Providing Opportunity, Finding Purpose: A Haitian Student's Journey to University
This piece is written by Phanuel, a Haitian student whom ACCESS has sponsored to attend university. We all grow up with a tradition. We do things that we do not chose, and often do not try to understand why. I first started to recognize this when found myself going to school. I never asked myself why I was going to school or what was the purpose of going to school? I guess most kids on my age go to school, then I will just follow the tradition. Until when I was in Junior High school, my mentor was giving a sermon on a ritual Sunday service and asked the church, "what is your goal and what is your purpose in life?"
This is where everything stopped and the world completely changed for me. I started to realize that I was living without a goal and a purpose. I started to seek for a dream and find a purpose for my life. A dream should be specific, measurable, realistic, and so on. However, in a country that is one of the poorest in the world, those theories are hard to apply — because we young Haitians do not have enough access or resources to achieve our goals. (Note: Haiti is the most impoverished nation in the Western Hemisphere. Only 27% complete primary education).
This is how ACCESS changed my life and opened a great door for me. ACCESS helped me to go to college after high school, starting in August 2009 at Universite Notre Dame d'Haiti. Even after the Earthquake blew through my country in 2010, ACCESS is still helping me to go to college in San Antonio, Texas USA.
Being in college in USA is to carry a challenge, and grow in life. One thing that we do not like is to change. That is my biggest challenge in College. First, my school is a cross-cultural university that has students from more than 17 different nations. Second, I need to change my existing lifestyle and mindset. I have to open my door to new cultures and different foods, for instance (which has made me in love with tacos and burritos).
My university experience has given me the opportunity to take new steps in my life. It is not simply an academic study; it is provides a lot of opportunities, which make me start working on my career and learn how I could become a good leader. For instance, this semester I am the President of a student organization, the Mission Society, so I can help others, along with one of my classes giving me the opportunity to do an internship at Hospice Vitas Care.
I think this is what makes ACCESS a unique and amazing organization. Personally, ACCESS is not like other traditional organizations that came to just give you food, money, and so on. Rather, ACCESS supports your dream, and helps you to build that dream. With a blessing, I found this great organization that has opened new doors and a new world to me. Now I am no longer dreaming, but living my dream and looking forward for bigger and better things. Thank you ACCESS!
A Message from ACCESS
Since 2009, ACCESS has been honoured to help provide Phanuel with access to an education. Upon completing his education, Phanuel plans to return to Haiti to begin making a difference to the people in his community, and to continue the work of rebuilding his country. ACCESS is thankful for the generous support of donors over the past several years to make this dream possible.
For more background, please visit the Phanuel Project page, or explore our other International Projects.
ACCESS: Allowing Children a Chance at Education is a youth-run, non-profit organization that facilitates education and empathetic leadership development through initiatives that engage, inspire, and motivate youth to drive positive change, locally and globally. ACCESS envisions the empowerment of generations of leaders through education in order to inspire meaningful development in their own communities.
Hope, Love, Haiti: 2-Year Earthquake Memorial
It is surreal to look back and realize it has been two years since the earthquake hit Haiti, on January 12. It is even harder to remember the devastation because it is not a headline on every newspaper anymore. Simply because it happened quite some time ago does not mean that we should forget the destruction the earthquake left. This 7.0 magnitude quake killed or injured hundreds of thousands of its population. In July 2010, a few individual members of ACCESS travelled to Haiti to better understand the situation on the ground, as well as better direct fundraising initiatives to projects in Haiti.
Aminah Haghighi, who attended the trip to Haiti and has been a long-time supporter of ACCESS, shares her personal experience surrounding the trip.
“I remember when we first got on our bus that took us to Jacmel, the same thought pulsated through all our minds; almost 6 months later and you could still smell the death lingering in the air. The situation still looked uncertain and dangerous. With fear in our eyes, love and compassion in our hearts, we took in our surroundings as we visited tent communities, orphanages, prisons, and churches. It was a sense of hope that the people of Haiti taught us to have. And an unconditional love we had no choice but to embrace with open arms.”
The trip was also a learning experience, discovering the hope in the hearts of Haiti’s people, felt long after returning from the country.
“I don’t think I really knew what hope and faith truly meant until I let myself find these things in Haiti. From the words I scribbled in my journal to the flowers from the Bishop’s house I have dried and pressed, I can close my eyes and transport my mind back to Haiti. The children who went hungry but still just wanted to play, the parents whose only wish was to send their children to school, the families that walked up a steep hill to get to mass on Sundays; all of which taught me how resilient we are as humans. They were able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, no matter how precarious their situation may be. The common thread found throughout the Haitians? They all wanted a better future for their children and believed this could be achieved through education.”
Before the earthquake, ACCESS began sponsoring Phanuel, a Haitian student in attending University. Due to the damage to the school he was attending, Phanuel has resumed his post-secondary studies in the US, after which he is eager to return to Haiti to help his community.
ACCESS thanks everyone for their continued support in projects supporting education throughout developing countries, and more specifically Haiti on this 2-year anniversary of the devastation. Though it has been some time since the constant barrage of headlines regarding the quake, Haiti continues to suffer immensely and still needs the world’s support. ACCESS encourages supporters to have the same hope inspired by the Haitians to believe in a future paved through with education. Education is the key.
For more footage and journals from the 2010 Haiti Trip, please visit accesscharity.ca/haiti.
Following a journey to Haiti
- Read the Pre-Trip Journals all 4 travelling students
- Contribute financially or donate requested items
Earthquake in Haiti
If you are in the position to donate, please contribute online now so your funds can be delivered to relief efforts in Haiti as soon as possible at donate.accesscharity.ca.
"This natural disaster has hit a country with an extremely fragile infrastructure, where many buildings are already unstable, and where living conditions are often very difficult. I fear for its people.I would like all Haitians to know that they are not alone and that the people of Canada will respond to this emergency."
- Updates from: Google News, YouTube, Real-time updates
- Local Media: TNH, Le Nouvelliste, Radio Metropole Haiti, Radio Galaxie
- Resources: Ushahidi (online tracking), Le3900.com (Haiti business directory)
ACCESS: Allowing Children a Chance at Education, Inc. is a youth-run organization aiming to provide needy children in the developing world with school uniforms and necessary school supplies, enabling them with the opportunity to obtain an education for a successful life. ACCESS also aims to educate North American youth about related world issues, and to inspire them to make a difference globally. For more information and resources, please visit www.accesscharity.ca.
World Day of Social Justice and "Phanuel Friday"
Youth-run organization offers fundraising opportunity benefiting global education
TORONTO - February 16, 2009 - Celebrating World Day of Social Justice this Friday has been made easier for everyone including educators, media outlets, and community organizations. Phanuel Friday is an initiative being launched by ACCESS: Allowing Children a Chance at Education, a youth-run non-profit organization benefitting the developing world and empowering students locally.
Phanuel is a young man living in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, where only about half of the population is literate and primary school net enrollment is also only estimated at 50%. Being accepted to university is a dream for Phanuel and his entire community! ACCESS is calling individuals, through communities such as schools, to make a small step in recognizing that all youth, regardless of their status, should be given a chance to achieve a the highest level of education!
The event called "Phanuel Friday" focuses on a simple $2 donation from each and every willing and able student in one such school, community, or group, to fund Phanuel's full university education costs, providing an individual with access to a valuable education which he would otherwise not be able to afford.
Annually on February 20, World Day of Justice was created by the United Nations to encourage people to look at how social justice affects poverty eradication. It also focuses on the goal of achieving full employment and support for social integration.
The campaign continues beyond Friday's World Day of Social Justice. Schools, parishes, and community organizations are asked to host a "Phanuel Friday" during the month of February and March this year.
Details on the campaign can be found at accesscharity.ca/phanuelfriday.htm
To subscribe to Email Updates from ACCESS, please click here.
ACCESS: Allowing Children a Chance at Education, Inc. is a youth-run organization aiming to provide needy children in the developing world with school uniforms and necessary school supplies, enabling them with the opportunity to obtain an education for a successful life. ACCESS also aims to educate North American youth about related world issues, and to inspire them to make a difference globally.
For more information or media inquiries, visit www.accesscharity.ca for resources including downloadable documents, project details, and photos and video.
Contact:
Daniel Francavilla, President
daniel@accesscharity.ca
Kody Robinson, Public Relations Coordinator
kody@accesscharity.ca
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Life in the Bateyes - A Bittersweet Existence
It is estimated that about 500,000 to 1.000,000 Haitian emigrants are currently living and working in the Dominican Republic. Most toil in sugarcane fields and live in communities called Bateyes, in conditions that have changed little since slavery was legal.
This short documentary sheds light on the life and living conditions endured by those who live at the margin of society.
http://current.com/e/88838298/en_US