Education
Since 2010, the Joan Rose Foundation has helped enroll over 80 children into local public schools through funding for school materials, uniforms and birth certificates, all requirements mandated by the government to attend the public schools. Yet although most of the children that attend the Foundation have been enrolled in public school, the education system in Haiti rates very poorly worldwide. The Foundation provides additional education to our children in math, writing, reading, and English.
Our classes are small and designed to give each student as much attention as possible. After much research, we have designed and implemented our own curriculum that focuses on working with each child on an individual basis. We move at the pace of the child and use different teaching methods accordingly. This ensures that the children are learning each new concept and don’t fall behind, as often happens in public school. We have seen great progress with this approach and helped many children achieve passing grades in their regular public schooling. With Haiti having one of the worst school systems in the entire western hemisphere, the education we provide is crucial to our children’s success. We are creating literacy in our children and helping them to think critically, two traits that will help to raise them out of poverty.
We have informal talks with the children about money management, values, and culture. A girls’ group meets bi-monthly to discuss all things female related and bond through various activities. To read more about our girls’ group click here (this will ilnk to blog about girls’ group). The Joan Rose Foundation is currently working on an exchange program with high schools in the United States that will expand our education capabilities further.
Food
Food is an important part of the Joan Rose Foundation. A hearty meal is served every day that usually consists of rice, beans, a protein source and fruit. Children entering the foundation often gain much needed weight as the meal provided is often the only meal they will receive for the day. To learn more about food please read one of the following updates.
Health Care
At the Joan Rose Foundation we provide health services as needed. If a child becomes sick or injured we cover the costs for all expenses such as laboratory tests and medicine. We occasionally provide the children with physicals and immunizations.
We also pay for hospitalizations and surgeries that a child may require. We have covered the costs for several of our children’s surgeries including one for a little girl who needed to have an extra digit removed. This year we provided complete financial assistance for procedures such as a painful kidney stone removal, the repairing of a girl’s detached retina, an extended hospital stay from a severe knee infection, and several broken bones. There are no avenues of support for most of these children and we are confident that several lives have been saved thanks to our generous donors.
The majority of the health problems of our children at the Joan Rose Foundation are those of fevers or skin infections. We handle many of these in-house with the help of American doctors who have agreed to answer any questions we may have, even if it means a late night phone call. We have dealt with several extreme medical conditions and circumstances. To learn more about those situations and our role, please read one of the following updates.
Opportunity
At the Joan Rose Foundation the underlying goal of everything we do is to give our children the opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty and become productive, responsible citizens. In the short term that means providing food, medicine, school supplies and clothing because the lack of these things causes severe emotional and physical issues. In the long term it means educating our children, instilling responsibility and values, and providing love and guidance.
We have sent children to private high schools and plan on sending some of our best English students to an American High School in 2015. We have paid for trade training for other older students and have even employed 3 of our oldest children, ages 15, 17 and 18, to work and be examples within the foundation. We also give periodic classes on topics like financial responsibility, issues specific to each gender, responsibility and consequences, and family.