Careers in Bayonnais and Gonaives, Haiti

What if you could offer meaningful employment to a person, or two, or even four in the wretched economy of Haiti?  Better than hiring a person, you could enable them to learn a very useful trade.  Here’s how it would work.

Background

Jean Nadeuil, known as Pere, one of Actionnel Fleurisma’s closest friends, has been known at OFCB as the designer and builder of OFCB’s six major buildings.  The appearance and long-term integrity of the buildings speaks well of his skills in that area.  He also started a successful orphanage in a suburb of Gonaives a number of years ago, and that orphanage now has 30 girls and 40 boys in separate buildings.

On October 8, Pere opened a professional trade school, initially with three trades -   electrician, auto mechanic and welder.  Many tradesmen in the nearby city of Gonaives (population 300,000) are poorly trained, do not have the capability or desire to do a first-class job even for people able to pay normal rates, and they often have a very poor work ethic.  This is very frustrating to those who need work done in their homes.  This new school is very well equipped with tools, equipment and good instructors and is headed by a person who Pere and the backers in Raleigh, NC, feel will run a very professional school.  Many trades are on the planned list of courses to be offered as the school develops.  The building is in place for all of the planned curricula.  The school opening was very successful and bodes well for the future, including expansion to other trades.

What does this mean for OFCB?

For a long time, it has been obvious that the classes in the upper end of the high school would eventually become large.  The 11^th grade now has 78 students (13^th grade is the last year).  As the bubble of larger classes rose to and through 9^th grade, and is approaching 12^th grade, the National Exams in 9^th and 12^th are becoming stumbling blocks to a greater number of students.  The inevitable result is dropouts, for they cannot advance to 10^th or 13^th grades without passing the exams.  Trades will be part of the answer for these students.

The trade school is located on Route 1 just northeast of Gonaives, near where a road comes down the river valley from the area where the OFCB school is located (Cathor). This “road” is unlike any road you can imagine.  It takes between 1 ¼ and 1 ½ hours to travel  about 11 miles in a pickup truck.  A motorcycle is somewhat quicker (45 minutes in good conditions)  with only one track to manage instead of two for a four wheel vehicle.

The Proposition

Sending students to the trade school will involve getting them there, as well as supporting tuition.  The most practical and inexpensive way would be to have a motorcycle for two students to commute to the trade school.  The motorcycle and registration would cost about $1,100.  This would be an investment for a number of years, let’s say three years.  It could carry two students

Tuition for either electrician or auto mechanic courses is $170 per person per school year.  Other expenses would be gas ($1,170 for nine months), food and water ($330 for two for nine months) totaling $1,840 for two for the nine months school year, or an average of $920 each.

Since the school day is either 8:00 a.m. to noon, or 2:00 to 6:00 p.m., it would be possible for the same motorcycle to be used for two students in the morning and two in the afternoon, for no additional investment, but perhaps some more repairs.  So, the afternoon students would have the same average cost of $920 each for the school year.

 Does this Proposition interest you?

Support is needed for the initial motorcycle purchase and the expenses of 2, 3 or 4 students for the nine month school year.  OFCB had to make a decision about the first two, and chose to enroll them on faith that a person or persons in the US could support the purchase and expenses.

The two students’ commuting is costing daily “taxi” fees on tap-taps or motorcycles.  This cost is much greater that it would be to operate a motorcycle, and twice as much if afternoon students can be added.  Having a dedicated vehicle will also help the students arrive at school on time, and get back to Bayonnais to do farming and other work in a timely manner.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact either of us.

Actionnel Fleurisma, Pastor, CEO and Principal of OFCB Ministries

e-mail: yargagiv64@yahoo.fr   cell phone (only when at home in the city, not in Bayonnais): 011 509 437-6189 most weekday evenings

David Nichols, Matthews, NC:  home 704 847-3059  cell 704 591-8249  e-mail: david5cents@aol.com