Four New Schools and an Orphanage!

Despite what you see in the media, Haiti is not all gloom and doom. The school year began with inspiring news in several Port-au-Prince slums, thanks to an exciting new grassroots movement called SODA.

As you may know, this movement began about two years ago when a group of passionate young volunteer teachers started a school in the poor neighborhood of Jakè for kids who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford to study. This fall, SODA volunteers opened FOUR new schools in other Port-au-Prince poorest slums, as well as a small orphanage for street children!

Here are some of the highlights…

• The Neighborhood Assembly of Jakè (AVJ) school is as strong as ever, with more than 120 students. Lunch and cleaning drinking water are served every day by volunteers who are mainly parents of the students. And this year, all the kids and teachers have t-shirts thanks to a donation from The Community School in Ketchum, Idaho.

• In the slum of Solino, SODA volunteers occupied an abandoned building and transformed it into a schoolhouse that is already filled with 120 kids. Thanks to donations, the school was able to buy benches and blackboards, but there are still not enough books, notebooks and pencils to go around.

• In the poor neighborhood of Simon Pele, a new assembly has joined SODA and opened a school with more than 50 students.
• SODA inspired the creation of another school in an area of Port-au-Prince called Mon Laza, where 60 students are getting an education.
• Finally, SODA volunteers have helped reclaim an abandoned orphanage in downtown Port-au-Prince called Lafanmi Selavi. They give classes there, and when food is available, provide a meal to around 20 street children, most of whom sleep on the floor of the facility at night.

All of these remarkable accomplishments have been the result of the hard work of a growing group of impoverished, but passionate, young Haitians fighting to change their country for the better.

They were also made possible thanks to the generous support of individuals outside of Haiti.

Much more can be done, but SODA will need help. The new schools and orphanage still lack books, notebooks and other basic materials, and they also hope to start lunch programs. And after a successful teacher training seminar this summer, SODA hopes to organize additional classes for its young volunteer teachers.

If you are a US citizen or would like to donate by credit card or check, please visit the website of Friends of SODA, a US non-profit with 501(c)(3) status that supports SODA.