Throughout our meetings in Haiti, our team is constantly
navigating our big dreams while respecting the need for concrete, actionable,
next steps. Today was an example of the struggle to achieve this balance in our
continued school visits and through our conversations.
This morning, our team met with a number of leaders from the
State University to not only express our own areas of expertise, but to discuss
how these can align with the identified priority areas of the university. Our
conversation eventually focused on actionable, collaborative, next steps towards
online learning, ESL programming, and professional development for educators at
the State University. One of the most exciting outcomes of this meeting was an
agreement made between Wilifrid Laurier University’s Steve Sider, Nova
Southeastern University’s Charlene Desir, University of Louisville’s Gaeteane
Jean-Marie, and the State University of Haiti’s Elias M Nassar. These four
individuals, across four universities and 3 countries, intend to collaborate on
multilingual online learning modules – an impressive and innovative goal! Below
is a picture of this group of four after the agreement was made.
As conversations carried through into the evening, we continued
to contemplate the social issues that Haiti faces. The conversation ranged from
the lack of women in educational leadership roles to the complex nature of
Haiti’s economy and how to build a sustainable future that could help to mitigate
poverty. When faced with these issues that have systemic roots, it can become
overwhelming. In Haiti, particularly, this challenge can be magnified by the
problem of sustainability and using what little time you may have in a
meaningful way.
Two reminders from our team members offered solace in the
face of this challenge. First, Pastor Caleb reminded the team that when given a
window of opportunity, we must seize the time we have and do as much as
possible within it. Furthermore, Steve reminded us of the Haitian saying “little
by little, straw by straw, the bird builds it’s nest”. Certainly, we continue
to find our own ways of contributing to this foundation upon which Haiti can
thrive.
By Jessica Vorsteveld
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