Montessori 2011 en - Peter-Hesse-Stiftung

Commitment to rebuilding! – In spite of…

In spite of the financial, administrative and political hurdles, we are going to begin the rebuilding of our teacher training center that was destroyed in the earthquake. We do not yet have all the funds to complete the building, but we will begin with what we have. It has been over a year since the earthquake and it is time for the Haitian people to move forward. To wait, until all necessary means are available and all political as well as administrative hurdles will be overcome, is not acceptable in view of the suffering people of Haiti – specially their children.

The groundwork for the center will begin in April 2011 by volunteers from the „Berufskolleg Kempen“, a vocational school in Germany. In February 2011 a team from the German volunteer initiative, Pastor Roland Kuehne, architect Benno Friebe and construction-engineer Thomas Brux visited Haiti to make an evaluation of the ground and to calculate the materials and equipment needed for the initial phase. This is a start!

We still need 1.200.000, – US $ to be able to complete the building. We will continue to build in phases as funds become available. Here again the account of the Peter-Hesse-Foundation with the Commerzbank Düsseldorf, Germany, for international donations:

IBAN: DE14 3004 0000 0315 6080 00 – BIC: COBADEFFXXX

Peter-Hesse-Foundation, Haiti – 18 March 2011

Carol reporting from Haiti – 27 April 2011

Students build for teachers in Haïti

Students from the vocational school in Kempen, after seeing the devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti, knew they had to do something to help. “We do not have money but we can build” they said. They put their words into action and gave up their Easter vacation to construct the foundations for buildings that would become a center for training teachers when it is completed.
Seven students accompanied by four teachers stayed at a school in Liancourt, a short walk away from the building site. They slept on the floor and braved the lack of water and electricity for three weeks. Dispite the short timeframe they were able to complete their goal by working long hours, sometimes working by flashlight and the headlights from a car.

Ben working, Haitians watching

Johann and Sinan from Kempen

Short Film in English – preparing the ground in Liancourt.

German building volunteers

with local Haitians preparing the ground of our new training center in Liancourt, Haiti, during the Easter holidays 2011.

Teacher training begins – July 2011

22 students began training to be teachers in Liancourt in July. The course is using one of the preschool buildings while the children are on summer break. Training will continue in the afternoons when the preschool reconvenes in September. We are continuing to build the new teacher training center bit by bit as funds become available. We are looking forward to the return of the volunteers from Kempen to Haiti in October. They will continue construction on the new teacher training center that they started in April 2011.

Since the earthquake in January 2010, millions of dollars in emergency aid have helped rebuild brick and mortar structures around Haiti, including some school buildings. But little support has been given to improving teacher skills as a critical element in the success of a school. We believe the efforts of rebuilding schools should include sustainable approaches to improving the quality of education.

In Haïti, work to build the Montessori teacher training center continues.

The sanitary units are being prepared and the drilling of a water well is now firmly planned. The German volunteers, who had already prepared the ground for the houses of the training center in Liancourt in April, are in full preparation for their second building trip to Haiti. The group from the Kempen “Berufskolleg” (comprehensive college) will work again together with local Haitians in the second part of October 2011 to continue building as much as possible in the framework of their donated holiday time and of our limited financial resources

Peter Hesse, 23 August 2011

We are working to raise enough money to complete the roof during the Easter holidays 2012 when a third group of students will go to Haiti to continue building the training halls and the water supply-connections. Rotary has promised to drill the needed well. We still need financing for basic furnishings of the buildings and for the needed solar power to finally start the formation of new teachers in the fall of 2012.

Peter Hesse, Early in November 2011

Peter-Hesse-Foundation