O-21 changing Haiti’s children

n A pupil at the École Chrétienne des Frères Unis, in Port-au-Prince’s Cité Soleil district, studies her copy of ‘Le Livre de Vie’

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Trying to reach all Haiti’s children with Scriptures presents the Haitian Bible Society with an enormous task. There are an estimated 10,000 schools across the country with some 1.6 million students. Western educationists are shocked to know that, with only 30,000 teachers in the country, the student/teacher ratio is 53 to one.

Theoretically at least, Haiti’s school system has a strong Christian basis: some 85 per cent of schools are operated by churches – and even the 15 per cent run by the government stipulate that pupils must study the Bible.

Outside the system

Inevitably, however, these statistics do not show the whole picture. For one thing, in spite of a law proclaiming schooling for all children, more than one-third of those in Haiti fall outside the school system.

“They have no way to attend,” Mrs Victor laments. “You see some in the streets. Others work as domestic servants in wealthy homes and it means they cannot be reached through the education system.”

And even for the fortunate children who do attend, not all schools in Haiti are created equal.

“In the countryside, there are schools with no chairs, no desks – nothing,” she says. “Many of the children do not know about God, and so when they have problems, they turn to sex or drugs. We want to reach them with our O-21 program so that when they have problems, they will come back to the Bible. O-21 offers us the opportunity to provide them with more Scriptures, and to reach a new stage of development as a Bible Society.”

Already, in just two months of distribution, the New Testaments and Scripture books of the O-21-funded Le Livre de Vie (‘Book of Life’) program are initiating hope, excitement and changed lives among Haitian schoolchildren. And students, teachers, missionaries, and Bible Society staff all believe that it could play a major role in giving a brighter future to the troubled Caribbean country.

Apply teachings

The Bible Society is providing 450,000 copies of The Book of Life in French (Le Livre de Vie) and Creole (Liv Lavie) to show young people how to apply the teachings of Jesus to contemporary issues. It is also giving schools one million New Testaments. All are being used in Christian education classes, which are part of the school curriculum.

Minister’s support

“The textbooks are provided by the schools,” Mrs Victor explained, “so we are trying to get these O-21 materials officially adopted and then the children will receive them free. That is why this is such a great opportunity. Haiti’s minister of education is a Christian, and he supports the project.”