The past six months have been very difficult and challenging for the people of Haiti. The country was already experiencing difficult times due to unending political instability and gang violence, but the assassination of our president, Jovenel Moise, on July 7, 2021, placed the country in a situation that we have not lived before.
Seventeen Mercenaries from Columbia along with the Haitian Oligarch and politicians were able to infiltrate the Presidential compounds and murdered the president while he lay in his bed. The assassination left the country void of clear leadership for weeks. During this void of leadership, disaster struck once again only one month after the assassination of the president in the form of an earthquake on August 14, 2021, that killed close to 3,000 people, injured 76,000, and destroyed 61,000 homes in the southern parts of the country.
Tropical storm Grace
However, this was not the end of the country’s problems. On August 16th and 17th, a mere two days after the earthquake, the country was hit by the deadly tropical storm Grace. The storm caused much more damaged than was anticipated because it struck in the southern parts of the country, the same area that the earthquake hit. It was a total disaster because the people had no homes and the rain water from the storm caused flooding and the homes that were still standing had their roofs peeled off.
Local gangs
Indeed, it seemed as though there is no end to the country’s problems. The local gangs, which were already quite powerful because they are financed by the Oligarchs and powerful politicians, seized the opportunity to increase their power and influence on the people and government. Kidnapping became an everyday occurrence and roads were blocked to disrupt the distribution of carburant. For the past three months, a gallon of gas is costing about $20 and most businesses and banks have to shut down because there’s no energy to continue functioning.
Mother Tongue Bi-lingual Beginning Education Project
In spite of all this, INCE Haiti has continued to move forward and made a great leap with our Mother Tongue Bi-lingual Beginning Education Project (MTBBE). INCE Haiti, with our partner Universite Chretien Du Nord Haiti (UCNH) began the process of developing a Knowledge and Training Center that will provide Trainer training, Teacher training, Coach training, Principal training, and Community training prorgrams throughout the country.
This is the first Knowledge and Training center in the country. While the training center will conduct the training programs, the Knowledge center will conduct research and create new training materials. The University along with the Ministry of Education will also certify the trainers and create a Bachelor’s and Master’s program for MTBBE works.
Successful Home Learning Program
In light of the political instability, disaster prone, and violence that continues to disrupt the flow of education in the country, INCE Haiti, with our partner Parole et Action, are working on a home learning program that will ensure that the children continue to be educated at home when they cannot attend school. This project is well along and we had the opportunity to test it during the Covid-19 pandemic. The results are back and we can affirmatively declare that the Home training initiative was a success.
INCE Haiti is looking towards 2022. When we evaluate the work that was done during these most challenging times, we believe that we can do great things in the years to come.
Written by:
Mario Andre
INCE Haiti, Coordinator