Patrick Espe ’14: The new partnership between Episcopal Academy and St. Marc’s school in Haiti has received a lot of support thus far from the Episcopal community. However, questions have been raised regarding this partnership; the student ambassadors from Haiti feel these questions must be answered.How are the funds collected at EA being utilized in Haiti? Particularly, what percentage of those funds goes to the students, school facilities, faculty and administration? What percentage is spent on taxes or government fees?
St. Marc’s has five primary needs: a water purification system, a new school building, a feeding program for the students, salaries for teachers, and general school supplies.
Funds that are generated by the student body will go to Pere Jeannot through the Episcopal Church of Haiti. The rest of the money goes directly to Pere Jeannot who will use it to purchase schoolbooks for the children at St. Marc’s. The reason we cannot donate our own schoolbooks, an idea that has been suggested, is because the books used at St. Marc’s must be in Creole, not English or French. In addition to the language constraint, it would be more expensive to pay to have books shipped to Haiti than to just purchase the books in Haiti.
The Reverend Ajax oversees all financial contributions of the diocese to ensure that all funds are used according to the original plans. The Episcopal Diocese of Haiti sets aside 10% as part of an emergency fund for use in the event of a catastrophic event.
The money that The Episcopal Academy needs to raise and send to Haiti is determined by the needs of St. Marc’s community. Therefore, if money is raised to construct a water purification system, then 100% of those funds raised will go directly to that purpose. Also, in the case of the water purification system, Episcopal is looking into contracting an independent non-profit builder, Water Missions International. In this case, the money would go directly to Water Missions International who would then spend it on the project as needed.
How does Episcopal seek to help St. Marc’s School? What are the goals of this partnership? What is the timeline for these goals?
The Episcopal Academy has entered a long term relationship with St. Marc’s School. This year, Episcopal hopes to raise enough money to build a water purification system for St. Marc’s School. Fundraising for this project is being directed by Chaplain Gavin. The students who went on the first St. Marc’s Haiti trip are raising funds by selling t-shirts and bracelets.
The Episcopal Academy hopes to build a new schoolhouse for St. Marc’s, which will improve the makeshift cinderblock building they now use as a school. This is a long-term project and will take a few years to develop.
The ultimate goal of St. Marc’s partnership is to develop interpersonal relationships between Episcopal students and the students of St. Marc’s School. It is important in the development of the relationship for Episcopal students to recognize that they can gain and learn something from St. Marc’s students. Episcopal Academy’s trips to St. Marc’s School are not about what the Episcopal community can do for the students at St. Marcs, but about how theses students can collaborate with one another to help each other and improve the conditions of the school.
Why is it important that we fund projects in Haiti rather than those in the local community when money spent at home would evade transport fee and taxes?
First of all, there are no taxes assessed on the money that is raised for St. Marc’s School in Haiti. Nor is there any transportation fee whatsoever.
As a school, Episcopal has raised lots of money for schools and non-profits in local communities. For example, Episcopal has raised money for and aided in the re-opening of St. James School in Philadelphia.
What is our assurance that Pere Jeannot is using the money raised to help St. Marc’s community specifically, and not other groups or places?
Episcopal is not the first school to take part in a partnership with Pere Jeannot. Several other American schools, such as St. Andrew’s school in Virginia, have embarked on partnerships with Pere Jeannot and have seen remarkable success in their endeavors. St. Andrew’s was able to build a school building for their partner school within six months time through the services of Pere Jeannot. In addition, there are over 65 partnerships between American and Haitian Episcopal schools. Furthermore, a number of Episcopalian parishes in America and Canada have established partnerships with Episcopal schools in Haiti.
Special thanks to Mrs. Wingfield and Reverend Gavin for their contributions to this article.