Greeting Friends,
It has been 40 years since Donald and Doris Peavey had decided to answer God’s calling in the city of Marchand Dessalines, Haiti. I am personally proud of their accomplishments and I firmly believe that when the time comes for them to go home, our Lord Jesus Christ will greet them with these wonderful words: “Welcome good and faithful servants”.
My name is Pastor Steve Saintus, a Haitian-born who has lived in the United States for 25 years. And like Don & Doris, my wife Esther and I are responding to that same calling in Marchand Dessalines. We consider it a privilege and an honor for this humbled opportunity to write the next chapter of this amazing story—one that has saved countless lives and brightened the future of many.
I am also writing to thank all of you that have supported the EGO family all these years. I am sure that Don & Doris would agree that you made their job easier. There is still much work to be done. It is our prayers that you would continue to extend your helping hands to EGO as we move forward together in writing this next chapter—a chapter that is too much to describe in this letter, a chapter that has brought Esther and I to our knees seeking God’s favor and wisdom.
Though the work ahead is much to describe, nonetheless, we wish to open our discussions about education. We can all agree that the old Chinese proverb still holds truth: Give a man a fish and he will continue to be hungry, but teach him how to fish and he will never be hungry. I choose to discuss education because I believe it is paramount. We can feed these children from birth to adulthood, but we will have failed if we do not give them quality education. As an educator of fifteen years, I have seen firsthand the difference between education and quality education. It is a difference heralded in “doing and knowing”; “surviving and living”. Many children who do not receive quality education are simply doing reading, writing and math. We want to equip our EGO students with the “know how” instead of just “doing”.
In this endeavor, we seek your help. We are blessed that Ecole Mixte of Jonathan now has a brand new building to house all of its 200 students. Praise be onto Jesus! However, we need a lot of supplies (chairs, boards, pens and pencils, audio and visual equipment such as overhead projectors, computers, printers, copiers, books and notebooks, library, and internet. A new challenge will emerge for the coming 2011-2012 school year as we inaugurate our 5th grade class because our 4th grade students will move up. It is a challenge because we will have to hire more teachers adding the 17 we are struggling to pay. Most importantly, we must hire a director of pedagogy (a principal) to respond to the demand of Haiti’s Department of Education and to assure quality education.
Our school will close its doors for the summer vacation in a couple of weeks, but it reopens in October. I am confident that the Good Lord who started this great work 40 years ago will continue to show us favor. With your continued support, we can ring the bell of quality education at EGO. Please don’t wait for October—the time is now.
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