NORTH KINGSTOWN — The Haitian Project’s Louverture Cleary School (LCS) outside of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, continues to provide a transformative Catholic education for the country’s future servant-leaders, in addition to providing much needed support to the broader community, amidst some of the most difficult conditions in Haiti’s history.
Haiti remains in the media spotlight due to the pervasive gang violence, economic pressures, and political instability impacting the country.
Patrick Brun, a Haitian private sector leader and head of The Haitian Project’s partner foundations in Haiti, reflects on the current state in the country. “We are in a state of precarity, focused in Port-au-Prince. The level of commerce is virtually zero. Businesses are closing because of shortages of fuel, electricity, and workers. The general insecurity in the streets also keeps people from commuting to their jobs. And all of these factors create pressure on the economy.”
However, The Haitian Project, which was founded in Rhode Island, has navigated extremely challenging circumstances for nearly four decades. Thanks to the generosity of its supporters, many of them from the Diocese of Providence, and the experience and dedication of teams in the U.S. and in Haiti, The Haitian Project and Louverture Cleary School continue to house, feed and provide a top-notch, tuition-free Catholic education, steeped in community service, to young people from some of the most economically-disadvantaged neighborhoods in the Western hemisphere.
For centuries, Catholic education has been a powerful tool in the fight against poverty and injustice, and Louverture Cleary School is no exception. In a country where fewer than five percent of young people graduate from high school and only 35 percent of college graduates stay in the country, historically nearly 90 percent of Louverture Cleary alumni attend university or work in professional careers in Haiti. Upon finishing university, Louverturians are highly sought after by local employers for their education, ability to speak four languages (Kreyòl, English, French and Spanish), and leadership skills, regularly earning 10 times the per-capita income of Haiti within a few years of graduation.
“Unfortunately, the news in Haiti has caused some funders to pull back at a time when the cost of operations has only become more expensive,” notes THP President Reese Grondin. “But we are still there, fully operational and successfully fulfilling our mission.”
Grondin continued, “The bottom line is that things are incredibly difficult, yet this is precisely the time to invest more, not less, in Haiti, and in Catholic education in particular.”
Louverture Cleary School is well known in Haiti for academic excellence. This year, despite all the challenges, the school once again achieved a 100 percent pass rate on both the Katryèm (9th grade) state exam and the Philo (13th grade) baccalaureate exam. In addition, the Philo class had two national laureates on the baccalaureate exam, placing third and fifth in all of Haiti.
“A Louverture Cleary education focuses on the citizen-leader. Not just intellectuals, but future leaders who will be able to fulfill a social role in the pursuit of a better Haiti,” states LCS Principal Myriam J., a 2010 graduate of Louverture Cleary School.
The pursuit of a better Haiti starts close to home for Louverture Cleary School, which remains a lifeline to its surrounding neighborhood. The LCS Community Outreach Program includes an early childhood development program for children of local families and an after-school tutoring program, which welcomes neighborhood children and young adults to receive academic assistance, including literacy classes. The Outreach Program also prioritizes the health of its community. Most recently, in response to cholera and severe inflation, the program team facilitated the distribution of food in addition to kits with soap, bleach and water treatment products while providing education on cholera prevention.
The LCS Campus Ministry department also cares for the spiritual well-being of the school community and provides pathways for non- Catholic students to explore and join the Church. This summer, six Louverturians received the Sacrament of First Holy Communion at a parish near the school, and seven students received the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Recognizing the need for more Louverture Cleary Schools outside of the nation’s capital, The Haitian Project has embarked on a plan to create a national network of 10 schools, one in each Diocese of Haiti, with 3,600 students enrolled in secondary education and 1,200 alumni on full scholarship to Haitian universities. The Haitian Project has finished the first phase of construction on its second school in the Diocese of Gonaïves, the Model Campus that will be replicated across Haiti to create the Louverture Cleary Schools Network. The second and final phase of construction will resume as soon as the remaining funding is in place. The Haitian Project has also secured the location for a third school in the Diocese of Anse-à-Veau and Miragoâne.
Increased access to quality education is critical for Haiti to be able to move beyond the current challenges towards justice and peace, and The Haitian Project is committed to providing Haitians with the tools they need to realize their full potential and build a brighter future for their country.
LCS Class of 2022 graduate Gaïna D. reflected on her goals after graduation “to keep working hard to succeed and get closer to God because I am grateful for what He has accomplished in my life.”
She continued, “One of my hopes for the future of Haiti is to see a change in Haiti, and to be part of that change by starting to be what I would like to see in my country. As Gandhi said, ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world.’ After … we will be able to put ourselves together and build a new Haiti.”
To learn more about The Haitian Project and the students of Louverture Cleary School, please visit www.haitianproject.org.
