John Peterson Placide, our new student

Because one of our students decided to leave the project to try to find work elsewhere, we replaced him by John Peterson, who wants to become an electrician

Ile a Vache,  13/02/2018

Hello, today I am very glad to write this letter to the project, to let you know how very glad I am to be one of the students in this project.

So I am John Peterson Placide, 25 years of age. My family exists of 7 persons. My parents are not married, but they still form a tight couple together.

The main reason for this letter is to express my gratitude and thankfulness for being elected in the project. And I would like to thank those people that created and lead this project and who enable it. I will be so glad to learn the profession of electrician,  in order to be able to help others and to take part in the development of Ile a Vache in the future.  I feel obliged to you and I want to thank you because you helped me to make the choice to become a manual laborer.*

Thank you very much, all those that choose to help the people of Ile a Vache by way of this project. May God protect you.

* John Peterson originally wanted to study administration. That is a academic study and is not a part of what our project can offer. So he changed his option and now he will be schooled to become an electrician.

A challenging new year

A new year has started, and for our project this freshly started year immediately came up with some big challenges. 
Both of them are related to the fact that since some years Haitians are being warmly welcomed in Chili as (cheap) workers. This means for many of them a chance to escape the poverty form their homeland, to earn money to sustain their families at home and/or to save money to build up something at home. As we in Western Europe all know this is not an easy way to fight yourself out of poverty - you will be doing the work the people of the country themselves do not want to do any more, your salary will be the minimum, your living conditions will be the poorest. Still many Africans, Asians, Eastern Europeans choose this way to escape the many problems they encounter back home when they try to build up a solid future over there.
This is exactly what many Haitians right now are trying to do in Chili. This country has created easy entry conditions for them to find a legal existence and many people already made the move to Chili. Because rumours hold that the good entry conditions might soon change with the new Chilean government many Haitians feel the urge to profit while it is still possible.
So this is what happened with one of our students: he decided to move to Chili. We are very disappointed that someone in whom we invested already a lot of money decides to leave us, without any notice or deliberation. Regretfully we were not able to let him repay this investment. But thanks to very adequate and creative acting by our local collaborator Nickenson we were allowed to replace this guy at the same school by a new student. He can take over the instruments and the bike we already bought for his predecessor and he can start his education right now. Regretfully the whole situation has cost us extra money, and we could only try to engage in damage control in which we succeeded only partly.


A second challenge came up when our trusted and very skilful collaborator in Haiti, Nickenson St firmin announced that he also intended to go to Chili. He is 32 of age and needs to think about his own future. And though this is really very sad for our project we cannot deny him the chance he wants to take to build himself a future in Chili. And more important, he himself came up with a very prudent solution for our project: his mother will replace him as our collaborator on location. And if there is one category of persons that are loyal, trustworthy and adequate in the Caribbean cultures it is the mothers. In this very case we are dealing with a lady that succeeded by working very hard to help all her 7 children to an education. If someone knows the local educational system and how to deal with it, it would be her. On the other hand she is a much respected member of her community, so she will be able to handle upcoming issues with prudence and authority. We met her several times and we were impressed by her quiet though determined appearance. So we are very glad and proud to introduce to you our new collaborator in Ile a Vache:

the lady in the middle of the front row (surrounded by her 7 children)

right: Nickenson, 2nd left his mother

She will be assisted by her children to fulfil all requirements that will be necessary in our project.

In the month to come we will keep you posted about the new situation. And we will come up with our new policy plan 2018. 

A very special certificate

The last students of our first group (started in 2015) graduated last summer. They felt the urge to thank the project for its help to enable them to follow a vocational training in a very special way: they designed a certificate of honour and merit for US, the Stichting Studiehulp Kay-Kok and its donors! We want to share this with all our donors to show you that we really make the difference for some talented youths in Ile a Vache, Haiti

Please go on helping us to continue our project!

Hungry???

Our new student Rose Mirlande Dupaliste started in July with her education "Patisserie". We want to show you what she made already, just inform you how tasty and beautiful the food preparations are they learn to make...and maybe this arouses your interest to pay the island a visit in the future - be sure you will not be lacking of anything!

 

Thank you letters from Peterson Dorestant and Marie Legena Vital

From Peterson Dorestand (electrician) to the initiators of the project

Dear people of the project, it is a great pleasure to me to thank you for helping me to realize a part of my dreams. Though it is not yet finished I am from all perspectives so happy to thank you sincerely for your big help.

To be honest I can tell you the project had helped me tremendously: thanks to it I am now a professional in electricity for the building industry. I have no words to express my gratefulness. As you promised you helped us to the money for our schooling and I hope you will continue to do so. And with Nickenson as our guide this has all worked out very well. I am very proud on him and on you.

With my greatest feelings of gratitude I hope God will continue to give you strength to keep this project on going.   

Thank you letter from Marie Legena Vital (beautician)

Today it is my immense pleasure to send you this message in order to thank you for the gift that you gave me.

Since September until this month you gave me the opportunity to realize my biggest dream, which is to be a beautician. You enabled me to fulfil the obligations for this schooling. I want to say thank you to you form the deepest of my heart. I would not know where I would be without your help.

May our dear Lord guard this project so that it will be able to help more young people.

Marie Legena Vital