22785: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald-THE OLD SCHOOL TIE A LIFELINE TO HAITI (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sat, Jul. 24, 2004




UP FRONT | EDUCATION


THE OLD SCHOOL TIE A LIFELINE TO HAITI

Haitian and Jamaican old school ties in South Florida are being leveraged to
help educate the children back home.

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

jcharles@herald.com


The faces in their yearbook are the snapshots of history -- boys who would
become presidents, dictators and rebel leaders. They all walked the storied
halls of Haiti's most elite high school, Saint-Louis de Gonzague.

But as a group of the school's more reputable alumni gather in Miami today,
the focus will not be on their complicated legacy. Instead, it will be on
using their ties to create an endowment fund to benefit not just the
114-year-old all-boys school in Port-au-Prince but to help transform
education in a country where good primary education is out of reach for
many.

It's a novel idea for Haitians but one that has deep roots in
English-speaking Caribbean communities where high school alumni --
particularly those from Jamaica -- have long kept their alma maters afloat
by financing everything from new computers and buildings to athletic
equipment and school buses.

In South Florida alone, there are close to 30 Jamaican past-student
associations. In the British tradition, they're called ''old boys'' and
''old girls.'' Through annual picnics and galas, they help to raise hundreds
of thousands of dollars for the children back home.

Now, the Saint-Louis graduates are trying this approach.

''This is not something in our culture,'' said Patrice Backer, a Weston
investment banker and graduate of Saint-Louis' class of 1984. ``But some of
the alum believe we have to give back in a more meaningful fashion than
we've ever done before.''

The Saint-Louis de Gonzague Alumni Foundation hopes to provide scholarship
opportunities, and funding for any school that is in need. To help
accomplish this, organizers have embarked on a number of projects, including
today's conference on Haitian education, followed by a 7 p.m., $100-a-plate
fundraising gala at the Biscayne Bay Marriott.

GROWING PRACTICE

Although two years in the making, this weekend's gathering comes at a time
when Caribbean communities are increasingly using their successes abroad to
help finance progress back home.

''We have sent things back to Jamaica like digital cameras, television sets,
computers,'' said Laddie Kong, an insurance agent who founded the St.
George's College Old Boys Association of Florida about 15 years ago. The
group recently raised more than $1,700 at a $65-a-plate dinner in Davie to
benefit the all-boys school.

The South Florida Cornwall College Old Boys Association bought athletic and
science equipment with its donations after the Jamaican government said it
could no longer support the Montego Bay high school. The local association
also helps to pay tuition for needy students.

''We are still very attached to the old alma mater,'' said Desmond Marsh, a
Pembroke Pines resident and member of the group.

Last month, for instance, Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson formed the
Jamaican Diaspora Foundation, following the first ever conference of
Jamaicans living abroad, which was held in Kingston.

In a few weeks, Gov. Jeb Bush is expected to announce the members of his
Haitian-American commission designed to foster recommendations on helping in
rebuilding the troubled country. Bush came up with the idea after Haiti's
current prime minister asked for the governor's help last month in tapping
the resources of Haitians in Florida.

The alumni groups are only a fraction of the larger equation, said Ricardo
Allicock, Jamaica's consul in Miami.

''They create opportunities,'' said Allicock, who attended St. Georges
College in Kingston. ``It provides tangible support to students and to the
administrations of those respected high schools at home. So it has
tremendous relevance and impact.''

Organizers of the Saint-Louis event hope to have that kind of impact, said
Regynald Heurtelou, a New Jersey actuary who is a founding member of the
alumni foundation. A graduate of the class of 1988, Heurtelou counts among
his schoolmates Haiti's current police director, Leon Charles, and former
ping-pong addict turned rebel leader Guy Philippe.

The desire to help came after the school's current principal issued a call
for help during a cyber gathering of a few alumni. The principal explained
that the school, lauded for its French and Catholic education, was
struggling to survive in the midst of what has become Haiti's shrinking
middle class and teacher shortage.

ANSWERING

''It was a call for help,'' Heurtelou said. ``If the middle class is
shrinking and people are having difficulty making payments, just imagine
what it's like for the other schools?''

So for the past two years, the groups's founding members -- who live
throughout the United States and Canada -- brainstormed, via e-mails and
phone calls, on how to make use their network.

Last year, they sponsored a writing competition and provided the winner with
a prize of about $460. The foundation's website offers information about the
group and invites schools in Haiti to apply for tuition assistance for
students. Schools also may seek construction funding. The group also
promotes www.haitibooks.com, an initiative to raise money and promote
Haitian authors.

''We are determined to get the diaspora to help educate the people of Haiti,
and we insist it's the Haitian diaspora,'' Heurtelou said. ``We got
something from Haiti and we need to give something back.''

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