The mission of Starthrower Foundation is to provide education opportunities by raising and distributing funds to give a hand up, NOT a hand out to destitute Haitien young people living in the north coast city of Cap-Haitien and the nearby mountain village of St-Raphael ( Sen Rafayel), Haiti. All levels of education (elementary, secondary, university, apprenticeships) are worthwhile.
Funds are also used to meet basic needs which foster academic success: securing housing, paying rent, emotional support, tutoring, supplying food, medical, dental, etc.
This school year we are providing financial support to 100 students in secondary school. Half of them are in school in the mountain village of Sen Rafayel and the other half are in Cap-Haitien.
It cost the Starthrower Foundation approximately $660 to sponsor one Haitian to go to high school for a year. This includes school fees, school supplies, uniforms including shoes, socks, underwear, hygiene products, and transportation if necessary.
In addition we have half a dozen who are apprenticing in trades (carpenters, mechanics, masons) and another 15 in post secondary settings:
- 4 in nursing school in Leogane, west of Port-au-Prince.
- 2 in pre med in the Dominican Republic
- 2 in 3rd year agriculture at the Univerity of Limbe
- 1 in 2nd yr medical technology in Madelene
- 1 in 2nd year kindergarten teacher training in Cap-Haitien
- 2 in first year teacher training in Madelene in Cap-Haitien
- 1 in first year electrical engineering, in Port-au-Prince
- 1 in ‘science administrative’ in the Dominican Republic.
- 1 in ‘science administrative’ in Cap-Haitien.
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The food program:
Rice, beans, oil, and charcoal are weekly purchases for distribution to students and their families during the school year ( our food program is currently suspended due to insufficient funds).
As food prices soar worldwide, this program becomes increasingly difficult to administer. At current market prices (Sept 2010), it costs us $3.26 US to provide a sack of rice, beans, oil and charcoal. This feeds 1 student for 2 days. To provide a meal for each secondary student in Cap and Sen Rafayel for 2 days would cost $326.
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The book restauration program:
During July, August and first 2 weeks of September, all text books used by our students for the past year are returned to us, and we hire about 2 dozen students to help clean, repair, rebind and recover these texts. We refurbish about 1500-2000 text books each summer, and so are able to use and re-use them for about 5 years each. This is much less expensive than purchasing new every year and allows Starthrower Foundation to work with job creation.
The director of our Book Program is a young woman named Rosenie. In addition to studying to become a kindergarten teacher (she still needs a sponsor), Rosenie is responsible for hiring and training staff for the text book program, maintaining lists and inventory, and purchasing any and all needed text books. She will hire part-time staff, purchase any supplies needed to repair the texts, then set up work stations for the staff. It’s quite a production line, and the workers are happy to have a part time job to help support their families.
When students are registered, the schools provides the book lists and uniform material samples they will need to attend classes that fall. As the text book lists come in to our office, Starthrower’s book repair team begins to assemble the necessary texts, and to compile lists of books that we do not already have. Each day, the staff will go to the market, look through the book stalls and let the vendors know which titles we need, and to hold them for us.
