THE COLORADO HAITI PROJECT
The Colorado Haiti Project (CHP) is a state-wide non-profit organization founded in 1989 to extend aid to the poorest of the poor in a rural area called Petit Trou de Nippes, about 80 miles west of Port-au-Prince. CHP is supported entirely by donations from private individuals, foundations, and over 40 Episcopal churches in Colorado. Our primary mission is with the Episcopal Mission of St. Paul's, where we work in collaboration with the Priest-in-Charge, Archdeacon Kesner Gracia and a committee of community advisors, to help provide education, vocational training, health care, nutrition and clean water within the mission setting.
An Integrated Model of Community Development
We take a deliberate, planned approach to developing all factors needed for a healthy, self-sufficient community: schooling, vocational training, microcredit lending, clean water and nutrition, and basic health care. We coordinate with community leaders at every stage, toward the goal of a permanent community infrastructure, which is maintainable by the local community and replicable in other communities of Haiti. Our partners in Haiti seek self-sufficiency, not hand-outs, and we seek ways to help every individual find a life of hope and dignity. The key components of our development model are:
- Expansion of the St. Paul's School building and programs
- Expansion of the Women's Center vocational programs
- Partnering with Fonkoze to support local women entrepreneurs
- Establishing a permanent and accessible clean water supply
- Establishing routine hygiene and health care
Transformation
Just as we transform lives in Haiti, the Colorado Haiti Project transforms the lives of our volunteers. Going to the Mission of St. Paul's is a transformative experience, making every missioner aware of what we as citizens of Colorado enjoy every day. For younger missioners, what is seen and experienced there becomes a gift of new eyes with which to view their own world. The community surrounding our Mission is one in the most abject need imaginable, and our efforts there make concrete, enormous differences to the lives of the people in Petit Trou. To be at St. Paul's is to be in a "thin place," a Celtic term that means being in a state when very little separates you from God. We return year after year to be with our friends at Petit Trou, who have so little but are very willing to share their lives in God with us.
Education
In September 2006, Phase One (foundations and first floor) of the St. Paul's School opened to 600 students and 19 teachers, made possible by donations to the Three Bishops' Fund capital campaign from churches and individual supporters across Colorado. By mid-2008, construction of the second floor and roof of the school was completed.
In 2007-2008, 750 children attended St. Paul's in Grades K-6.In 2008-2009, 550 children will attend St. Paul's in Grades K-6.
In addition, the 2008 -2009 school year marks the launch of St. Paul's secondary school and enrollment of up to 50 7th grade students. Support of the St. Paul's School operations has been CHP's primary fund raising goal since the school's founding in 1996, most notably through our "Konbit" Student Sponsorship Program, with sponsors throughout Colorado who sponsor a student at St. Paul's with a $300 per year donation. The Konbit Program supports the school's operating budget, currently $150,000, which covers books and supplies, uniforms, and tuition aid for all 900 students and salaries for a team of 26 extraordinarily dedicated teachers, a school nurse, cooks, staff, and St. Paul's hot lunch program.
Nutrition
As part of our support for the St. Paul's School, CHP funds one hot balanced meal per school day for every student, usually rice and beans. This noontime meal is typically the only meal of the day for a St. Paul's student. Like most of the children in Petit Trou, the students of St. Paul's struggle with the specter of malnutrition. Our hot lunch program preserves their lives on a daily basis. In times of drought of special hardship, students save part of their meal to take home to other family members.
Women's Entrepreneurship
A Women's Vocational Center was built with Capital Campaign funds, and two programs begin in September 2006, leading to a two-year certificate in professional tailoring and cooking/catering. These courses were selected because they were most likely to lead to immediate employment for graduates, in the Petit Trou area. Coursework combines learning a trade with business skills, such as budgeting and business planning. Because CHP has a Center for Women's Resources and Education at St. Paul's, Fonkoze selected Petit Trou as the location of a satellite office located in the Women's Center; in mid-2008, over 60 women clients held loans through Fonkoze. Future women entrepreneurs trained and recruited through the Center will be able to apply for micro loans. Once located in a community, Fonkoze becomes a new employer and an economic generator itself.
Clean Water Project
Solving the problem of contaminated water is the community's number one priority. Water-borne disease accounts for up to 80% of the cases seen in Petit Trou's clinic, and the lack of available water is a constant burden in the life of every inhabitant of Petit Trou. Carrying water from a spring above the town to the home is the job of children and women, and most St. Paul's students spend up to 2 hours carrying jugs of water before ever arriving at school in the morning. Our largest capital project is to supply the community of Petit Trou with clean water, by drilling a series of wells in the nearby foothills, with a supply system to carry clean water to the villages in the region of Petit Trou.
Health Care
Every year since the founding of the mission, we have sent at least one annual medical mission, staffed by doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, and lay helpers from Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Denver, Evergreen, Boulder, and Longmont. We provide annual physicals for the students, maternal and child health care, emergency care, and nutrition education. As part of our annual support for the St. Paul's School, CHP pays the salary of a school nurse, who attends to childhood immunizations and routine care for the students.
Community Health Initiative
In the fall of 2007, CHP launched a community health program by identifying and training a team of 34 women in the Petit Trou to be master teachers in health and hygiene. Each teacher is then trained to teach at least two other women in the same skills. The resulting "training cascade" with eventually engage women health educators in all 19 of the villages that make up the Petit trou de Nippes region. The community health missions will pioneer CHP's future public health education program in maternal and child health, basic hygiene and health care practices, and improved nutrition.
Our Family of Supporters
According to their means and interests, our donors support our Annual Fund, St. Paul's School Fund, the Konbit Program for Student Sponsorships, and the Three Bishops' Fund Capital Campaign which funds building projects at Petit Trou de Nippes. Please move now to our donations page.