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December Update

Dec 18th, 2008
by Chris.
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Dear Friends,
Happy holidays! The Matènwa Community Learning Center has finally caught up with the 21st century! Now you can read all about us at www.matenwaclc.org.
Hats

I am so happy to share some of our recent accomplishments and new ventures. For the next several years Juliette and I will be living in Haiti from February to August to further these projects. As part of our efforts to be a TOTALLY GREEN school we are revitalizing local arts and food products that have been disappearing in favor of imported goods. Children are learning to weave and sew. We are planting bamboo and other plants that we can utilize. We already compost and use natural fertilizers as well as solar energy. Haiti has over 300,000 child servants called restavecs. Having access to education, Matènwa families feel no need to give away their children. Last year I trained several adult literacy teachers to use a program by Kathy Cash aimed at improving the treatment of children. Through reading illustrated stories of common abuses with discussion and role-plays afterwards, adults were transformed; some pulled their children from the restavec system, others started giving their restavecs time to play. I was so impressed with this program that I want to implement it across Lagonav. I’ll talk more about this at our fundraiser March 21st. Our guest speaker will be Jean Robert Cadet, author of Restavec: From Haitian Slave Child to Middle -Class American. www.restavecfreedom.org

Jujuandchris

Love, Chris and Juliette

Mother Tongue Books
It is illogical to think that a child can read for meaning in a language for which he or she does not have a rich oral vocabulary.

childwbooks
Equipped with a dozen brand new MacBooks, printers, scanners, cameras, a satellite dish, and solar power (thank you, Rotary), we are making an old dream a new reality. Since our inception in 1996, the elementary classes have been making their own handmade books, but now we are able to publish them and send them to our partner schools here and abroad. By sharing books across borders and translating them into a mother tongue, children are contributing to each other’s education and helping one another become literate. This social justice project brings joy to all who are reading, writing, and exchanging books. We foresee the creation of many Mother Tongue school libraries. ACPrint will produce our most popular titles.
ChrisMillieinne

Matènwa teacher Millienne and I received the first Mother Tongue book from Fayerweather Street School students in Cambridge, Ma. Send one in! mothertonguebooks@gmail.com

The Garden and Breakfast program
Tree and vegetable gardening is one way students learn to appreciate their rural community. It’s a skill that directly improves their lives. It provides much of the food for our breakfast program.

girlingarden

“We take such good care of the garden. The plants don’t die. Growing food in your own garden feels great. You get to eat vegetables without spending money to buy them in the market.”~MCLC student

Visits: Life changing experiences for
teachers, students, and families
Many of our goals are being met through exchange  visits with Haitians and foreigners. We learn from each other by exchanging ideas and experiencing different environments. Our model’s impact is reflected in the voices of our visitors and hosts.

maxandsister
Reflecting on returning home: “I hope we will settle into a less packaged-and-prepared, more healthful-and-Haitian-like diet… We have noticed that people share what they have, offering something to anyone who comes to their porch…Hopefully, we will return home with a greater appreciation for what we have and choose to live more modestly, resulting in a more balanced, informed lifestyle.” ~Teacher, Portland, Oregon www.mariamhiggins.blogspot.com

“Where I was working I always used a whip… it does not make children understand, on the contrary, it puts them into a slave mentality. [After visiting Matènwa] I made a firm decision to change myself.” ~Teacher, Dezam, Haiti

boysattable

“The LKM staff has been crucial in the founding and development of the IDEAL school in the slums of Cité Soleil. They’ve welcomed folks as observers, and dedicated their time working with teachers and students there. They deserve virtually all the credit for the school’s choice to use nonviolent teaching and have been the central figures as the IDEAL kids have learned to run a school.” ~Dean of Shimer College, Port –au-Prince, Haiti

We are building on positive interdependency. As your generous support provides education, improved health, and the foundation for human dignity, MCLC also reaches out, offering ecocultural homestays, Creole immersion, teacher training programs, computer classes, and art products for sale. Together we make a sustainable difference in many lives.  ~December 2008

Hike for Haiti Yields Funds for Matènwa Community Learning Center

Oct 15th, 2008
by admin.
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The Belmont Day School is an independent school that began partnering with the Matènwa Community Learning Center (MCLC) about a year ago. This year, students, family and friends pitched in to support the children of Matènwa through a fun and healthy activity. Here’s their story.

Hike and Hope for Haiti

Chris Low and Benaja with Belmont Day School Students

Eighth grade French students organized a fundraising hike to raise awareness about the needs of the Matènwa Community Learning Center in Haiti. We began our partnership last year when French teacher Jennifer Friborg introduced her seventh grade students to Chris Low, Cambridge-based educator and Matènwa school co-founder. Last spring these students took part in an e-mail pen-pal exchange with the school in Matènwa.

Students and faculty alike were so impressed by the ways in which the school is spreading democratic ideals by teaching children, providing community activities for adults, and serving as a teacher-training center that BDS embarked on this ongoing partnership. Over its thirteen year history the school has become a leader in progressive education in Haiti, a country where only 50% of children go to school.

In response to the urgent need for food following the early fall hurricanes, the eighth grade French students led a special fund-raiser.

imageTeachers and students throughout the school participated in a 1-mile hike through the woods surrounding BDS. The French students had placed signs along the trails to highlight important landmarks in Haiti as well as photos of the school. The eighth graders’ hike was sponsored by family members, friends and faculty in order to help them reach their goal to feed all of the 230 students at the Matènwa Community Learning Center for one month.

The goal of feeding the school for a month was reached and surpassed by the school community raising over 3300 dollars. And along the way, the whole school became more aware of the country and familiar with the Matènwa Community Learning Center.

We are grateful for the care and concerns that the students at the Belmont Day School show for the students of Matènwa.

Hurricanes Damage Matènwa – Destroy Homes, Devastate Food Supply

Sep 10th, 2008
by admin.
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Dear Friends of Matènwa:

The good news is that no one has died. The painful reality is that the people of Matènwa are going hungry. The few crops they had left have been washed away. 39  of the poorest families homes were severely damaged, walls fallen and washed away.  Abner fears some children will die without food aid.

The Matènwa Community Learning Center has the infrastructure to cook hot meals for these families in need and to help repair homes. If you can work with us to provide the financial support.

Food is always a challenge in Matènwa.  The meal we serve students at school is often the only meal they eat that day.  The situation today is even more dire.

Please give generously.  Make a one-time gift for hurricane relief.  Or sign-up for monthly support of the Breakfast meal.  Or, better yet, do both.  Please act now.

  • On-line at Beyond Borders – In order to direct your donation to Matènwa scroll to: Please let us know where to direct your gift and click on Matènwa learning Ctr (school) or  Matènwa Learn Ctr (Breakfast).
  • By mail to:  Beyond Borders/MCLC , Box 2132, Norristown, PA 19404.  Your check should be made to:  "Beyond Borders/MCLC"

Thank you for your generosity at this time of exceptional need.

Christine W. Low
Abner Sauveur
Co-Directors, MCLC

December 2004

Dec 30th, 2004
by Chris.
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December 2004

Dear Friends of The Matènwa Community Learning Center,

Despite all the upheaval, violence, and uncertainty dominating Haiti today, there is still a lighthouse of positive energy pouring out of the Matènwa Community Learning Center. Situated in the mountains on the remote island of La Gonave, with no paved roads to reach it, the community is relatively safe from the ex-military rebels, the Lavalas Chimeres, and foreign military that continue to threaten the population. Over the past year it was not guns we feared, but the increasing hunger. From September to February prices had almost tripled; more than half our students were not able to afford a balanced meal more than a few times a week. While many schools closed during the turmoil, MCLC stayed open, and the dedicated teachers and students remained focused on finishing the year. Yet by March, attendance began to wane and those who did come were falling asleep by 10 am because they were famished. MCLC responded with an emergency breakfast program for our students and students at another nearby school in order to keep our community stable.  We did not want to risk having Matènwa parents decide on giving their children away into child servitude for lack of food.  We were able to do this without hesitation because of Anna Grimaldi Colomer’s donors of Puerto Rico, our supporters generous response to our urgent email plea, and student funding efforts at The Horace Mann School in New York. After a month of healthy breakfasts you could see a difference in the children, and we finished the school year with great accomplishments.

MCLC received visitors from California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Puerto Rico who shared their talents in and out of the classroom. We shared our model of peaceable classrooms with 6 other schools in teacher training facilitated by educator Kristy Stoesz. Another classroom was added making it a preschool through ninth grade program with 226 children and 2 adult literacy classes. Wozo Productions produced a video MCLC is featured in called Circles of Change. This shows MCLC using what we believe are two of the best educational practices in Haiti today. Several teachers went on trips within Haiti and to the U.S. for educational exchanges. MCLC was written up in Latinamerica Press.org, July 2,2003, which resulted in two teachers receiving a year of Montessori training in Port Au Prince donated by Peter Hesse of Germany. The Courageous Women theatre group performed their social justice plays for audiences around Haiti with support from Women’s Rights International. The Women Artists of Matènwa were written up in the Fall issue of Ms Magazine, by Edwidge Dandicat; and with the support of Ellen LeBow, they are now selling online at www.artmatenwa.org. MCLC is also advising groups in the community that are working on soil conservation, tree planting, and increasing potable water availability. Last fall Teaching For Tomorrow in Puerto Rico presented me with an Outstanding Leadership for Children Award which came with a financial award that supported many of our school programs. MCLC is a beacon reaching across Lagonave and across the water to other Haitian communities on Haiti’s mainland.

This summer, after having been away for only 4 months, I was saddened to see that neighbors and staff were visibly thinner. Even the highest paid staff is able to feed his family only once a day.  I felt determined to return to the US and make sure that Matènwa has what it needs to continue to succeed. I spent much of the previous school year fundraising outside of Haiti, and will continue to do so, because I believe successful development happens when it is not dependent on the presence of a foreigner. The MCLC staff has proven their competencies by conducting a dynamic program despite drought, civil unrest, and hunger. They are hard working and hopeful, eager and humble. They hope for another year of the Matènwa children and adults being enriched through learning. It is your partnership with MCLC that has allowed it to achieve so much. This is a gift to be proud of. We are grateful for Beyond Borders for acting as our fiscal agent. We thank you all and hope you will continue to support our educational programs that emphasize the practice of peace, dialogue, and social justice.

Anpil men, chay pa lou
With many hands, the burden is not heavy

Chris Low
Co-director MCLC

Ms. Magazine | Artists of Matenwa: Painting scarves brings rural Haitian women money, pride and hope

Sep 11th, 2004
by admin.
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GLOBAL NEWS | fall 2004

The Artists of Matènwa
Painting scarves brings rural Haitian women money, pride and hope

by Edwidge Danticat

Matènwa’s scarf painters draw their imagery from history, mythology, the Bible, Vodou and memories of vanished flora and fauna / photo by Ellen LeBow

Life is very hard on La Gonave, a small off-shore island northwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Recent uprisings have severely reduced the supply of food, water and medical supplies, where they had barely existed at all

Ms. Magazine | Artists of Matenwa: Painting scarves brings rural Haitian women money, pride and hope

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