Our Ministry in Haiti

Holy Trinity School

(from Summer 2002 Tidings)

Holy Trinity School of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, is on the grounds of Holy Trinity Cathedral. The school was founded in 1927 by the Sisters of St. Margaret, an Episcopal order of nuns based in Boston, Massachusetts. The school was founded to educate both boys and girls. In 1963 a music school was added. Over the years the music school has gained international recognition and acclaim. Its chamber and concert orchestra have toured the US many times, often spending time at Tanglewood in the Massachusetts Berkshire mountains, being schooled and encouraged by the premier musicians who spend their summers there. Today, there are 1000 students at the music school and the primary school has over 1300 students enrolled.

In 1976, a trade school was added, giving many a chance to learn a useful trade in order to make their way in life. Some of the trades taught there are electronics, printing, plumbing, carpentry, and auto repair. The carpentry shop builds desks for the students in the schools and the print shop instructors are using recently donated high tech equipment to each their students the ins and outs of the printing business, providing flyers, manuals, and other printed materials for the educational programs. In past years, the print shop was a somewhat thriving concern, taking in work from various business in the city. Now, with the current economic situation, their efforts concentrate on the needs of the students.

All schools in Haiti are tuition based and Holy Trinity is no exception. Yearly tuition and other fees come to approximately $150 US. School supplies and equipment are, not surprisingly, a scarcity. They have need for the usual back-to-school items: paper, notebooks, pens, pencils, markers and crayons, scissors, staplers, rulers, white school glue, as well as things such as children's aspirin and assorted sizes of socks and t-shirts. The idea of sponsoring school scholarships to Holy Trinity is exciting. For only $150 a year we can help to educate a child in this poor nation who might not otherwise have the chance to go to school. And, as we learned from our meeting with Bishop Duracin during our trip in January, obviously education, at all levels, is the key to a hope and a future for the nation of Haiti.

Please ask us for more information about this project. We have a basket for these needed items and can answer other questions about the school, its staff and students. Most of all, Holy Trinity needs and desires your prayers. Just as it is here at Nativity and indeed everywhere, the children are the future of the nation of Haiti.