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Why I Decided to Assist a Rural University in Haiti |
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I get asked a lot how and why I got involved with UNIF in the first place. I hope this answers is good enough.
Why I Decided to Assist a Rural University in Haiti
By Michael Haerting
September 2006
My wife Aileen had been involved for a while with the Haitian community in Miami but we had never visited Haiti. In August 2006 I noticed that the Haitian band “Boukman Eksperyans” was going to play a benefit concert at Tobacco Road here in Miami. We went to the concert, had a great time and met several people who were promoting UNIF 2004, the University of Fondwa 2004. We took the literature and went on the Internet to look up the links. What we saw and read was the story of a peasant association created by a Haitian priest, Father Joseph. It impressed us that it was Haitians helping themselves against ever more insurmountable odds and succeeding at doing so. At that point I was sold on the concept but decided to go and have a look for myself. Because Aileen had the good idea to take our 20-year old son who is studying here in Miami, we had to move quickly to still travel during the summer vacations. All Haitians we knew in Miami tried to discourage us, saying it was too dangerous, with kidnappings and murders reported almost daily. We had trepidations, but arranged to be picked up at the airport and arrived in Port-Au-Prince just a few weeks after the concert.
Though it did not look dangerous driving through the City, we nevertheless felt better once we reached the countryside. That is apart from the breakneck speed with which the accomplished driver of the University was weaving through the normal obstacles of trucks, busses, carts, motorcycles and pedestrians, all sharing a two-lane road.
We arrived in Fondwa in the afternoon and were greeted by the Sisters of St. Anthony of Fondwa. They made us feel at home and helped us to slow down to the country rhythm of life. We felt perfectly safe the whole time we stayed in Fondwa and in the coastal town of Jacmel. Wherever we went, the first thing most of the young people we met told us, was what school they were attending and what they were studying. Then they went on to practice their English. This eagerness to learn left a deep impression on us.
During the 10 days of our stay in Haiti we learned that the University of Fondwa was just the latest in a string of successful projects Father Joseph had initiated. He began with the peasant association “APF”, which now comprises of the visitors center in which we were staying, an agricultural cooperative and seed store, a school for over 700 children from elementary through high school, an orphanage, a woodworking shop, an automotive parts store, a bakery and a restaurant. The next project was the micro lending institute, “FONKOZE” which grew from a single office in the small town of Fondwa to an extraordinarily successful banking organization with 30 branches covering the national territory of Haiti. (On Fr. Joseph invitation we attended the Fonkoze-USA conference in Miami, which was another powerful experience.)
This is the background before which Father Joseph decided to take the next step and create a rural university. The university trains young people from rural areas of Haiti in sustainable agriculture, animal husbandry and veterinary sciences as well as business and management so they can introduce these skills in the rural villages upon their return. The curriculum is shaped around this goal. While there are several universities in Port-Au-Prince, those young Haitians who can afford to attend these schools rarely if ever return to the rural hinterland upon graduation. On the other hand, the students who are accepted into the program of UNIF 2004 have to make a contract to return and teach others. Therein lies the promise of UNIF 2004.
Neither Aileen nor I are willing to accept the common wisdom that Haitians simply can’t be helped, that it is a failed country and its simply good money thrown after bad. We do agree that one cannot impose democracy or the American way of life on any society, but we have seen what people are capable of, if they are given the tools to do it for themselves. That is why I decided to assist now in setting up a not-for-profit foundation in the USA and later to volunteer teaching economics and management at UNIF 2004.
Michael Haerting
Miami, September 2006
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