Haiti
Human Trafficking, Job Training
$35,000 Goal
Summary of the Situation
In Haiti, only 1% of eligible students are able to attend college due to many reasons. These include the financial burden, which is out of reach for the majority of Haitians; logistical issues, including travel, room and board; and other systemic reasons, including the fact that there are limited higher education openings even for well-qualified students.
The Haiti Trade School expands student options by providing post-secondary education at an accredited training center where the students will learn a marketable skill. The Trade School has much more affordable tuition, shorter timeframes, and more amenable schedules. Attending additional education classes after high school also assists in keeping young women from being trafficked into drug or prostitution rings. It keeps young men off the streets and out of these potentially illegal activities.
How will the funds be used?
The remaining balance to support the operating costs of the Haiti Trade School.
The Sisters’s Response
Systemic goals are to provide accredited, affordable vocational training to 40 students in each of two semesters in the areas of sewing (commercial and private seamstresses), hospitality (restaurant workers, dessert/pastry bakers, bartenders), and eventually cosmetology so that graduates can apply for and receive jobs that allow them to realize their potential and rise above the poverty line to support themselves and their families. There are insufficient trade schools in Haiti to support this demand for education and training.
From Sr. Alta Emile: “I would like once again to reiterate my conviction that the Trade School is producing miracles in the lives of many young people in Haiti. Imagine these two young girls, Saraphina and Marie, who entered the Trade School in October after the 12th grade and could not enter the University program. By choosing this vocational school, studying hard, and doing well, they became the first recipients of an additional international internship in Belgium. These are encouraging results for me attributed to Mission Haiti’s hard work every day to bring hope to the hopeless of Haiti “l’Espwa fe Viv”!
Systemic Impact
Haiti is currently beset by extreme poverty and gang violence. A trade school offers hope to young men and women through an education that will lead to productive employment.