L'ecole de Bayonnais

The OFCB mission statement reads “If you are planting for a year, plant grain; if you are planting for a decade, plant trees; and if you are planting for a lifetime, plant people.”

Today after class the students requested that I have a “practice conversation” with them if I was available. For those of you that have been here, you know that it is impossible to be “unavailable” with a dozen Haitians crowded around you. The conversation was done in a matrix form, translating the same sentence from English to Spanish to French and finally Creole, so it was a learning experience for me as well. I noticed that one of the students in the front row was the same man that teaches the kindergarteners outside of the guesthouse all morning. The student had worked in the Dominican Republic for four years and was excited at the idea of practicing his Spanish. Before me was a man who I had previously seen as an astonishingly patient and gentle elementary school teacher, transformed into one of his curious pupils, asking me if I could spare a moment to teach him.

Though I have seen only a fraction of the world, I find it hard to believe that there is another community with the same resolve as Cathor (Bayonnais). In addition to the typical high school subjects, the comprehensive curriculum includes three foreign languages; advanced physics, chemistry and biology; and philosophy, much of which is taught at a level comparable or superior to the education I received in the states. The children possess an impressive desire to learn, so much so that when a teacher is not present, the student with the best understanding of the material will lead the class. Many of the “classrooms” are no more than a few benches under a mango tree with a tattered blackboard; distractions such as inclement weather and hunger are omnipresent. Yet the students continue to perform exceedingly well on their exams. To those of you that support the students here or have donated your time and energy to OFCB in the past, I assure you that your contributions have gone towards an extraordinary cause. And to those of you that have yet to visit Bayonnais, I encourage you to come and witness with your own eyes what a remarkable difference you are making.