 EchodHaiti.com
"Back to School"
Retail Education Program
by Ginau Mathurin
 Around
this time of year, my thoughts turn to my childhood in Haiti,
when one of my favorite times of year was right before school
reopened. I looked forward all Summer every year to September
when my father would begin what would become a ritual. Today
in America, that feeling comes back with some sadness every
year when I open my Sunday newspaper and read the "back
to school" ads.
 The
ritual would begin with my father picking me up for a trip to the
barbershop,where, with manual hair clippers, the barber would render
my young head bald, "pou retire chale," to take off the
heat. Then, my father and I would head downtown to buy school books
and school supplies, new shoes and khaki socks, and, what I would
look forward to the most, sheets of brown paper and glue to make
book covers.
The afternoon was spent with my mother taking
inventory of what was still needed, which usually was the new khaki
uniforms, short sleeve shirt and shorts, that were required by
my school, Ecole Jean XXIII, elementary school. I would spend the
rest of the afternoon with my father carefully making book covers.  The
books were neatly piled up as they were completed. leaving the
last task of writing my name on the cover, inside the book, and
on the front of the book opposite, the book's spine.
Today, those memories come with some sadness
as I think of the state of Haiti's education system. In the past
twenty years, a whole generation has grown up with little or no
education, and that generation prepares to raise a new generation
without schools, or the bare minimums for a basic education. The
feeling of glee is being replaced by despair, or worst, indifference.
 The
American commercials show the joy of parents getting their kids
ready for school. Everything from designer clothing to laptops
to iPods are being sold as back to school necessaries. Sales are
everywhere; ruled paper, boxes of crayons, pens and pencils, notebooks
and folders, glues and rulers, for less than a dollar.
EchodHaiti.com, in collaboration with HaitianDiaspora.com,
encourages everyone to think of the education of the children of
Haiti, and to send them some educational supplies. We are not asking
to receive supplies, nor are we advocating any charity, NGO, or
government agency. We are asking that you send to a family member,
a former neighbor, a niece, a cousin, an acquaintance, or any organization,
school, or person that you trust. Some pens and paper sent to an
alma mater could benefit a whole neighborhood of children. Some
students use their one pen until the last possible drop of ink.
Five dollars spent at Target could send pens, rulers and notebooks
to a child ready and willing to learn. As parents purchase ten
notebooks for $1 for their children, at the "back to school" sales,
perhaps one could be put aside for a child in Haiti. One dollar
a week spent on school supplies for the next ten weeks could be
a great help.
EchodHaiti.com and HaitianDiaspora.com will
post weekly "back to school" sale specials from retail
stores, such as Target, CVS, Rite Aid, Best Buy, Staples, K-Mart,
and others.
© EchodHaiti.com, August
2005-2006
Sponsors:
HaitianDiaspora.com
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