Back in Haiti...ahhhhh! It is so good to be back! The sights, the sounds, the scents - good to be "home"! Most of all, the precious friends and their precious love welcoming me back makes me feel so much joy. I was able to have lunch with Imelda, Ana, and Evelyne today, to discuss their application to Florida Gulf Coast University and the SAT requirement. I am actively looking for sponsorship for one of these gals to be able to attend this particular university. We have applied for scholarships and will continue to apply for more. We have families who a student can live with through the Haitian church I attend when I visit Naples, but these families are Haitian themselves and do not have the financial means to pay for any educational costs that FGCU does not provide scholarship for. If any of you feels led to investigate this further with me, please contact me as soon as possible.
I want to share an article that one of our Philo students wrote to educate others about our school, and what makes our school so special. He had the editing assistance of Dave and Pam Mann. Additionally, Starson received a 76 score on the TOEFL exam - the highest in our school's history. He is so pleased, yet so humble and grateful. We are so proud of him!

Here is the article:

What makes Institution Univers unique?
by Starson Audate, 13th Grade
December 2012

Haiti is a place where a good school should be well organized. Schooling can be very helpful to the country, but their ways of teaching are very different from one another. In light of the growing education crisis in Haiti, especially in Ouanaminthe, Univers School has been created to reduce negative effects. But what really makes I.U. unique from the other schools in Ouanaminthe and in Haiti?

I.U was founded in 1994, and since that time I.U has never stopped making progress. From 1994 to 2012 I.U. has accomplished many things than any other school in Ouanaminthe, or even in the whole Northeast deparment.

I.U. is the first school to offer a lunch for the students. Now that other schools offer lunch, I.U. has the most reliable kitchen. Even though cooking with wood would be cheaper than propane, I.U., in order to encourage reforestation in Haiti, uses propane to cook meals for the students. I.U is the school that has the most space in which students can play sports in Ouanaminthe. So we host many athletic events for the town. Ours is the first school that offers one entire chair for each older student and has a maximum 5 students on one bench for 1st to 3rd grade. I.U. is the school where parents pay low tuition. If we compare the tuition of a senior student in I.U. with a senior student in College Oswald Durand, a neighboring school which is not the highest school tuition in Ouanamithe, the cost is twice as much for the C.O.D students.

Institution Univers is one of the schools that puts an accent on Christian faith. We accept every religion but we really believe in Jesus. I.U. is the only school in Ouanaminthe which has Bible lessons for every class at school. At I.U. we have among the most qualified teachers in town. Teachers in I.U. recieve more money than any other school in town except the Hope for Haiti orphanage school and the public school.

 I.U. stands out as the school with the highest level of English instruction in Ouanaminthe, the only one that seeks opportunities for its graduates to study in other countries. I.U. is one of the rare schools in Haiti, if not the only one, which has a standard program for the top students to visit the United States of America each year. In Ouanaminthe I.U. students are those who feel the most comfortable talking to foreign English speakers.

Institution Univers was the first school that offered computer classes for the high school graders in Ouanaminthe and it is the only one that has an auditorium in Ouanaminthe.

In Ouanaminthe I.U was the first school that established a well organized sports program for the high school students, the first that included physical education on its report cards to encourage athletic talent. Univers is the only school that had four athletes in the national volleyball team to represent Haiti in the Caribbean competition in 2012 in the Virgin Islands. Univers students know that after college, depending on their ability, they may have the opportunity to work for the school. Univers is the first school in Ouanaminthe that banned corporal punishment for the primary students, the only school that has a monthly service dedicated to worship the Lord, where all the students, teachers, and administrators gather to pray, the only school that has a choir and also an instrumental band, the only one that has organized a summer camp for the students in which they study English, faith and the larger world with Americans. I.U. is the only school in the northeast region of Haiti that  qualified to participate in the 2012 "National Genie Royal," an academic quiz competition among Haiti's ten top schools in Cap Haitian.

Consider all the things and you will be convinced, as we are, that Institution Univers is very special and very helpful to Ouanaminthe and the nation of Haiti.

Here's a photo of the "Iannetta Team" before departure. What a special group to spend time with this week!