The Situation in Haiti:
Pressing through an era of deep political angst, the people of Haiti have extremely limited access to free education. As a result, over half of the Haitian population cannot read or write Creole, the native language, and French, the official language. Emphasizing education as essential for relief from poverty, most Haitians allocate what small financial resources they have to pay for private or parochial schools for their children. Unfortunately, “Haiti is often referred to as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and listed among the poorest of all countries in the developing world.” However, the resilience and determination of poor families who are struggling on a daily basis for a way out of the extreme poverty cannot be dismissed.
Jou Nouvo’s Coordination and Program Participants:
Jou Nouvo seeks out, and subsequently empowers, adult women with little or no literacy skills who are in a state of economic despair. Although services are also open to men, the essence of Jou Nouvo is to provide women with an opportunity to acquire skills so that they may be involved with the schooling of their children and to promote good health habits for themselves and their family.
With programming already implemented to address the needs of children, Jou Nouvo also addresses the needs of women who want to improve the overall quality of life both for themselves and their families. Jou Nouvo is working in partnership Institution Mixte Alexandre Dumas located in Bon-Repos, Haiti. The Institution is a private school and has successfully delivered kindergarten, fundamental, and secondary education, nutrition program and other basic assistance to the struggling families of Bon-Repos for over ten years. Jou Nouvo also supports and consults with Institution Mixte Quisqueya in Lizon, Haiti. Quisqueya serves children between the ages four to ten years old. With hopes of expansion, Jou Nouvo will continue to recruit and serve ten to twelve women in the literacy class at Institution Mixte Alexandre Dumas.
Background of Bon-Repos, Jou Nouvo’s First Location:
Bon-Repos is a town of La Plaine-du-Cul-Sac, located Ouest (West) of Haiti. Bon-Repos is about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) outside of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. Families from the countryside often move to the capital in search of job and education opportunities, and as a result, Port-au-Prince and its surrounding neighborhoods become over-populated. Due to this, people first began to move out of Port-au-Prince to Bon-Repos in the 1980s.
Until the late 1970s, Bon-Repos was known for its vast open space and its rich soil which was ideal for agricultural production. Today, Bon-Repos is known as a poor suburb that is over populated with minimal land left for farming. In Bon-Repos, private schools, churches, small shops, and open markets are in abundance. However, access to health clinics and free public schools is very limited. Children’s education is in decline, unemployment is high, and violent crimes, hunger, and multiple diseases continue to emerge at a rapid pace. As a result, Jou Nouvo was formed by Kerline Tofuri, a Haitian native now residing in Massachusetts, to meet the needs and aspirations of the Bon Repos community.
Long-term Goals:
Jou Nouvo’s initial implementation is small in scope but deep in impact. Jou Nouvo seeks to improve the quality of life throughout the targeted neighborhoods by providing people with the tools of education, access to health instruction and care, financial support and hope for a better life. Further ahead, Jou Nouvo will look for assistance to promote and develop sustainable opportunities for families, advocate for a healthier environment and vibrant community of Bon-Repos. Caring for its clients, Jou Nouvo will never take on expansions that impair quality of service–rather, it will take on progressive, community-oriented growth.
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