Financial results 2016

Annual Report 2016 Stichting Studiehulp Kay-Kok

Stichting Studiehulp Kay-Kok

Founded September 16, 2015.
The Foundation Board is made up of
Mrs. J. du Bois-Minholts, president
Mrs. L. M. Kuijer, secretary
Mrs. R. van der Kroef, treasurer

The Foundation aims to raise money to offer adolescents from the village of Kay-Kok, Ile a Vache, Haiti the opportunity to follow vocational training.
Stichting Studiehulp Kay-Kok is enrolled in the Foundations and Associations Register of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce. 

Bank: Triodos Bank: NL06TRIO 0391025457. Since December 14, 2015 the Stichting Studiehulp Kay-Kok.
ANBI recognition by Dutch tax authority: 8555.41.143

Two issues are central to the activities of the Foundation:

1. to guide as well as possible from a distance the operations in Haiti, 
2. raising sufficient funds to help every year up to 10 young people to attend to vocational training at schools in the city of Les Cayes.

2016 was the first full year of working of Stichting Studiehulp Kay-Kok. As mentioned already in our Policy Plan 2015 this has been a year of learning from our experiences. Since the start of the year our financial administration is, thanks to a friend who is a professional in this area, fully organized according to professional standards.

Of many important developments in the year 2016 the heaviest impact on the Kay-Kok community as a whole, came from the passage of hurricane Matthew in the beginning of October 2016, that hit Ile à Vache and the city of Les Cayes very hard, tearing a trail of devastation behind it. The most satisfying event was the graduation of 3 of our 6 students. 

The students

In October 2015 6 students started their studies: 2 young women both an administrative/computing course (1 year), 2 young men took a 2 years course to become electricians, 1 choose to be trained to become a mason (2 years) and the 6^th got a schooling to become a window-maker (1 year).

In January 2016 there were all together 6 students: 2 women, 4 men. 3 Male students lived together in the house we rented for the period of a entire year, the others found housing on their own accord.

A surprise occurred in the first months of the academic year, as it became clear that the students had to bring their own tools. Especially for the technical courses the required tools amounted to an average of at least $ 200 ,-- per person (with big differences between one another). We were not able to finance this, so they were obliged to exchange the available tools between themselves. We managed to find some external resources to at least provide for a part of the requested materials. As to the generator that was requested, we made it clear that this would be far beyond our budget.

In June, 3 of the 6 students graduated (the secretaries and the window maker). On that occasion it appeared that in order to receive their diplomas they were supposed to pay $ 100,-- per person. This was also not foreseen, but luckily we were able to finance it.

Those who graduated did so with good results: the two secretaries had average notes of 7,2 and 7,6 and the windows maker even averaged 8,2. The other three were admitted to their 2^nd year, though one of them had to make up for some exams he missed (motivated). It appeared that the men made very good scores for their practical exams while their theoretical results were considerably less.

After their graduation we asked the 3 graduates to write a short letter to the sponsors to explain what this education has meant for them. This resulted in 3 deeply moving letters, in which the students express their gratitude and explain what our help has meant for them.

While our funds (given the knowledge we acquired during the first year) were sufficient to pay for another 6 students in the academic year 2016/2017, 3 new students could be admitted. This time the lucky ones were a young woman who choose to become a beautician, a man for plumbing and another man that wanted to become a refrigeration technician. Because these last 2 professional trainings were not available at the school we used the first year we elected another school, that is a bit more expensive, but here nearly all training courses can be done. The beautician is attending another school, as is usual in Haiti (many educational institutes are gender specific).   

4 Out of the 5 male students needed a place to live provided by us. And all of them could stay in the house we rented for a second year. The 5^th found a place by himself. While the single young woman in the new group could not find a place to stay of her own, we were obliged to rent a room and furniture for her. This ended up relatively expensive ($ 650). In the future we hope to organise the candidates thus, that they come in couples of the same gender, which will lower the costs of the house rentals per person significantly.

Fundraising

The fundraising for the first full year of our project has been developing favourable, after we had decided to not further invest energy in the search of funding agencies/ngo’s. We began the year with the commitment by friends of € 2000, - during the 4 years our project will still be active, which provides immediately a substantial base under the budget.

During our stay in Ile à Vache in march 2016 we got acquainted with a couple cruising the region as we do, who, after hearing of our activities, offered to engage themselves in raising funds in their own social network. This ended up with the result that they ‘adopted’ financially 3 students during the academic year of 2016/2017 and they will maintain this for the next year for the student in their group that will continue his studies with a second year. This substantial amount was supplemented by a lot of smaller and larger individual contributions (ranging from € 50 to € 500). The amount that we gathered by the end of 2016 for the academic year of 2016/2017 came out to be about € 12.000, which is more than two times as much as we had available in 2015. All donations came from private persons, being our personal friends and acquaintances. Some will be one-off, others committed themselves for several years. This enabled us to make up for the deficit we closed 2015 with and to prolong the academic year of 2016/2017 with six students that we can pay $ 60 every month for livelihood instead of the $ 50 per person – that was in fact not entirely sufficient – we paid in 2015/2016.

By accident we heard of a special foundation, called ‘Femmes de l’Europe’. With a personal introduction they provide for donations to i.a. educational projects. We filed an application for this, but regrettably our project was turned down for 2016. We were told that we might try again next year. The main reason our application was put hold on was they already funded a project in Haiti and also because this fund actually pays no tuition fees. We intend to file another application, but now directed to cover the costs of the tools, which should fit better into the objectives of the fund.

We discovered that personally approaching people and telling them our story is the most effective. We hope we will succeed in the near future to extend our reach by recruiting also contributors outside the immediate circle of personal friends. Secondly we try to find a school that is willing to run a project implying to raise funds to financially adopt a colleague-student from Ile à Vache. In the third place we hope to raise the interest of businesses to become a sponsor of one or more specific students, or to give us a donation in general.

Trial and error

 
We had planned to enter only into commitments for as many students as for which full funding (that could also cover a period of two years) was already available at the start of the academic year. However in the first year of operation we were confronted with several ‘surprises’ as already in part mentioned, that by the end of 2015 resulted in a deficit of about $ 4000,-- for the academic year of 2015/2016.

In its first semester of working (second half of 2015) we encountered a surprise that made up for the largest part of this deficit. It turned out that the estimated costs for the subsistence of the students (on which they are entirely dependent) were not calculated, as we had presumed, per year (as all other cost estimates that we received) but per month. This meant that this entry did not amount to $ 300 per year (on the basis of $ 50, - per person), but $ 300, - per month (= $ 3000,-- all together)! This was a significant shortfall in our budget. To cover these costs for the entire academic year there were insufficient funds by the start of 2016. Thus we were obliged to raise additional funds and to find new contributors.
It has been suggested that the students, as many Dutch students do, partly provide for their own income. Unfortunately, in the Haitian circumstances this is impossible: all side-line jobs as we are used to in the Netherlands (such as dish washing and attendance in restaurants, postman, supermarket employee) are occupied by wage-earners in poverty-stricken Haiti. So for part-timers nothing is left. It is therefore impossible for the students to earn even a little money, and that means that they are entirely dependent on us for their livelihood.

The deficit we were confronted with in the academic year of 2015/16 consisted of

1. The (mentioned) misunderstanding about the costs of livelihood – that we thought would be $ 50 annually per student but that appeared to be $ 50 per month. This meant expenditures would turn out to be (10 x 50) x 6 (= 3000)  instead of 50 x 6 (=300), a difference of 2700,--
2. To this should be added the fact that the beds, chairs, kitchen equipment (stove, cooking pan, cutlery and plates etcetera) for the rental house had to be bought separately (+ $ 250,-), a fact we had not been aware of beforehand.
3. When it came to the graduation of the first 3 students, it turned out (as mentioned above) that they had to pay $ 100,-- per person to get their diploma
4. Another thing we had not been aware of as we started with the 6 students (see also above) was that the tools and other materials used had to be bought by every student privately and were not provided for by the school. This will be accounted for in the future to an average amount of + $ 250,-- per student. In the first year the foundation was not able to provide for this money. In the second year we were glad to be able to cover a substantial part of these costs.  
5. The deficit of the first year was expected to be solved by the fundraising party planned to be held in the spring in Holland. But this party turned out a failure as to the part of the fundraising – only € 150,-- was the result.

In addition to this deficit (compared to our budget) of + $ 4750, - for the first academic year (2015/16), by the end of 2015 we were still short of another $ 4.500,- that were required to allow the three students to complete the second year of their studies (2016/2017) and to cover overhead costs.

What we learned the first full year

1. Given the above mentioned ‘surprises’, we recalculated the average costs per student per year and with our new experiences this resulted in a new budget of $ 1800,-- instead of $ 1500,-- per student annually.
2. And even more than when we started we maintain the view that nothing in Haiti is what it seems at first sight, so we should stay flexible and creative to find solutions to all challenges we are being confronted with. To this should be added the fact of cultural differences, resulting in misunderstandings. Many things that are totally normal and accepted in Haiti, we do not know or even understand at first sight. This fact urges to as clear as possible communications, checking and counter-checking time and again and keeping on asking, to reduce this kind of misunderstandings as much as possible, since we are totally ignorant as far as the daily way of live, the customs and the do’s and don’ts in Haiti are concerned. Since our collaborator Nickenson St firmin cannot be aware of our entirely different cultural background the only solution is intensive communication and fact checking, and to listen very good to his advises.
3. This being said, the material conclusion is that we should do the best we can to collect even more money than we already did, and to try to extend our resources towards schools and commercial sponsors (businesses) to spread the material liabilities
4. We encountered many new things and people while working for our project. One of these is the chairperson of the Stichting Vrienden van Haiti Westvoorne (S.V.H.W.), mrs. Ria van der Linde-Pollemans, one of the central persons in the Netherlands as it comes to Haiti. We were very glad to meet her, and to learn from her enormous experience in organizing activities on behalf of Haiti. She was also the person that enabled us to ship several computers to Haiti. It is good to know we are not the only ones trying to help those in need in Haiti. In the same line we got acquainted with Patricia Drummond-Bey of the (US based) travel agency ‘Let’s go Haiti’. She not only leads this travel agency but in the same time she has built a huge network in Haiti, mainly working together with local people. One of her focuses is on Ile à Vache, as one of the destinations for her clients. She was the person that immediately came into action after hurricane Matthew had hit the south of Haiti. Also here it is very rewarding knowing of and exchanging information with other organizations active in the region. 

Personal visit

In March 2016 we sailed to Ile à Vache. This was a suitable opportunity to pay a visit to the project and to get into contact with the students. This turned out to be a very rewarding thing to do. Not only did we encounter our biggest sponsor of the academic year of 2016/2017 (fellow cruisers that collected the money to pay for 3 students, see above), but we were also able to organize meetings with the students to discuss their situation and how they could prolong after graduation to enable themselves to start earning money. We encouraged them to try to become small entrepreneurs, since waiting to be offered a job in a country like Haiti to our opinion would never lead to a job that will enable them to earn their own money.

And, very important as well, we were able to see the house we rented and where 3 of our students lived at the time. It is a basic, but clean and solid built place (it withstood the torments of Matthew good). Now we understood why Nickenson told us that it would not be suitable to accommodate both males and females at the same place (as we suggested at a certain point). The house consists of 2 rooms: one living room and a dormitory with 2 double beds. The 3 young men living there told us it offered them a good home, but a female would have no privacy at all. Outside was a small place that was used as a kitchen. There is electricity available inside the house for which we pay $ 10,- per month, the stove is heated (as is usual in Haiti) on charcoal.

Several times the students in the house asked for a small tv. Regrettably (while we understand that they have not much to do there, apart from their studies) we had to refuse this, since our funds were not meant to provide for these kind of ‘luxury’.

We held a gathering in the house with 4 of the 6 students (the others were in school) during which we discussed how they were doing, checked out if they were able to live from the money we provided and finally we talked about their future after graduating. Though their living conditions are very basic they assured us they were able to live from what we send them every month, that they were very pleased with the opportunity offered by us to follow school and that they were performing okay in school. About the future options they were optimistic about finding jobs, but we tried to show them that waiting for a job would be not enough to find one. We explained that we were convinced they would create far better chances to earn their money by becoming small entrepreneurs.  We gave many examples and suggestions about how to look for opportunities. We elaborated on the idea of producing bricks for building houses on the island . We also talked about them about applying for micro credits, to start their own small businesses.

Apart from all these activities we were in daily contact with our collaborator Nickenson St firmin, helping him with questions that had arisen, guiding him through the ins and outs of our project and learning from him about the do’s and don’ts concerning studying and living in Haiti. Also we evaluated the test we took and he organised in 2015 and his position as the central person of the whole project. We could also give him the small netbook computer we had brought as a gift from friends in the Netherlands. Though this is a very basic computer it is suitable as a backup after the ones he was used to work on had broken down. We could take the broken computers with us, to see if we could have them fixed.

People came by to talk with us about how to get into our project. And with questions about the selection procedures which time and again we explained. It is very important that people in Ile à Vache (who are used to being cheated and lied to by ‘authorities’) are convinced that our procedure has been clean and honest. For this reason transparency is of the utmost importance. There were people that had missed (a part of) the test and who wanted to join our project via the backdoor. Although this was very disappointing for them, we had to explain them that this was not possible, since that would be unfair towards those who joined and passed the tests successfully. When we will organise a new testing round (probably in 2018) they will get a new opportunity to enter into our program. 

On site collaborator

We have an private financial arrangement with our local collaborator Nickenson St firmin. This is organised entirely outside of the budget of the Stichting Studiehulp Kay-Kok. It enables him to be available for the project and to buy credit for his computer/smartphone. He can also travel to Les Cayes when that is required by the project, to do the paperwork, and to let the computer be repaired.

With help of aforementioned friends and their contacts In the Netherlands and in Haiti, we have been able to send Nickenson a computer after the one he used had broken down. Later in the year we were able to send, again with the help from these friends and some others, not only a new second hand computer to him but also a replacement battery for the old one and a printer. We try to get the small (back up) netbook available for one of the graduated secretaries, to help her to set up a small secretarial business of her own.

Since Nickenson had also acquired a smartphone we communicate not only by email but also by Whats app. This enables us to stay in much closer contact with each other. So though we are travelling around, by means of modern media we are able to stay in nearly constant contact.

We observed that Nickenson bettered his (written) French dramatically the last year, which makes our communication a lot smoother and the risk of misunderstandings less. Apart from that he gathered much knowledge of the schooling possibilities in Les Cayes, finding suitable schools and housing for the students, the cheapest ways to buy the tools they need. We observed he is not only eager to learn, but he is also quick in adjusting himself and adequate in his performing.

Another important asset is the fact that Nickenson not only opened a bank account (without which we would not be able to manage the financing of the project properly) but he also got into internet banking, which makes the overseas cooperation even easier.

To make sure that the money we send is really delivered to the students it is meant for we started with a form, in which they declare that have received the money for that particular month. In this way we hope to prevent cheating with the money and to provide a safeguarding for Nickenson towards anybody who might be doubting about the honesty of the whole operation in general and his role in it in particular.

Matthew

We mentioned it already: the passing of hurricane Matthew right over the south of Haiti on October 4^th  has had an enormous impact in the region. Where the earthquake in 2010 had hit mainly the northern part of the country (that has hardly recovered from this disaster) now it was the turn to the south western part of the country to encounter destruction by a natural event. For several days there had hardly been food and (clean) water available, many houses were devastated or at least severely damaged, harvests were destroyed, many boats and fishing nets encountered the same fate and we have seen pictures of people in Les Cayes swimming through the streets.

We have tried to gather as much information as possible during these days to let the world know about the disaster. This evoked many emotions among our followers and friends. Several people offered us money to help. We had to be clear that we would not be able given the goals of our foundation, nor would our foundation be suited, to help rebuild houses or restore the agriculture. We also lack an organisation that is able to supply emergency relieve. So we suggested to those that wanted to give emergency aid, two reliable organisations that we know of, that are active in Ile à Vache and that work with their own local network to donate to those groups.

We fortunately never lost contact with Nickenson, who kept us informed. Though the students had a very hard time, being in Les Cayes while their families were suffering in Ile à Vache, they all emerged unharmed. The house and the room we rented also survived Matthew. One of the dangers for the people in the town was getting a cholera infection, as the water and sewage systems were totally overflowing. Though nearly everybody got sick, luckily that was not with cholera, and everyone recovered fortunately. After about 2 weeks the schools reopened and they could join their lessons once more – some of them had only started in the beginning of October.

The money we were given by our sponsors specifically to provide extra help after Matthew, we assigned to give to the students as some extra money for their livelihood, once the prices will rise because of the devastated harvests.

Because many people were wondering how this whole episode had been, we asked the students to write a short letter about how this all had been to them. And so they did. The tendency of their letters was that they personally had passed some very fearful moments, but that their main concern had been about their families back home (Ile à Vache). Without exception they reported about the houses of their families being damaged or even devastated. We published the letters on the website and once more we gave the information about the other trustworthy organisations that are directly involved in helping Ile à Vache to rebuild.

In short

With the necessary caution, we can now conclude that the cost per student approximates US $ 1800, - per year. Accommodation with family or friends saves $ 200 annually.

We have been very happy with the contributions of our fellow-cruisers: one couple collected in their own network the money to sustain 3 students, the other couple made the commitment to transfer during the rest of our project $ 2000,-- annually. And there have been more, often very spontaneous and considerable contributions. We hope to be able to keep this positive tendency up in the coming years. In order to spread our (income) vulnerability, being a small project we aim to expand our fundraising working field towards at least 1 school that adopts a student and to some (small) businesses as sponsors. It looks like we will be able to realize a small financial buffer towards the next academic year. This will provide for a better basis for the continuity of our project.

It also became clear that students for the technical training need tools and the young woman who want to study to become a beautician needs her specific equipment. These are  not provided for by the school and the costs vary tremendously per program. We do our best to find new funds, to collect the money to finance these types of expenses above the regular ones already mentioned. The advantage of providing the tools to the students, will be that the graduates immediately have their tools that allow them to get started in their new profession. This would also enable them to start their own small independent business or as a handyman. We will try to apply for a contribution for this specific cost with the Femmes de l’Europe, while it seems that such a kind of contribution fits better into their goals than the tuition we asked for at first.

In 2017, we will travel outside the Caribbean. This means that our virtual communication with Nickenson should be very intense and good. For this reason our visit to the island in 2016 has been very rewarding: we have acquired much more knowledge about the consequences and the shortcomings of our project in the reality of daily life in Haiti in general and in Ile à Vache in particular. One thing at least is subject to some improvements, the money for living: that's set up at an absolute minimum. We were happy to be able to increase this amount from $ 50 to $ 60 per month. When necessary when the prices of food will rise in the wake of the devastated crops by Matthew, we can even give some extra money.

Our graduates are preparing for establishing their own small business. This will be a tremendous step forward not only for themselves to provide for an income, but since they are aiming to start a shop for building materials, food supplies and cosmetics this can also bring big advantages for their community as a whole. We will help them to the best of our possibilities with word and deed to make their dream come true. Because acquiring a diploma is one thing but to establish a solid way to earn an income for them was what we really intended to do.