Empowering Through Education (ETE) Camp In Haiti: Seeking To Prepare Haiti’s Most Vulnerable Youth To Become Future Leaders for Social Change by Strengthening Their Academic Skills, Increasing Self-Confidence, and Actively Building Community & Parental Support Project Proposed by Shaina Gilbert

ABSTRACT: In 1804, Haiti became the First Black Nation to gain its independence but by the 1980s, was officially dubbed the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. On January 12, 2010, Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and surrounding regions was struck by a magnitude- 7.0 earthquake that literally destroyed any amount of aspiring, functioning progress the city ever built; in addition to creating insurmountable issues for the rest of the nation (small villages and provinces). This project, ETE Camp, seeks to better prepare, support, and equip the next generation of youth in Hinche, Haiti to become the future leaders of their deeply troubled yet strong country. ETE Camp was launched in July 2009 by 5 Brandeis students and hosted 43 youth participants (ages 8-11). The project achieved its aim by (1) strengthening their academic skills via critical classes like Math, English (verbal/writing), Leadership Building, (2) increasing self-confidence by promoting teamwork and encouraging youth to express themselves in class discussions, and (3) actively building community and parental support by connecting them with respected community leaders like their mayor and hosting community-wide events that allow parents to witness the development and great potential of their children through education. This project has proven impacts for its participants and their community at large however cannot continue in July 2010 without financial support.

BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT: It is important to invest in the youth of Haiti because more than 50% of the population is under 18 years old.1 This indicates that they are not only the next generation, but literally the next people within this decade to “succeed” Haiti. However, figures such as nearly 50% of youth (18-24) are not literate, 20% of population complete secondary school,2, or that the school system in Haiti is NOT free demonstrates the young people of Haiti are not prepared for such a responsibility. The recent earthquake in Haiti will certain heighten these statistics tenfold in addition to the facts that many of the major schools in Port-au-Prince collapsed and the significant increase of orphans and displacements of youth. Appropriately, stronger focuses are currently placed on providing basic survival necessities and relief efforts versus education system rebuilding. However, this summer, ETE Camp seeks to create space of normalcy for displaced youth who evacuated to Hinche, Haiti and could use ETE’s support. In addition to these youths, ETE Camp will also continue its work with the most vulnerable youth already in Hinche.

Shaina Gilbert is a first generation Haitian-American from Mattapan in Boston, MA. Mattapan hosts the largest Haitian population in Massachusetts. A senior at Brandeis University, she recruited and trained 4 Brandeis students to become volunteer teachers and counselors at ETE Camp which is located in her mother’s hometown in Haiti. Post-ETE Camp, during the fall of 2009, all 5 Brandeis students shared the spirit and success of the Camp with the rest of the Brandeis community via presentations and awareness building efforts on the status of Haiti. Post the Haiti earthquake, Shaina is more passionate and determined than ever to return to Haiti and further develop the camp for July 2010; so that it may have a newfound hopeful impact in the lives of the Haitian people. Unfortunately, like Haiti, ETE is currently at ground zero and needs funding in order to operate.

1, 2"UNICEF - At a glance: Haiti - Statistics." UNICEF - UNICEF Home. Web. 10 Jan. 2010. .

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT: A factor that makes this project, ETE Camp, so unique is that they offer their youth participants productive activities to do with their idle time. Also, ETE provides a free academic package that includes discussion-based, critical classes like Leadership Building, English Verbal, Math, and English Writing and Reading. It is important to note that English is such a commodity in Haiti that ETE 8 year olds were teaching their 50 year old grandfathers the English they learned at the camp. Also, by the end of the 3.5 week summer camp, illiterate children were now able to write their names while others were sounding out English words for the first time. The package also includes free breakfast, lunch, school and art supplies, and daily recreational activities.

The camp is also unique because it actively seeks to build parental and community and support for the children which will continue post the youth’s camp experience. We achieve this by going on a parade throughout their community, which ends with a visit to City Hall to speak with local leaders. There is also a closing ceremony that is open to parents and the public where the 43 youth participants receive certificates of completion and had the opportunity to share what they learned at ETE Camp via projects and presentations they created together. At the ceremony, several local leaders, including the mayor of Hinche, attended and offered words of support to the ETE youth.

The project impacts the community at large by providing seasonal jobs for unemployed Haitians such as ETE cooks and custodian. In addition, local teachers, impressed by how fast the children are capable of learning via ETE, shadowed ETE teachers to learn teaching methodology that includes a discussion-based classroom environment (where students are more vocal and engaged, increasing self-confidence). These teachers also expressed interest in incorporating activities related to leadership skills and civic engagement into their curriculum and school setting. The community members also appreciate ETE’s commitment to their youth because a local school offered the camp free space to host ETE. They expressed that it was the first summer day camp of that caliber or sophistication that they have ever witnessed outside of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. Lastly, ETE impacted the community because all of their local expenses such as for counselors’ lodging, per diem, camp groceries, closing ceremony, etc. contributed the economy of Hinche.

VISIONS OF ETE CAMP 2010: MAKING A SUSTAINABLE IMPACT The project was established and implemented in July 2009, but seeks to create a sustainable impact through its continuation, development, and expansion in Summer 2010:

• Host 70 Youth Participants ---including the 43 Youth Participants from ETE 2009

• Hire & train local young adults to be counselors--- Community has a stake in the development of their youth; creates employment opportunities; promotes sustainability via local efforts

• Extend the camp’s duration--- Image the amount a child can learn with more time; if in less than a week, she learned how to count to 1000 in English and request that the class learn up to 1,000,000

• ETE Parent Community Meetings ---Encourage parents to be an active part of the rising efforts for social change; build communal and parental support for ETE Youth

• Create productive ETE Alumni Network--- Provide the tools and opportunities for their continued growth as individuals and as a group who went through a powerful experience together

• Award full school scholarships to selected ETE alums--- Due to economic difficulties, some of the ETE youth cannot attend school some years, resulting in gaps in their education; We want to help end that (separate fundraising from Davis for this important goal)

• **Due to the overwhelming amount of evacuees going to Hinche post the Haiti Earthquake; incoming ETE youth participants will include displaced youth now living in Hinche**