College de la Grace - Pignon

This morning we spent about 4 hours participating in the 20th anniversary of Caleb Lucien's College de la Grace in Pignon. Caleb has done amazing work with this school. It has 1200 students and has added a vocational program. One of the ingenious things Caleb did when he started the school was to buy 8 motorcycles to use as taxis to bring teachers to his school. The reason he did this was because the school is in a rural area and he couldn't recruit top quality teachers from the immediate vicinity.

Twenty years later, CDG is recognized as one of the top schools in the north if not the entire country. Caleb will give scholarships to the top students to study in the US, Cuba, and DR on the condition that they return to Pignon for some years of service to the community. The alumnus of the year award was given to one such student who received medical training in Cuba and was not back in the local hospital as a doctor.

Here is a photo of Caleb (at the mike) giving a very impassioned speech about his vision for the future of education in Haiti. He joined the Laurier group in the evening for some Q and A which was enjoyed by all!