Passing Out School Supplies in Haiti

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On Friday I had the opportunity to visit the CACH school in Carrefour, outside of Port-au-Prince, to distribute school supplies to the approximately 100 students that the school supports.  I want to thank the Girl Scouts of America and the Zillah Church of the Nazarene for donating all of the school supplies and backpacks so that these children can have a wonderful school year without worrying about having to buy pencils, pens, scissors, erasers or other school supplies.

I was first contacted about the CACH school by Ishmeet Singh, an individual that was part of a United Sikhs Disaster Response contingent that spent months helping the victims of the earthquake in 2010.  One of their projects resulted in the CACH school, a partnership between the United Sikhs and a committee of devoted parents that did not have the opportunity to send their children to schools in Carrefour.  As a result Ishmeet and the United Sikhs have been sponsoring the school for 2 years now.  When they no longer had someone available to ensure the continued operation of the school I was contacted to serve as an intermediary between Ishmeet and the school.  For the past year we have been working together to create a school that provides an education for the community and its children.

The school has grown from a two room institution to now enrolling children from Kindergarten to 6^th grade.  Additionally the enrollment of the school continues to increase from year to year.  The school charges a minimal fee to cover basic necessities such as chalk and drinking water, but the rest is generously provided through Ishmeet and his friends.  I am happy that H.E.R.O. was able to play a small part in the operation of the school through our donations of school supplies and we hope to continue building our relationship with the CACH school to provide additional assistance in the future.  They would really like to begin a feeding program for the school but funds are limited both to purchase the cookware and the daily food requirements. 

The largest class by far was 1^st grade, which the rumor mill contends will be 100% free for all children through President Martelly’s education plan.  Unfortunately, at the CACH school, and the school to which our orphans attend, they have received no news about the factual base of this rumor, despite the two weeks of school that have already been completed.  There is hope, however, as just this week the Prime Minister and all Ministerial positions have been approved by the government.  We are eager and ready for the government to take concrete action to increase the quality and quantity of education provided in Haiti.  Education is the only true vehicle available for the elimination of poverty in this country.  Let’s do it!

Sincerely,

Steven M. Kirby, Ed.D

President

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School Begins in Haiti!

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This week has been one of extreme excitement for all at the H.E.R.O. house in Port-au-Prince.  School has begun!  After waiting an extra month for the Ministry of Education to open schools and a H.E.R.O. school selection process that weeded out more than 10 other schools, we are proud to enroll Robenson, Franky, Dayanna, and Valencia into IMHEAD elementary school!

An additional bonus for our children is that a teacher from the school will also serve as the afternoon tutor!  A month before school began we conducted numerous interviews to find a tutor that worked well with our kids, one that provided a good education, was kind, but also strict.  As a result of a wonderful month of instruction provided by Ms. Andre, she will continue throughout the school year. 

The school is near enough to our compound that the children will be able to walk to school.  They will arrive at 8:00 and complete a full day until 1:00.  At that point Ms. Andre will walk the children back home, have lunch with them, and then begin homework, enrichment, and remediation lessons from 1:30-5:00.  Therefore our children will receive a full day of instruction during the week. 

Franky will begin in 1^st grade, Dayanna in 2^nd grade, and Robenson and Valencia in 3^rd grade.  We are excited that Ms. Andre is also the 3^rd grade teacher at the school!  We are fortunate to have found Ms. Andre as well as a quality school for the kids.  We look forward to a wonderful school year and a giant leap forward in the academic knowledge of our children!

Sincerely,

Steven M. Kirby, Ed.D

President

Photography Courtesy of Dan Kasnick.

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Tales from the Inner City: Part 1

I worked at Orchard Villa Elementary School for 3.25 years between 2005-2008.  It was one of the most amazing learning experiences of my life.  Through this blog I hope to share some of my experiences working in a neighborhood that was once foreign to me, but that I now return to time and time again.  You surely won’t agree with everything I have to say here, but they are my experiences, and my memories, whether they are retrospectively falsified or not.

Orchard Villa Elementary is located in Liberty City, the heart of Miami-Dade County.  The attendance boundaries of Orchard Villa include NW 61^st Street, the most dangerous street in the entire county, a title certainly not to be proud of, but one that must be respected.  Our students came from 61^st and the surrounding neighborhood.  We did, however, have several out-of-boundary students that would flow in on occasion, without the knowledge of the school board of course.

I had the privilege to have one such student.  Being a 3^rd grade teacher I had the responsibility to help my students pass the 3^rd grade Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test, an assessment that had to be passed in order to proceed to the next grade.  It didn’t help that many of my students entered my class reading on a Kindergarten level, or below.  Alas, I digress.  Xavier, as I will call him, lived much farther north than the school, to the point that every single day of the first 3 weeks of school he was tardy by at least 30 minutes.  Since Reading was the first subject taught every morning, Xavier was missing 30 minutes of Reading instruction daily.  Oh, and he needed that instruction.  I knew that if he wasn’t present every day, for every minute, that he would not pass the 3^rd grade FCAT.

I made the decision that as long as Xavier was in my class, he would come on time.  I talked to his mom and explained to her the seriousness of the situation, and then I volunteered to pick him up every morning from where he lived, and drop him off every afternoon.  This resulted in the inclusion of his younger brother into the plan, as he also attended Orchard Villa.

Xavier, his brother, his mother, and her boyfriend lived in a hotel.  Well, it looked like a hotel, but didn’t exactly include the amenities of the Four Seasons.  It was dingy, disgusting, smelled, and in fact is today closed.  At the time, however, for $150.00 a week, a room could be rented to at least live, until the next week.  Every morning I would pick up Xavier and his brother at 6:30 AM, this would give us enough time to get to school by 7:00AM, complete morning tutoring, and even have breakfast before school began at 8:00 AM.  At the hotel I was greeted every morning by the large security guard, who called me “Teach”, and made sure I wasn’t messed with.  There were times that I would walk Xavier and his brother up to their room, only for their mom to open the door and plumes of marijuana smoke escaped through the door.  It was a very sad situation overall, but I knew that if I could get those 2 kids to school on-time, everyday, that not only would they eat a nutritious breakfast every morning, they would receive free tutoring, participate in a full day of education, and hopefully, attain some level of academic knowledge.  For 2 months it went on, a successful plan at work; and I felt like I was making a difference.

It was a Monday morning, a week or so before Thanksgiving.  As usual I rode up I-95 early in the morning to pick up Xavier and his brother.  I arrived promptly at 6:30, phoned their mother to let her know I was there: no answer.  Ok, a phone being off wasn’t unusual, so I stepped out of the car and went inside.  Dressed in a suit, as I did every day of my teaching career, I walked into the hotel and headed towards the elevators.  “Hey Teach”, I heard the large security guard call out to me.  “Are you looking for those kids?” he asked.  “Well” he said, “they don’t live here anymore.”  A look of bewilderment came over my face, but there was nothing I could do but turn around and walk right back out the door to my car. 

That was the last time I heard from Xavier, his brother, his mother, or her boyfriend.  To this day I have no idea where they went or what happened to them.  That is the reality of teaching in an inner city school.  Students come, and they go.  Most unfortunately, the cycle continues.  I pray for Xavier and his brother, that they have found academic success somewhere else, because certainly, the odds are against them.

Hiring and Firing Staff in Haiti

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Presiding over the H.E.R.O. Residence for Orphans is filled with heart-warming experiences and events that I am proud to share through Facebook and my blog.  It brings us tremendous joy to watch Robenson count to 50 in English or to see Valencia smile as she admires her newly braided hair.  The lives of the children in our care have changed tremendously.  From living in squalid shacks with no running water or electricity to now receiving 3 meals a day, a solid education, and a safe and secure place to live, watching them evolve into well-behaved and respectful children is a true delight. 

Behind the scenes of these stories and experiences, however, is the very real day-to-day management that is vital to the successful operation of the H.E.R.O. Residence.  We are truly blessed to have a wonderful staff that is the true core of H.E.R.O.  I take pride in the quality of the staff members that we employ at H.E.R.O.  Together we have built an understanding that being part of H.E.R.O. is not simply a job.  We are a team, a highly skilled team, with the sole goal of helping the children of Haiti.

For the first time in my life, as the President of H.E.R.O., I am responsible for hiring and firing staff members.  Our very first hire, the current Residence Director (former driver), Brice Smith, has been a blessing.  I have and continue to rely on Brice for helping me navigate the country of Haiti, finding electricians, plumbers, maintaining community relations, acquiring birth certificates for our children, and hundreds of additional tasks that are too many to name here.  Finding a quality employee like Brice is like finding a needle in a haystack, but guess what, we did it, and we aren’t letting him go!

Along this road, however, I have had the displeasure of firing staff, also a first for my life.  The first time was definitely the hardest.  After she allowed one of our children to leave the compound without permission, and not reporting that he had left, or trying to find him, it was time for this staff member to leave.  I was nervous, I admit, and didn’t want to do it.  But, after relieving her of her duties, well, let’s just say it was a slippery slope.  I fired the karate teacher for not coming on time and missing days of work.  I fired the tutor because she was spending more time on her phone than helping the children.  And most recently I fired the new house mother, who lasted all of one week, because she decided that H.E.R.O.’s plan for the children was ineffective and inefficient, and wanted to do everything her way (which FYI, just wasn’t good at all).  All new hires now begin on a one month probationary period.  I explain to them that working with H.E.R.O. is about working as a team.  In fact, I would much rather work with individuals that lack the capacity, but understand the team objectives than someone with the capacity but who doesn’t want to be a team player.  Some will make it, some won’t.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Brice, Iloude, and Cecilia, the 3 full-time Haitian staff members that have been with H.E.R.O. nearly one year.  Thank you for working as a team to help the children of Haiti.

Sincerely,

Steven Kirby, Ed.D

President

To Make a Donation Visit http://www.haitihero.org/

Building Relationships and Shelves in Haiti

To Make a Donation Visit http://www.haitihero.org/

Greetings Friends!  This past weekend was filled with construction, visitors, and a trip to church.  There is still much to be accomplished before the opening of school on October 3^rd, so we are quickly arranging all the necessary clothing items, school supplies, enrollment forms, and school fees to ensure that Franky, Robenson, Valencia, and Dayanna have a successful school year!

The orphans in our care have lost both of their parents.  While there are many residences for orphans that accept children that have perhaps lost one parent, or no parents at all, H.E.R.O. is committed to helping the true orphans of Haiti.  This does not mean, however, that the children in our care do not have any family to speak of.  In fact we have a responsibility to work diligently to maintain contact with any living family members that our children do have as they will play an important role in the lives of our children as they grow older, and especially as they exit our program.  The maintenance of familial social networks is vital to the success of our children as they must realize that while H.E.R.O. is their family, they also have blood-relatives that can help them become successful citizens of Haiti.  This past Saturday Valencia and Robenson’s aunt and grandmother came to visit.  You can see a brief video of their visit below.  The Aunt and Grandmother were thankful for having found H.E.R.O., a residence for orphans that truly provides and satisfies the needs of each child.  They talked about looking for other residences for orphans for Robenson and Valencia, but found some where the children were physically abused by the other children, meals were an irregularity, and the conditions unsanitary.  It is my goal to continue to provide the children in our care with the utmost opportunities for success in Haiti and the world.

Additionally, this past weekend we completed 2 of the 10 shelves that are being built to house our donations, school supplies, and other items.  We want to have a residence that is as organized as possible to ensure that our programs operate smoothly, all items are easily accessible, and to demonstrate to our children the importance of keeping a well maintained environment.  Below you can watch as Billy and Robenson put the finishing touches on our shelves.  I have already bought the plywood and boards for the next shelves, all of which we hope to have finished by the beginning of the school year on October 3^rd.

If you would like to find out how you can become a part of the H.E.R.O. residence for orphans and join our movement to serve the most disenfranchised youth of Haiti you can visit our website at www.haitihero.org or send an e-mail to steven@haitihero.org.  I look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Steven Kirby, Ed.D
President

To Make a Donation Visit http://www.haitihero.org/

Haiti Got The Better of Me Today!

Do you know the feeling of relaxing on your comfy sofa, in a beautifully decorated air-conditioned room, watching 220 channels of T.V., perhaps eating some Doritos, or peanut butter M&Ms?  Well, that is NOT the feeling that I had today living in Haiti!

Today was the culmination of gross.  3 weeks ago we began having power trouble with our inverter and city power.  It got to the point where we spent nights at a time without electricity, the kids having to use flashlights just to find the toilet.  Then the disgusting smell began.  What the heck was that smell!  Oh, it was coming from the batteries being charged by our inverter!  I asked our Residence Director if the smell was normal, and he said, “yea, it happens when the batteries get too hot.”  I said, “Call the electrician and make sure that the smell is ok, and won’t harm us!”  He called the electrician, and we were given the OK.

Finally, after 3 weeks of electrical problems the electrician came today, but not until 5:00 PM.  Fortunately we were occupied the entire morning and afternoon with nothing less than a cockroach infestation!  I had started to see a cockroach here and there, not alive, but dead, 2-3 times a week.  They would pop up dead in the kitchen, outside near the generator, even in my bedroom.  Then our cook said, hey, it looks like those cockroaches keep getting into the vegetables I put in the cupboard.  Hmmm.  So, I quickly purchased a can of something made in China to kill cockroaches, and started spraying the entire cupboards.  That’s when the war began.  They went left, they went right, they flew in the air!  2 inch cockroaches, trying to escape the napalm I was laying on them.  They could outrun the gas, but they couldn’t outrun my foot!  Together we must have killed at least 30 large cockroaches, the others hiding within the cupboards.  I purchased roach motels, more gas, liquid-gel roach killer: everything I could to win this war.  I promise you, that at 1:00 this morning, I will be sneaking up on those roaches, with a can of spray in my hand, with a promise of death.

Not to be out done, the smell was back, coming from the batteries of course!  Thankfully the electrician was available, so he came down and checked, saying that the smell was, “definitely not coming from the batteries.”  What!  Then we tracked the smell, from the batteries, to the back of our refrigerator!  Wouldn’t you know it a mouse had been crapping for at least 4 days in the water retention tray in the back of the fridge!  It was the most disgusting thing I had seen that day, well, other than the 30 cockroaches we killed in the morning!  The electrician took apart the whole fridge, we cleaned the tray, put it back together, and stepped back to ponder the day.

I honestly thought that we lived in a clean house!  The bathrooms, bedrooms, and kitchen are cleaned daily!  The walls, windows, and doors are cleaned weekly!  We keep our food covered, we clean up after ourselves right after we eat, all dishes are done right away, and yet!  And yet we live, apparently in filth!  But, I will not lose this war!  I will fight every cockroach and mouse that lives in this house until it is dead, and we have won!  Now, that rat, the one the size of a grown man’s shoe that I saw the other day; well, that might just have to wait.

Sincerely,

Steven Kirby

President