The Haiti Solidarity Club held a presentation today, April 24, called “The Struggle for Education and Democracy in Haiti Today”. The presentation took place in the Eagle Theater and documented the club’s recent trip to Haiti.

“Overall we want people to understand the role of the US government in the political corruption and poverty in Haiti, as well as recognize the tremendous strength and hope of the people we met in Haiti and the significance of the organizations they have created,” junior Louise Stephan said. “More generally, we wanted to report back the exact itinerary of the trip and the supplies and money we left there.”

The main aim of the presentation was to inform the audience about both the impact of the trip on students who went as well as the impact of their donations on MOJUB (a women’s group that promotes adult literacy, a microloan program and a children’s school), SOPUDEP (our sister school) and FOPAD (the elementary school in Haiti).

The club showed a film created by junior Andrew Thomas that highlighted their trip to Haiti. Juniors Amanda Spielman, Louise Stephan and senior Laura Delamare then presented the details of the itinerary, the impact of the trip and special moments.

The club also showed a video made by senior Flor Paz, which talked about the political and social atmosphere in Haiti. Speaker Pierre Labosierre then went into detail about the politics of Haiti and why people should help support Haiti. Laura, Flor, Amanda, Louise and seniors Audrey Cashen and Olivia Santiago read a poem while seniors Johnny Hendriquez and Milena Lacayo performed a song. The club held a Q&A session after the performances..

“The turnout was decent and I think that people came out of it with a greatly enriched knowledge of Haiti and our trip,” Louise said. “It solidified and furthered the key points we tried to make to those around us … in a more concrete way thanks to the video, powerpoint, photos and guest speaker.”