The School in Jubilee: Summer School English Program 2011

Gonaives, Haiti is one of the poorest towns in the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. Jubilee Blanc is the poorest section of Gonaives. Naked children, some barely old enough to walk, wander unattended through piles of trash. Many residents of this community do not have regular work, which in turn means they do not have the means to provide three or even one square meal a day for their often large families. Potable water is a precious commodity that few can afford, causing a constant state of sickness and dehydration. Many lack the means to put their children in school, leaving them to roam the streets where a simple cut on the foot can lead to infection and the lose of a limb. Woman are treated as children by their husbands; for "their own good" they are beaten when they "do not behave". Without proper nourishment or water, without access to education, the children in Jubilee Blanc as destined to live in the gridlock of poverty and ignorance, continuing the heinous cycle displayed now through their parents. As of October 2009, a school called simply The School in Jubilee was opened. Manned by concerned teachers from both Haiti and the United States, the education being offered to the children of Jubilee is for many of them the one chance they will have to fight their way out of generational poverty.