Back to School at SAKALA

News for a better world from the SAKALA community center in Cité Soleil

 I am finally back at SAKALA after six months away — too long for me.

So happy to be back in my Haiti home.

The expression on my face is a lot like this little girl’s from SAKALA getting her brand new back-to-school backpack last year. (Only she is of course wayyyyyyy cuter. Love this picture of pure happiness and possibility. :))

I knew that while I was away, Haiti — like the rest of the world — was dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and that was on top of already extreme political and economic instability.

In Cité Soleil, the community that SAKALA serves — and is one of the most impoverished and marginalized in the country — there have also been intermittent struggles with gang violence.

But despite these seemingly impossible obstacles, when I got to SAKALA I saw smiling, happy kids playing and ready for school.

I should know by now that whatever happens SAKALA somehow manages to be a place of tranquility and learning — but it still amazes me and makes me feel grateful every time.

We could all use a little SAKALA in our lives.

Speaking of back-to-school: take a look at this student super focused on preparing for the new school year. I think we are looking at a future leader of Haiti — if we can just get him the opportunities to thrive.

He is part of a group of children from the streets many of you were introduced to for the first time through Joanna Lumley’s visit to SAKALA last year shown in Hidden Caribbean: From Havana to Haiti. (I don’t think it is available in the US yet, but hopefully soon because it is great.)

In a previous newsletter you may have read about the boys’ participation in SAKALA’s art and gardening programs.

This is a scene from the summer environmental art program — where the boys are a “picture” in the frame they made using recycled materials.

Now, as it is September, we are hoping to help them achieve their dream of going back to school – or for some, maybe being able to go to school for the first time.

On Saturday, SAKALA had a tutoring/evaluation session to determine what the kids know already and what school grade to enroll them in.

Can you imagine the courage and strength it takes to so fiercely want to learn despite all the obstacles in life they have been dealt?

Whenever I see the eagerness with which the SAKALA kids – and in Haiti generally -- approach school, it makes me feel vaguely ashamed of how I took for granted being able to go to a safe public school in the US. That alone gave me so many advantages in life.

In Haiti, there is a public school system, but it is so limited and underfunded that most parents have to send their children to private schools instead. That means coming up with the money for school tuition, school uniforms, and supplies.

But because education is so valued by Haitian parents, they will spend 80 percent or more of their income so their children can go to school. 

But for many, 80 percent – or 100 percent -- of their income is not enough to pay for what many of us would consider even nominal school fees.  A couple of years ago, SAKALA did a survey of family incomes of the children enrolled here and found the average income was US $30 per month. Per month.

The economy and unemployment have only gotten worse since then.

And so even in “easier” times than this, you had parents having to make the heartbreaking decision of not sending their kids to school – or having to choose only one of their children to go – because they simply can’t afford it.

This is where SAKALA comes in. With the help and solidarity of people like you (thank you!), every year SAKALA pays all or part of the tuition and other fees associated with school for 150 to 200 children. 

SAKALA supports more children when we have the funds so if you would like to donate specifically to SAKALA’s education efforts you can do that through SAKALA’s website and just write “education” or “school fees” in the message area with the donation.

To help the children succeed further, every weekday there is an after school program where older youths (who themselves came up through SAKALA) tutor the younger kids — like in this photo below from yesterday’s session.

Covid-19 has upended school schedules here. Technically, this is still the 2019-2020 school year that would normally have ended in June, but since schools were closed for two months it will end in November when the 2020-2021 school year will start.

Daniel Tillias, leader and co-founder of SAKALA (and a CNN Hero for 2019) remembers how when SAKALA was founded back in 2006 (during another very difficult time in Haiti and in the neighborhoods of Cité Soleil in particular) the dream was to get as many children into school as possible.

Because at SAKALA they believe that education is the key to a brighter future. 

It is the key to realizing SAKALA’s motto “Yon rèv, tout bagay possib.” With a dream anything is possible.

Thanks for helping make so many dreams possible.

Will leave you now with images of the joy of learning. This little girl is the daughter of one of SAKALA’s staff members — who was himself one of SAKALA’s first kids back at its founding in 2006. I saw her one day when she was intently working on her homework. She was practicing writing French.

She popped up to greet me and smile for the camera, but then it was right back to work.

If you need help writing French in perfect cursive, I know a good teacher. :)

Whether you’re in school or not, wishing you a year of learning, happiness, and health — especially during these challenging times.