Two days ago we travelled to Bassin Bleu which is just outside of Jacmel. Most of the staff from Adoration went on this trip. It was a bonding experience with the staff. We got to know each other by playing 20 questions, (where we ask 20 questions to get to know a person better), and a math game as we travelled the 38 kms, which took three hours, through the mountains. We arrived at Bassin Bleu which is a basin where a waterfall falls into. It is a beautiful place, one of the nicest in Haiti. We enjoyed each others time and had a good lunch together.
The trip was beautiful, we got to see a lot of different types of nature on the way. Walking on the path reminded us that God is in control and He has created all of this for us to enjoy.
We had a tonne of fun jumping, splashing, and playing in the water. We enjoyed the 1 km hike to get there. It was a nice day, relaxing and enjoyed by all!
The parents and the students arrived in droves today! We had a lot of volunteers who helped clean the downstairs classrooms. They pulled weeds that had grown along side the school, swept up the leaves and dirt on the playground. They mopped the floors and washed the desks. They started putting plastic on the books. There was a general business of people in the school today. This is a blessing indeed, thank you so much for your work!
 |
| Sweeping the stairs. |
 |
| Cleaning the desks. |
 |
| Sweeping the floors. |
 |
| Cleaning the garbage and the desks. |
 |
| Sweeping the church which will also serve as a couple of classrooms this year. |
 |
| Sweeping the playground! |
Two members from Word and Deed Canada and two members from ACT, (Adoration Canada Team), came to Haiti for about 5 days. During these days we had a lot of meetings. At these meetings it was clearly stated that those from Canada were here to listen to the all the people involved with Adoration. The time was taken to meet the Adoration Board in Haiti, some key people involved with Adoration, and the community, which included some staff, church, and secondary students. Throughout the week a lot was accomplished and a lot of details were ironed out. We now know in what general direction we need to be heading and the work that needs to get done!
 |
| Part of the Haitian Board meeting with those from Canada. |
 |
| A rough draft of some the work. |
 |
| Some more work accomplished. |
 |
| Working hard! |
 |
| Jim, Al, and Randy fine tuning some of the work that was discussed. |
 |
| Bernie did the second part of a leadership training seminar. |
 |
| It was well attended by leaders from our community, staff, church members, and secondary students. |
 |
| Taking notes. |
 |
| The Canadians also visited some of the houses from the housing project. |
 |
| All the material for this house had to be carried down by hand. |
 |
| A completed house. |
 |
| After a busy week we went to the beach and spent some time in the water enjoying a well deserved break. |
The parents arrived early this morning for a meeting that would help them understand Adoration and the rules and regulations that the school has. Each member of the staff was introduced. We have six new teachers and assistants working this year due to the growing size of the school.
At this meeting the parent project was introduced to them. The parents are expected to volunteer hours back to the school every year. Starting Tuesday and Wednesday of next week we are hoping a lot of parents come in and help us clean the school, fix some small projects, put plastic on the new books that we have ordered, those are just some of the projects we have. We are excited to see this project in full swing. (Don’t worry there will be a blog update on the project as soon as it happens).
Here are two pictures we took of the morning.
One of the most difficult things in Haitian education is passing the Rheto, (Grade 12), exam. Each year many students go to the school that has been chosen for them and they are required to write three hour exams on each subject in Rheto. This includes subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, English, Algebra, Literature, Geometry, Trignometry, Biology, Social Sciences, and Geology. You might be thinking this is similar to what we do in our school. However the difference is that their final mark is based on this exam and this exam alone. The total of all these exams are added up and if they get they get over 700, which is 50% then they pass.
Not only does this put a lot of pressure on the students but there are other complications that arise that make it difficult for the students to pass their exams. A lot of times the faciliator is late for the exam and the students are given less time to write their exams. Sometimes the faciliator leaves early because it is getting dark thus giving less time for the students to write. Other times the exams don’t show up on time or are not even printed for the students to write them.
After the exams are written they are sent downtown to be marked by select teachers from Port au Prince. This year, again, there was problems during the marking. When the marking started the Prime Minister released the Minister of Education, which caused a lot of disorder and created complications during the marking. Some of our students received exactly the same mark on 3 of their exams. Some marks from exams that we passed the year before and shouldn’t have been affected were changed. When the results came out only 29% of all those that wrote the Rheto exam passed. Only 60% in Philo passed their exams.
This is something that is not new to this year. These percentages are the same from year to year. The way the exams are written, this happens from year to year. This is the way of life for a Rheto student. It is not uncommon for a student to redo the Rheto exam at least two times in his/her life, if not more. They cannot go on in their education until the Rheto exam has been passed. The only postive thing that comes out of it that they only have to rewrite the exams that they failed the year before.
This year, two of our students passed their Rheto exam. Congratulations goes out to Yder Benoit and Brisson Colas. A job well done!
We can tell that school is in the process of getting ready again because people we have not seen for awhile have come in. People that are new are arriving and beginning to work. The sounds of teachers talking, laughing and sharing are happening in a lot of different rooms in the school. We also hear things getting fixed. We like this time of the year and we are thankful for these sights and sounds once again. Once again our school year got pushed back a month and we are thankful for the extra time that we get to this school building up and running for the eager students that will be coming every single day.
From left to right: Rodveens working on his year plans, Ilda gathering information from a potential Grade 7 or 8 student, our plumbers fixing the water barrel that blew off during the hurricane, Wislande planning her year, and Yveta going over her notes that she has written already.
