July 2010

We have just returned from an incredible trip to Haiti, including 3 days in Port-au-Prince and a 7 day visit to LaVallee de Jacmel. While the devastation we witnessed was overwhelming, we were inspired by the resilience, courage and industriousness of the people. Everywhere we looked we saw families working together to re-build their lives. Haiti is truly a country of dramatic contrasts. Rolling mountains and glorious ocean views provide a backdrop for endless heaps of rubble and makeshift hovels made of reclaimed tin, scraps of wood and donated tarps.



The view from the mountaintop in LaVallee



Makeshift shelters have become home to thousands

School Kitchen Project

We also visited the St. Therese de Laviale School, the site of our school kitchen project. We were able to spend a few hours with Principal Hermanes, several of the teachers and many of the wonderful students. The foundation for the kitchen has been completed and the concrete blocks and cement are on site. All of the materials used to build the kitchen must be delivered by donkey and hand carried down steep mountain paths. While the rainy season has delayed construction somewhat, we were thrilled to hear last week that the first shipment of food from the World Food Program has arrived. Until the kitchen is completed, school personnel are preparing the food over out-door fires.
Thanks to your generosity the students are now able to have a hot meal daily, but additional funds are still needed to complete this project.



Students of Laviale School posing in front of kitchen construction materials



School kitchen foundation and building supplies

After witnessing the devastation in Port-au-Prince, we were encouraged to see first-hand the real potential of developing Haiti’s rural areas. We remain dedicated to helping the people of LaVallee in their efforts to create a self-sustaining community. Under the direction of our Haitian team we will continue to support projects in education, agronomy, and small business development in LaVallee.

The school at St. Therese Laviale



Students at St. Therese Laviale



St. Therese Laviale students walking to school

Please help Givology fund this critical new project!

Below is an excerpt from La Vallee Alliance's most recent newsletter. If you are interested in contributing to their sports uniforms/school supplies drive and/or their school kitchen project, please visit the La Vallee Alliance website here.

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Dear Friends of LaVallee Alliance,

Thank you again for your interest and support of our efforts to help the people of LaVallee de Jacmel, Haiti. As you can see from the note from Florine, your donations are making a real difference in the lives of LaVallee students. We have several new projects underway to tell you about!

We are excited to be planning our trip to Haiti, scheduled for the second week of June. We have been meeting with key members of the NGO community here in D.C. involved in the Haitian relief efforts and plan to meet with their counterparts in Port au Prince. We hope to partner with these larger organizations, draw attention to our mountainous rural community, and learn from their expertise as we plan our future programs.


St. Therese Laviale School


Need Sports Uniforms and School Supplies

In preparation for our trip, our team in Haiti has asked that we bring sports uniforms and school supplies. The community sports director has asked us to collect soccer and basketball uniforms to outfit four teams of fifteen students. We are collecting black or blue sport shorts and black, red, or white basketball uniforms in adult small, medium or large sizes. We are also collecting the following school supplies: string backpacks, basic pens, #2 pencils, and composition notebooks. If you would like to donate any of these items, the three of us will be collecting them at our homes from now until June 5th.

School Kitchen Project


Example of a school kitchen


Our team has also asked that we help build a kitchen for the St. Therese Laviale School. As you know, even before the earthquake, families in Haiti struggled to feed their children. It is a harsh reality that many school-age children go all day without food or clean water. The World Food Program assists in feeding the children of rural Haiti by providing meals at their schools. However, the program requires that each school have a safe storage space and a kitchen in which to cook the meals.

St. Therese Laviale School does not have these facilities and thus has not been able to participate in this program. After our kitchen project is completed, approximately 250 students will receive a simple meal of rice and beans at school. For some, this is the most nutritious meal of their day.
Our team in LaVallee has estimated the cost for the kitchen buildings and supplies to be $10,000. We will buy all of the materials in Haiti and hire Haitian workers to build this kitchen. If you would like to become a partner with LaVallee Alliance and the World Food Program on this project, your cash donations would be greatly appreciated.

Givology supports Skip Peru's vigorous focus on obtaining data and monitoring child performance. Below is an excerpt of their evaluation criteria.


GENERAL ASSESMENT DATA
Skip Primary Program

Objective: In order to evaluate students progress in the primary program two sets of assessments, reading and math, will be given to students twice a year.

Materials: All assessment material listed below can be found in the Primary Assessment Binder. Each assessment has a given sheet on which students record their responses.

Process of Assessment:
1. Assessments are completed at the beginning and end of each term.
2. Teachers grade student assessments and record data for each student.
3. Data is recorded in Primary Assessments Binder on class list labeled ‘Assessment Evidence.’

Reading Level:
A Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) will be completed for each student twice a year in order to evaluate students reading level. Specific information and procedures for this assessment are in the Primary Assessment Binder.

Reading Comprehension:
Students will listen to a group read aloud of a story. They will then orally retell or write a one-paragraph summary of the story. Student’s work will be evaluated on a 1-4 scale. Students will receive a grade based on their comprehension abilities.

Math:
Students will complete a math evaluation with questions ranging from basic to more advanced.


EXPLANATION OF ASSESMENTS

Basic 1:
1. Alphabet Knowledge: Students will write the letter of the alphabet in order.

2. Letter Dictation: Teacher will dictate a letter of the alphabet and students will record their response.

3. Word Knowledge Test: The child is asked to read a list of words in isolation. These words are a collection of frequently used words.



Basic 2:
1. Developmental Reading Assessment: Teachers will use the DRA to evaluate student reading level. Teacher will determine the child’s instructional reading level and record this child’s reading level (A-Z). For DRA procedures see document: DRA Process

2. Comprehension Assessment: After student has completed reading of the text a teacher should ask the child to explain in as much detail as possible what happened in the text. The child’s oral retell should be recorded (in shorthand) on the Guided Reading Sheet.

Oral Comprehension Grade: Students should be evaluated on a 1-4 scale. 4=best
Grading: Teachers should take into account:

1. Does the summary contain knowledge of the story and main idea?
2. Are events accurately reported?
3. Does sequence of events in the summary match the text?
4. Is there evidence of structures such as beginning, middle and end of story?
5. Is there a presence of elements such as characters and setting?
6. Use of detail?

Intermediate/Advanced:
1. Developmental Reading Assessment: Teachers will use the DRA to evaluate student reading level. Teacher will determine the child’s instructional reading level and record this child’s reading level (A-Z). For DRA procedures see document: DRA Process

2. Written Comprehension Assessment: Teacher reads aloud a story. Students are then asked to write a summary paragraph detailing what occurred in the story.
Written Comprehension Grade: Students should be evaluated on a 1-4 scale. 4=best
Grading: Teachers should take into account:

1. Does the summary contain knowledge of the story and main idea?
2. Are events accurately reported?
3. Does sequence of events in the summary match the text?
4. Is there evidence of structures such as beginning, middle and end of story?
5. Is there a presence of elements such as characters and setting?
6. Use of detail?





DEVELOPMENTAL READING ASSESSMENT
Skip Primary Program

Objective: The developmental Reading assessment is used to determine a child’s instructional reading level.

Running Record: A running record is a documentation of a child’s actual reading of a text. The running records provide a means to appropriately assess what level (A-Z) a child comfortably reads at. The results from the running record inform the results for the DRA.

Process for Running Record:
1. Teacher sits beside the child while he/she reads the text aloud.
2. The teacher listens to the child as he/she reads and marks on a separate paper (Running Record Sheet) number of words correct, number of incorrect words.
3. Teacher Coding on Running Record Sheet: Check marks (?) are made for words read correctly or those that are self-corrected by the child. A dash (?) is made if students:
a. Substitute one words for another
b. Omit a word
c. Is unable to make an attempt to read the word

Determining Reading Level Results:
1. To determine the accuracy rate: Subtract the number of errors from words correct, divide by the number of words, and multiply it by 100.

2. Indicate on the Running Record Sheet whether the text is: Hard, Instructional, Easy.

3. When you have found a level that is Instructional for the child you have then determined their current reading level.

Below 90%= Hard
90-94%= Instructional
95-100%= Easy

4. The instructional level that the child is reading at should then be recorded in the Primary Assessment Data binder under that child’s name.

5. The form should be filed under appropriate class section in the Primary Assessment Binder.

Below are additional photos of the classrooms:

Below are some photos of the installation of solar panels at the Peace School.





Charge controllers:



Batteries:



Seven installed panels:

La Vallee recently provided the following update on the school:

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Antonica shared with us the urgent need of getting the children back to school as quickly as possible. Thanks to all of you, much progress has already been made. Last week we wired funds collected at our event to the team in Haiti, and the next day construction began on a temporary structure to house 610 students at St. Paul’s School. Thanks to donations we have continued to receive over the past several weeks, we were able to send additional funds last week to complete this temporary school building. This means students were able to return to school last week for the first time in over three months. We hope that we can replicate this project for the numerous other schools that have been damaged in LaVallee.

Here are pictures of the St. Paul’s School project, showing construction underway and the completed temporary school building.


The La Vallee team


The students


Under construction



The need continues to grow as students who had been attending schools, now destroyed, in Port-au-Prince have returned home. Our team in Haiti is currently gathering student data and identifying those in need of help.

we are wiring funds so that Antonica can begin buying seeds and gardening tools to create self-sustaining family gardens. This pilot project will launch 15-20 gardens, and as funds increase we hope to be able to sponsor a garden for many of the five thousand families of LaVallee.

Thanks to all of you who have already contributed; Antonica and our team in Haiti are overwhelmed by your generosity. Currently, the LaVallee Alliance’s efforts are the most visible signs of relief and recovery in the area. We are making great progress, but the needs of LaVallee continue. It is only with on-going support that the people of LaVallee will be able to rebuild and create a self-sustaining vibrant community.

Apologies for not posting these sooner - these pictures were sent to us from our partner in Haiti along with the previous update, found here: LaVallee Update

Please see below for an update from our partner organization in LaVallee!

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It has been over two months since the earthquake devastated my county. We are so grateful for the support from people all over the world who are trying to help us recover from this disaster. LaVallee is home to over 40,000 people and includes more than 8000 students. We have over 60 schools scattered among the rural mountainside northwest of the port city of Jacmel. After the earthquake, we formed a team of civic leaders to survey the damage. We have at least 3000 homes that have been damaged, and most of the schools cannot be occupied. The government has requested that any structure made of concrete that shows damage not be used for school. The children have been anxiously awaiting the return to school and will probably be attending school throughout the summer. Now that the rainy season has begun (earlier than in previous years) it is crucial that we provide some kind of shelter for the students so that they can return to school. Our team has attended many meetings represented by major NGO’s and still, we have not seen many tents, damage assessments or plans for reconstruction.



The money raised by this project could not have come sooner. We are going to build 14 classrooms out of wood to combine the existing 28 classes (2 classes per structure). We will buy the material from local sources and use the labor of the men of our village. We had previously attempted to build a school shelter out of bamboo and tarps given to us by UNICEF, but as of last night, a major storm came through Haiti and destroyed our tents. The nuns who run the school were very distraught because they were afraid that the books and school supplies would be ruined, causing further loss. The trauma of the earthquake can still be seen on the faces of our children. Many showed fear when we asked them to enter the tents because of the nightmares caused by the aftershocks. Many of our students are living outside without a roof over their head and have become afraid of any sort of building.



I want to thank everyone again for all of their support. Rebuilding Haiti, and my village of LaVallee de Jacmel, will take many years, but I am hopeful in the partnership of the strong spirit of the Haitian people and the worldwide donor community that, together, we can build a stronger Haiti.



Your Friend,

Antonica Payen


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Below is a note we recently received from a member of the Nanubhai team. Please check out the links for the latest updates!


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Hi Joyce,

I just wanted to send you a note to say thanks for the initial seed money from Givology to get our library started at Bajipura in India. We recently ran a half marathon in Chandigarh, and we were able to raise an additional $1,000 for our library project here and at Madhi high school. We also began a new test series this week for working with Microsoft and Pratham Books to provide some books on DVD, so that students can have books read to them in their own homes. We can also put many books on 1 disc, for about the price of 1 book, so it seems to be a cost effective program that could have a greater reach. The fellows next year will continue researching the program.

I posted a blog to say thank you for all those that contributed, and Givology was a big part of getting the project going in the first place.


Thanks!

Drew

In December, two members of the Givology team had a chance to visit the Peace School as volunteers to assist with the relocation of the Lower Campus and to document the project progress to share with you, our community.

As we had too many updates, photos, stories, and videos to share, we created a separate site that chronicles our day-by-day experiences at the Peace School. Through this site, you can read a detailed blog post for each day that we spent at the Peace School by clicking on the link at the lower right hand corner of each expanded thumbnail, and our experiences of taking down the Lower Campus and rebuilding the structures at the Upper Campus.

The youtube video below explains the basics of this site.

Click here to go to the site to view the project update.