First Tennis Tournament!

This Saturday Dayanna, Luckneau, and Woldjimy were all able to participate in an Under-10 tennis tournament held in downtown Port-au-Prince!  All of our kids have been training for the past 4 months, but this was the first time they were able to play against other children in Haiti on a competitive level!  All in all, our kids did great for their first time, Dayanna winning 2 matches, Woldjimy winning 1 match, and Luckneau, despite a great effort, losing both of his matches.  We look forward to participating in more tournaments next year!  Don’t forget, if you want to donate any tennis equipment, tennis balls, or shoes for the kids, please e-mail me at steven@haitihero.org.  Thank you!

The School of Choice

It’s not every day in Haiti that you can walk into a 4^th grade classroom and be overcome with young Haitian students asking a variety of questions in English!  But that’s exactly what is happening at the L’Ecole de Choix.  With Dr. Mary Clisbee as its principal, this school is doing amazing things in the town of Mirebalais, also notably, the location of the new Partners in Health teaching hospital.  L’Ecole de Choix’s purpose is to provide a holistic and quality education to help this generation of Haitian children become the leaders of tomorrow.  In just 2 years, they are doing a very impressive job.

Dr. Clisbee initially invited me to visit the school to discuss their new track and field team and interest in participating in the inter-school competitions being held by ADAH.  Dr. Clisbee is a former track coach and is willing to donate her talent to helping ADAH train our athletes in preparation for participation in the international CARIFTA held in March.  As a fellow educator, however, it was great to see the amazing programs being implemented, quality teachers at work, and smiling faces of students eagerly learning!  For more information about L’Ecole de Choix, visit their website at www.ecoldechoix.org.

The Main Campus 

Computer Lab

Playground

Cafeteria

Dr. Clisbee and I, both NSU Alumni!

Pockets of Excellence

This past Saturday was quite a busy one for the kids at the H.E.R.O. House.  On Saturday morning we were invited to participate in a table tennis training session held by the Haiti Table Tennis Association, the governing body for ping pong in Haiti.  Most of these sessions in the past have been provided for kids that have no experience playing.  For this reason, it came as a great surprise to the coaches and trainers of the Association that our kids were actually already pretty good!  As the session wrapped up we were offered the opportunity to bring our kids every Saturday, from 9:00-12:00 for training sessions.  We readily accepted! 

Immediately after the training session was finished, we hurried back to the H.E.R.O. House, ate lunch, and prepared ourselves for an in-house chess competition at 1:00!  Our chess instructor, who is the Haiti National Chess Champion, brought some other students he has been working with to compete against the H.E.R.O. kids.  Using these friendly matches, he was able to judge the level of our kids.  Despite the fact that he has been working with these kids for longer than the H.E.R.O. kids, Robenson, Billy, Dayanna, and Luckneau were all able to win a few matches!  We will continue to train every Saturday afternoon in preparation for the annual school-wide competition held in Haiti.

I am so excited to find these pockets of excellence in Haiti that are able to provide our children with such amazing opportunities to learn and apply knowledge.  We are currently the fortunate recipients of first class tennis, table tennis, and chess instruction.   Combined with our quality schooling and academic tutoring, the opportunities for our children to become successful are truly many.  Want to help?  Make a donation or sponsor a child at www.haitihero.org.  With your help, we can continue to make a real difference in the life of orphans in Haiti.  

Sincerely,

Steven M. Kirby, Ed.D

President