15739: (Hermantin)Sun Sentinel-Haitian churchs tutors teach success in Fort Lauderdale (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


By Jamie Malernee
Education Writer

June 1, 2003

Next door, the church rafters fill with rhythmic music and the teachings of
the Bible spoken in Haitian Creole.

But here, in a tiny classroom adjoining the Bethel Evangelical Baptist
Church in Fort Lauderdale, 13-year-old Malessa Sanon is poring over a
different kind of good book: Science Voyages, a seventh-grade text.

Helping her is fellow churchgoer Dr. Serge Geffrard, one of four volunteer
tutors.

"I started coming here because I needed help with math -- how to do
circumference," says Malessa, sitting in a desk, a regular at the church's
Saturday study sessions. "I went from a D to a B. It's great because here,
it's one-on-one."

At the chalkboard, another girl is practicing math problems involving
fractions. Volunteer Patrick Jules, a former third-grade teacher and now
real estate agent, is beside her, explaining why 5/10 is the same as 1/2.

"What you're doing is reducing the lowest term in them," he says. "Do you
understand?"

"Yes," replies a hesitant Cynthia Antoine, 10.

"Prove it to me," he challenges her, writing another problem on the board.
When she gets it right he smiles and exclaims, "Hallelujah!"

And so goes a rather normal Saturday morning where volunteers hope a little
extra attention will make a big difference in the academic careers of
Haitian-American students. Although the Broward School district does not
track student achievement by ethnicity, educators agree Haitian-American
students face unique hurdles. They not only must deal with the
discrimination and self-doubt that can face black students, but also
language problems that many people more frequently associate with Hispanic
immigrants, as well as high poverty levels that can affect all people.

Geffrard, who was born in Haiti, knows this from experience. He recalls how
when he first came to this country, he was put in low-level classes even
though he had been a standout student back home. He recalls floundering
through the system largely on his own. Many Haitian parents, he explains,
can't speak English and therefore can't help with homework.

Today Geffrard is a medical resident at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.
But his past trials helped inspire him to start a tutoring program at his
church after hearing how few of the young members were making it on the
honor roll and onto college.

"We have about 100 kids in the church and only two or three have a GPA above
3.5. It should be higher. But exactly where do you start to solve the
problem?" he remembers asking himself, deciding, "At least the church could
partially help out."

That was several months ago. Now, every Saturday, between 10 and 30 students
arrive at Bethel to be tutored. The adult volunteers also are
Haitian-American, and they hope they can serve as role models. They need
even more volunteers as the number of students showing up keeps increasing.

"I ask them, what do they want to be when they finish high school? Some say
a doctor. Some say they don't know yet. I tell them how I got to college,"
says volunteer Erick Mesadieu, a 28-year-old computer engineer who came to
the United States at 17.

The shared heritage also lessens cultural misunderstanding that can hinder
some of the students in a traditional school setting, the volunteers say.
Some teens gain such confidence that they begin to help tutor some of the
younger students.

"I can tutor some of them in Creole. It makes them comfortable," Mesadieu
said, adding that he then encourages them to be more vocal. "Most Haitian
people, they don't ask questions. They just listen. As a child in Haiti you
are taught not to ask questions, especially to someone older. It is rude. I
tell them, if you need help, you have to ask."

Rondy Desravines, 12, a sixth-grader at Sunrise Middle, admits that she is
sometimes afraid to speak up. Although she was born in the United States,
her family speaks Haitian Creole and she learned much of her English from
her neighbors. At school, she says people make fun of her for talking
"ghetto." At the church, she doesn't have to worry about such ridicule.

"When my teachers explain stuff, I don't really understand," she says.
"Here, they do it with you and they don't stop until you get it."

Geffrard is encouraged by the gains some students have made. His own history
is a testament to the difference one person can make, and he hopes he and
fellow tutors can do the same.

"When I came [to this country] in ninth grade they put me in general math,
when in Haiti, in seventh grade, I had been doing Algebra," he recalls.

Luckily, a school guidance counselor at South Plantation High School later
encouraged him and enrolled him in Advanced Placement classes even though he
did not have all the requirements. That helped get him to college and then
medical school.

"Hopefully the kids will see that some of us have made it. Some of us have
gone to college. And we look just like them," he says. "Otherwise, there is
a lot of potential being wasted."

Jamie Malernee can be reached at jmalernee@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4849.
Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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