I have met the “L’eglise de la Communaute Evangelique d’Haiti” (Evangelical Community Church of Haiti) in a work done by the Tour group of JMM where we de eloped several types of assistance.
Since this period I noticed that Pastor Thimothee Elisee was opened to our work, because he saw that everything we did was very serious. At the pastor’s church there is a school, something very common in Haiti due to the government difficulties in building public schools for all the children. This need added to the fact that the pastors do not receive a salary from their churches has drawn them to build schools in their churches facilities so that they get the minimum to support their families.
In November of 2018, due to the initial contact that I had established with the pastor since the tour came, there was the possibility of presenting the methodologies, rules and regulations of PEPE (Pre-School Education Program). I could explain the step by step of the project, which were the requirements and also the great benefits that the pre-school education of a church-school could get. The pastor was very glad and excited, because it was something he was seeking due to the difficulties with the pre-school teachers’ formation. Many pre-school teachers do not have any formation in the education area, they only teach the children. This is a reality of most of the church-schools of Haiti, what has made difficult the learning of the children and the education growth in the country. I showed and talked to the pastor our working material, the continued formation manual, the mathematics manual, the routine, the importance of the visitations, the child protection and all the other materials that we work with. I also made it clear that the church participation is extremely important, because it is through the project that the church understands how to be relevant in the community where it is inserted. After this long meeting informing about the project and how it works, I saw that the pastor was very interested, but even though I set another meeting to give him time to read on the rules and regulations of the project and clarify his doubts.
The following week we set another meeting where the pastor could clarify his doubts. When I saw he really understood the purpose of PEPE, I presented the alliance of the project and the partnership agreement. When he signed it, he told me that it was exactly the type of project that he needed to improve, and be more efficient in the teaching of the children and also to awake the church to face the challenge that is before it.
Thus it was opened one more unit of PEPE here in Haiti!!! With the unit launched I started the educators based formation of PEPE. Although the educators already had the practice inside a classroom, the based formation added even more to their knowledge, because the routine and methodology proposed by PEPE were very different from what they were used to. They learned that the children learning process goes beyond the repetition; and that each child has his/her own way to learn. Therefore it is necessary that the educator observe his/her student and stimulate their learning in the correct way. After the based formation for the educators I could see that the educational practice of the educators had a little bit more sense for the children’s learning process. We have just to praise God because this church has opened the doors to bless more children in our Haiti!
