perspectives and opinions, inexhaustible topics and issues, logic, art, poetry, solutions, ideas and MOST of them are contained in the form of written communication.  This man had experienced a lifetime cut off from all of these because he could not read.  He reminded me why the CPI team is doggedly committed to providing opportunities for Haitians to learn basic skills that will enable them to access the world of possibilities around them.  Reading is one of those basic skills that I will never take for granted again.

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Hello to Our Wonderful Haiti Supporters!

Grant and I wanted to share with you the amazing updates happening between our partners in the U.S. (The Crossing Church) and our partners in Haiti. Read below, subscribe to our RSS feed, comment, and forward it to a friend if you find it interesting!

This is just an example of the power of partnering. More to come!

Kenny,
It’s called ‘Imagine School South Lake’. They have a character development program at the school and want the kids to grow ‘world eyes’. Sherry chairs the team and so she presented a Cornerstone School partnership as an option. They loved it!

I presented the partnership possibility at a staff meeting and invited any interested teachers to participate. So far 17 classes have signed on! They’re doing a variety of things: most have a ‘Coins for Cornerstone’ jar in the classroom; kids are bringing quarters, nickels, dimes to fill them. One class brought in $24 the first day Other classes are collecting picture books, gathering school supplies, writing letters.

Two weeks ago I came to school and introduced Haiti to 12 classes in four different 30-minute assemblies; 60 kids per period, for a total of almost 250 kids! I told them most Haitian kids eat pretty much only rice and beans and challenged them to help purchase food. One kid went home and persuaded his family to eat only rice and beans for one meal a week, taking the money they would have spent and giving it to Cornerstone instead! He makes them sit on the floor with the lights off, since they don’t have electricity in Chauffard Very creative!

One of the teachers, Peggy Wamback, will be coming with us in December.

I don’t know where this will lead, but I love it I believe it has a good possibility of becoming an on-going partnership between the schools, which would be the goal. Other Imagine Schools around the nation will hear about it–there may even be possibilities of other connections.

Let me know what else I can tell you!

Thanks!
Kendal

If you would like to learn more about partnering for Transforming Travel or to help with the cause in Haiti, please let us know!

Passionately,

The CPI Guys!
Kenny and Grant

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