After a new trip to Haiti in August and September this year, there are news about the trainings in Sathya Sai Education in Human Values and the new developments in the 3 schools that we have been supporting since 2011 in the capital of Haiti. It was a busy month, with training sessions of 2-4 days at two locations, and the construction of a new school building.

The trainings in Sathya Sai Education in Human Values

For the first time, training was held in Saint Raphaël, a town 5 hours north of the capital, where 32 teachers from 6 different schools, 3 school principals and an education inspector participated. The introduction to the philosophy and methods of Sathya Sai Education was enhanced by a value based self-audit, and group work on the 5 human values and on how to introduce the program into the school curriculum. They were all very enthusiastic and motivated to apply values education in their schools.

The second training was held at the École Soleil de Hollande, a school with 700 students located in the mountains 2 hours south of Port au Prince. The theme was “Creating an environment of love in the school.” The more advanced level training with 30 of their teachers and 15 teachers from our 3 schools was spiritual, practical and enjoyable. It was the first time that our teachers were staying in the mountains and they were warmly welcomed by the founder of the school, a Dutch woman who has been living there for 20 years.

The training sessions went very well and were inspiring for everyone. The sense of unity and the awareness that we all have the divine seed of love within us was almost tangible. The training courses combined theory with many different types of practical activities. Group work and presentations, lesson preparation and games were used extensively in order to give hands-on experience that the teachers could then easily use.
Committees have been formed to actively apply the teaching of human values in schools. The teachers are motivated to work together and have started preparing lessons and activities. Many also immediately started to introduce silent sitting exercises and other activities into their classroom. The Director of the École Soleil de Hollande -who could himself not participate in the training- commented that he had seen a positive change in the attitude and motivation of the teachers right away!

The three schools supported in Haiti

A new school is now built on land owned by the school “École Mixte de la Nouvelle Jérusalem”. The site became only available in May of this year. A challenge as the plan was to be able to make the children go to school there in September. After the planning and preparations only 2 months were left for the building process. Miraculously, working day and night, the new school was ready in time to open its doors on the official date of September 9.
It was decided to construct a temporary building made of wood and corrugated iron, but of good quality that can last for 5-10 years. This will give time to plan a permanent building. The goal is that these 3 schools become permanent centres for education and human values in their respective neighbourhoods.

The existence of the ABC for Life school was in danger for a moment due to lack of resources. Fortunately, just before the new school year, the school was able to continue due to a highly motivated team of young teachers. ABC for life also organised a summer camp for 60 children with human values and crafts, which ended with a beautiful talent show.

It is only thanks to the great dedication of the directors and the teachers that the 3 schools are able to provide this great service to the community by caring for children, who do not otherwise get a chance to go to school.

                                                                                       Picture gallery (click to enlarge):

‹ › ×