By Caitlin V. Reidy  | Special to The CFP

“Education is the basis of a prosperous future in Haiti,” says Magdala Joseph, who was educated through Haitian Outreach’s child sponsorship program.
Based in Fitchburg, Haitian Outreach is a non-profit organization whose focus is to educate children in Haiti. After the August earthquake, Pauline Aliskevicz, the director, reported that their “students and sisters are safe. One school in Coteaux has some structural damage. A clinic nearby was destroyed and our Damassin school lost the gate and fencing, which protects the children from bandits.” Schools were expected to open in September.
According to Mrs. Aliskevicz only about 50% of the Haitian population is able to attend school, and more than 60% of adults can’t read or write. Unlike in the United States, Mrs. Aliskevicz said that the public school system in Haiti is “unsupported by the government,” and that “there are no standards for certifications or organized curriculum, except in private schools.” This is where Haitian Outreach comes in.
The all-volunteer organization and was founded by Lorrie and Norman Charpentier of Leominster in 1998. The Charpentiers had gone to Haiti after meeting Sister Elda Saint Louis, who herself was orphaned at the age of 13.
According to Haitian Outreach’s website, www.haitianoutreach.net, Sister Elda was born in 1916 and joined the convent with the mission of getting young girls off the streets and educating them. According to Mrs. Aliskevicz, some girls had been prostituted by their own families in order to bring in money. She stated that Sister Elda was “disturbed” by this. Sister Elda, also called “Mother Monique,” was the head of the Daughters of Mary Queen Immaculate of Haiti, an order she founded with Sister Marie Gibbs in 1971.
Mrs. Aliskevicz said that it was at that time that Mother Monique and Sister Gibbs started an orphanage and dedicated their lives to education so that young women could learn important skills and get good jobs. Before she passed away, Mother Monique asked the Charpentiers to “take care of the sisters” so that the education of children in Haiti would continue. They honored this request and established Haitian Outreach.
About two years later, Mrs. Charpentier passed away and her husband managed Haitian Outreach. According to Mrs. Aliskevicz, around 2002, the organization was managed by a new couple, Claire and Louis Giuliani. In 2013, Mrs. Giuliani passed away suddenly, and Pauline Aliskevicz said that after much discernment, she and her husband, Deacon John Aliskevicz, became the directors.
When visiting Haiti for the first time, Mrs. Aliskevicz said she “fell in love with the children and the sisters at the schools.” In 2014, Paula Lanson joined the team and made the mission trip to Haiti to deliver backpacks to the children in the schools.  She stated that when she went to Haiti in 2015, she “fell in love with the work that the sisters and Haitian Outreach does.”  Recently, Deacon John moved to the role of chaplain and Mrs. Lanson accepted the position of co-director.
Born and raised in Haiti, Magdala Joseph was orphaned at a young age. She was taken in and educated by Mother Monique, and now Miss Joseph is a 28-year-old woman with a college degree from Julien Craan Business School in Haiti. Not only is she a humbling reminder of why Haitian Outreach exists, but Miss Joseph has used the opportunity to help Haitian Outreach with other students and to give back to her community and country. She assists Haitian Outreach with demographic information on the students and translation.
“In life, we all need someone to help us, even if just a little. This organization helps a lot of people who are in need; without Haitian Outreach, life would be meaningless,” Miss Joseph stated in an email interview. She emphasized that the organization brings the “zest” of life to Haiti, and that she feels that Haitian Outreach and the sisters are her family.
According to the organization’s website, Haitian Outreach assists students in six Catholic schools in and around Port au Prince and helps to educate more than 300 students from kindergarten through high school. Some students, like Miss Joseph, also have the opportunity to attend colleges and universities in Haiti, where they are able to build better lives for themselves by becoming “bankers, diplomacy professors, teachers, and doctors.” Sponsors and Haitian Outreach presently assist 13 university students to obtain a degree.
Sponsors donate a portion of the tuition, which can also provide the student with money needed for a uniform, or vaccinations, according to Mrs. Aliskevicz.
“Education is everything; if a child can read and write, it gives them a future,” Mrs. Lanson said.
Mrs. Aliskevicz and Mrs. Lanson also said that the recent “political unrest, consequences from inflation, and the COVID-19 virus have dominated the economy” in Haiti. Also, Haiti is still recovering from the devastating 2010 earthquake. Mrs. Lanson stated that “their mission is to educate children, not to fix the country.”

– More information on donations and sponsorship can be found at www.haitianoutreach.net.
 

Change your life by helping

By Caitlin V. Reidy  | Special to The CFP

Kathy Gravel, a member of Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Leominster, has been sponsoring children since 2002. Mrs. Gravel stated that she and her husband were “shocked” at the living conditions in Haiti, especially because “we (as a society) have so much and take so much for granted” such as “food, opportunities, and the ability to go to school.” She quoted Luke 12:48, when Jesus preaches that “to whom much is given, much will be required.” Mrs. Gravel said that “Haitian Outreach helps us to give to those who have so little.”
Sarah Dzerkacz, a member of St. Bernard’s Parish at St. Camillus Church in Fitchburg, said that she was inspired to become involved in Haitian Outreach when her mother, who has since passed away, would sponsor a child and they would put a backpack together for him each year. In March 2020, Miss Dzerkacz went to Haiti and said that the children came up and begged to be in the program so that they could attend school.
“As a high school teacher, I was amazed to see children pleading to attend school. It broke my heart to see this basic fundamental right to education was not being met,” Miss Dzerkacz stated.
She also said that after being in Haiti for a week, she was exposed to so much, such as that the people of Haiti collect rainwater for drinking, and that they have little access to electricity. After seeing how much Haitian children, families, and the sisters of Mary Queen Immaculate value education despite their hardships, Miss Dzerkacz said that she felt called to sponsor two children for the program.
Sister Marie Immacula Cornelius, also known as Sister Irma, said that “Haitian Outreach represents a chance at a new life, which results in transformation, for both the Haitian people and for me.” She is currently the head of the Daughters of Mary Queen Immaculate in Haiti, and has the honor of being called “Mother Monique.” She is also the principal of Saut D’Eau School, which has more than 600 students and is almost four hours southwest of Port au Prince. There are presently 40 sisters, including novices and postulants.
With a population of more than 11 million people, Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Paula Lanson, co-director of Haitian Outreach, said that with education, “there is a way to an independent and healthy Haiti,” and that this organization can and has changed lives, “one child at a time.” She also stated that children are lucky if they receive one meal a day, and one of Haitian Outreach’s goals is to start a breakfast program in some of the schools they help sponsor.
Mrs. Aliskevicz said the local group has worked out of several locations but now Father Joseph Dolan generously allows them to operate in the church hall at St. Bernard Parish at St. Camillus Church during the summer.  He’s been “very gracious” and St. Bernard’s Parish has been a “huge supporter” of their work, she said. She suggested that the public can “give back” by praying, volunteering, sponsoring a child, and most importantly, “having a heart for Haiti.”

– More information on donations and sponsorship can be found on Haitian Outreach’s website at www.haitianoutreach.net.

Diocese collects more than $80,000 for Haiti

Parishes in the Diocese of Worcester took up a collection for the Diocese of Les Cayes, Haiti, following the Aug. 14 earthquake. The two dioceses have a longstanding relationship and several parishes here twin with parishes that were affected by the quake. According to the diocesan Office of Fiscal Affairs, $80,338 has been collected so far and will be sent directly to Cardinal Chibly Langlois for earthquake relief in his diocese which was at the epicenter of the earthquake.