Another Good Academic Year at VOH
The 2008-09 school year got off to a slow start because of all the storms that plagued Haiti in August and September of 2008.  As you may recall, school was almost 5 weeks late in starting because of the devastation that plagued much of Haiti.  Even though the VOH was spared the blunt of the damage, our school was forced to conform with the delayed opening that was necessary in many parts of the country. 

 

That delayed start took its toll on many schools through out the country when it came time to take the national exams this year.  Supposedly the normal 30% or so pass rate was down around 24% this year.  Our clinic director, Debbie Berquist, reports that in the area where Hospital Albert Schweitzer is located, only a handful of students in the whole Department (comparable to a state in the US) passed the exams.  Here at the VOH, although not up to the standards of some previous years, we did much better.  Of the 36 sixth graders who took the exam, 30, or 87% passed.  In the 9th grade, 18 of the 21 who took the exam passed it the first time (86%) and the other 3 took it again.  In the 12th grade, we did not do quite as well, with only 11 out of 20 passing on the first round (55%, still twice the national average).  And in the Philo class, we are proud to say that all 3 of our students were successful.

Well done, VOH!

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Teacher Seminars
Every year during the summer, we like to offer training seminars for our teachers at the VOH.  This year, by the grace of God, we had one of the best sessions ever.  Bob Alerte, who works for Food for the Poor, spend all his adult life as a teacher and administrator in Canada.  Once he retired, the decided to come back to Haiti and do something to help his people.  For a number of years now, Bob has worked with FFP's housing ministry.  We were delighted when he offered to conduct our teacher's seminars this year.  Originally scheduled right after school was out, we had to delay the seminars when Bob was hospitalized for surgery.

 

Rescheduled for August 31 and September 1, Bob again had to be hospitalized a few days before our seminars were to begin.  But once more, God came through for us.  Dr. Pat Hanson, director of the FL Synod Global Missions Committee, was in town for the first annual assembly of the new ELH, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti on August 28 and 29.  Pat had spent her entire adult life in education, teaching everything from Kindergarten to graduate level classes in school administration.  When Pastor Bollinger heard she was going to be staying over through the first of the next week, he approached her about leading our teacher's seminars this year.  "I would be delighted to" was Pat's response.

 

When all was said and done, our VOH teachers were heard to say "Those were the best seminars ever!"  Thanks be to Pat for coming through for us--and thanks be to God for opening one door when another was closed.

Food Distribution
This year both Food for the Poor and BND, the Bureau of Nutrition and Development, are starting the school year with an ample supply of food.  Remembering the food shortages and devastation Haiti suffered last year as a result of the four straight hurricane/tropical storms that hit within a three-week period, many international organizations sent extra supplies during the summer in order to avoid a repeat of last year's disaster.  Well, the storms have not come this year, but the food has!

 

BND has so much food on hand, that they decided to again supply the VOH (the only school so blessed) with enough rice, beans, oil and salt to feed each of our families for close to a month.  The only hitch was, the food had to be distributed on the Monday following delivery on Friday.  When he returned to Haiti on Friday, September 25, Pastor Bollinger had already contacted our friend Roberta to engage 8 of her older children to help fill the 1800 plastic bags he brought back with him.  Leaving Hope House with neighbor Jorel at 6:30, he picked up Roberta's children and joined the 21 members of the VOH staff who had given of their time on a Saturday to get the food ready for the Monday distribution.  And what a day that Saturday turned out to be!  It was around 4 that afternoon that the weary crew climbed into the big truck for the journey back home.

 

And what a significant event that turned out to be!  Most of the rice had come as foreign aid from Germany.  The salt had come from Saudi Arabia.  The beans were from Canada and Brazil and the oil had come from the states.  Isn't it neat the way God blesses his people around the world, not only with food items, but with the compassion to share those gifts with the people of Haiti!

 

What a blessing we in the states have, to be able to go to the store at our leisure and purchase whatever we want.  And then what a blessing to be able to put it in our car and drive right up to our door.  Most of those receiving the food at the VOH waited most of the day in the hot sun, then carried the food home, usually on their heads, for the 2 or 3 miles they had come.

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Crossing Guards Uniforms
Thanks to the initiative of our VOH Parent's Committee, and the sewing ladies at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Springfield, VA, our children are now much safer as they cross that increasingly busy national highway on the way to school.  God has been good to us in recent years in that none of our children have been hit on the way to school, but in earlier years there have been several deaths from children being hit on their way to and from school.

It was about two weeks before POP's visit when the Parent's Committee came up with the idea of enrolling crossing guards.  "Of course we would be glad to help" was the immediate response of the sewing ladies of POP.  So when the team showed up, they were sporting brightly colored vests and carrying flags that said "Stop."  What a blessing when God's people come together to help make life safer for the children of Haiti!