St. Jean Baptiste School in Savanette, Haiti

Savanette is located in rural southwest Haiti about 6 miles northwest of the coastal town of Les Cayes. An eight-classroom building for St. Jean Baptiste School was completed in 1990, giving children in the Savanette area their first opportunity to attend school near their home.

​This school partnership continues to focus on providing a quality education in a safe and caring setting for the nine Primary and Preschool classes.  We celebrate with the leaders of St. Jean Baptiste School and the people of Savanette for the beginning of the third year of offering all 16 grade levels – Preschool through Secondary – a rarity in the countryside!

​HAITI EARTHQUAKE IMPACT

Both Les Cayes, the town where our mission teams stay, and St. Jean Baptiste School are approximately 22 miles west of the epicenter. Thanks to your generous support and the good planning of our partner priest Pere Rogenor, the Primary Classroom building, the only one of the three classroom buildings damaged by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake on August 14, is on schedule to be finished by the first day of school on October 4th!  Plus, we’ve been able to send money for Pere Rogenor to buy food to distribute to the neediest Savanette families. Sadly, the need for adequate housing has only been exacerbated by this earthquake’s devastating impact.

Thanks to God’s amazing network, Pere Rogenor was able to connect to several aid groups working in this hard-hit area. One Kansas City-based organization has already provided 2,000 pounds of rice and a few tarps. God is so good!

We are grateful for the resiliency and perseverance of the beautiful Haitian people. They love and trust the Lord in all things – through multiple hurricanes & storms, civil unrest and chronic poverty.  Most of the families live on $2 or less a day and face persistent struggles to feed their families. We rejoice that once school begins all students will receive a meal each school day.

YOUR GIFTS ARE LIFE GIVING!

St. Jean Baptiste School: Primary & Preschool Operating Budget

The Bare Bones Operating Budget for the new school year is approaching $70,000. This increase is primarily due to rampant inflation which reached 22.8% in 2020.  Costs for school materials and food are also increasing due to supply shortages caused by the August 2021 earthquake.
Amazingly this $70,000 annual budget funds operating expenses for 325 students in the 6 primary and 3 preschool classes including 13 salaries – the headmaster, 10 teachers, an assistant and groundskeeper.  Other basic budget items include textbooks, classroom supplies, and some equipment and desks. PLUS it funds a meal each school day for 500 students!

Thanks to your amazing generosity and the fundraising efforts of a group of supporters, we have enough funds to cover the budget basics for the first 4 months of the school year. We hope to raise the remaining balance of $42,000 by the end of January 2022.

Primary School Repair

UPPER GRADES FUNDING GAP

Your financial assistance is needed to help the families in the rural Savanette area continue to realize their BIG DREAM
​of having all 16 grades – Preschool through Secondary – available near their homes.

​Thankfully, tuition paid by the families has been able to cover salaries and operating costs for the upper grades from September 2013, when the 7th grade was added, through most of last year.  Now daily uprisings and gang attacks in the towns and along the highways – including Earthquake relief vehicles – on top of the Coronavirus pandemic, are further crippling the already weak economy resulting in even fewer day jobs which are the main source of income in the countryside.
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Your gifts in any amount are a blessing!  We ask that you first give to fund our primary focus – the nine (9) lower grades – and then, if you feel called, designate an additional amount for the upper grades.   

Education Equals Hope

Susan Meeder – Ministry Site Coordinator 
HaitiHC2@gmail.com
913-486-6880