OLN-SUPPORTED HAITI PROJECTS
CAPITAL AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
Water Filtration and Disinfection (2017): A 3-filter unit was installed that included a 30 micron sediment filter, a 5 micron sediment filter and a granular activated carbon (GAC) filter in sequence prior to the water being pumped into the new 600-gallon storage tank. From the tank, the water flows through an ultra-violet disinfection unit whenever the outside faucet is turned on. The system design and installation was an interactive process between our committee and Sr. Moline and her team of maintenance and installation personnel. The cost of equipment provided by OLN amounted to $905, while the storage tank and miscellaneous components were provided by ENIHP, amounting to approximately $700.
Solar Power Installation (2016): A 5 kW solar power system was installed in February 2016 at a cost of $29,541 to replace a current solar installation in the computer lab, and to extend the power to the 3 classrooms at the Papaye Normal School, an outdoor security light, the well pump, and the administration offices. The system was comprised of 16 solar panels, 24 batteries, a power inverter, and miscellaneous accessories, including a small equipment room. The system was installed by a Haitian contractor, Digitalkap, who is also responsible for training an ENIHP staff person in ongoing maintenance of the equipment.
Well and Pump (2015): A 365-foot water well was drilled on the school grounds in July 2015 to once again provide a source of fresh water on-site, after the loss of their spring which went dry. The well, submersible pump and accessories cost $20,100. The well was drilled and the pump installed by a local contractor under Sr. Moline's supervision. A pump house has also been constructed for weather-proofing and protection, and may also serve as a location for future additions of filtration and disinfection treatment equipment.
Repair of Boy’s Dormitory roof and ceiling (2014): The Boys dorm roof ($12,366.85) was funded almost entirely by a $12,000 grant from the Haiti Fund of the Boston Foundation, the same foundation that funded the female dorm construction. The project replaced the tin roof and also the wooden frame and interior wooden ceiling panels for the male dormitory structure. The Haiti Fund grant period ended in 2014 and had an abbreviated grant period for last year due to the end of the 5 year program which began as a result of the earthquake. Due to the abbreviated grant cycle only groups who had previously been awarded a grant, who had a project that had been previously submitted, and that could be completed by December 31, 2014, would be eligible for grant money. When the original grant proposal was written for the female dormitory, it also included the repair of the male dormitory roof, in case other funding was found for the completion of the female dormitory prior to receiving the grant.
4 Annual scholarships (2014 and ongoing): These scholarships are awarded to each of two rising second year students and two rising third year students, one to a female and the other to a male in each class year. The scholarship recipients are selected by an ENIHP Scholarship Selection Committee, based on a combination of academic excellence, leadership, citizenship, and service.
Large Wall Maps for the classrooms (2014):
Faculty salaries (2010, 2012 and ongoing): Immediately after the earthquake in 2010, OLN’s Parish Council provided funding for emergency food supplies and faculty salaries in 2010. After considering the challenges facing the school, beginning in 2012, the OLN Parish Council has voted annually to support annual faculty salaries at a certain fixed level, although the long-term goal is to develop in-country sources of funding for support of the school.
Computer lab (2002, 2013-14): Before 2002, a parishioner who passed away, left $3-4,000 in her will for Papaye School. With that money, they built the first computer room. More recently, the lab was updated with new computers and servers, internet access, and electricity from a dedicated set of solar panels.
Reconstruction of Girl’s Dormitory (2012-2013): The second item on the listed needs of the school in 2011 was the reconstruction of the Female Dorm and the repairs of the roof for the Male Dorm. Sister Jeanna has been able to raise money to complete 70% of the female dorm through funding provided by a Canadian Organization. To complete the Female Dorm another $42,300 is necessary. The OLN Haiti Ministry is searching for funding in the form of grant money from private foundations to help Sister Jeanna with this construction project. Grant applications have been submitted to The Boston Foundation’s Haiti Fund and The Hilton Fund for Catholic Sisters and results should be available sometime in May or June 2012. The OLN Haiti Ministry is happy to announce the award of a $15,000 Grant from The Boston Foundation's Haiti Fund to the Papaye Normal School. The funds will be used toward the completion of the Female Dorm at the Normal School.
Security fence for the school compound (2011): When the mission team from OLN traveled to Haiti in 2011, the top priority presented by Sister Jeanna was the security wall or Fence to enclose the Normal School campus. Our Lady of Nazareth began to work to raise the funds needed to support the school with this project with a special collection during Easter. Other fundraisers like the Bike a Thon the children participated in, the Kroger reusable shopping cards, and individual donations have provided the remaining funds. The OLN mission group who traveled to Haiti in 2012 was pleased to see the Fence completed. In addition to the security of the students of the Normal School, the Fence will also provide security for equipment and supplies and open up possibilities for future improvements at the school.
School garden (2011-12): The Garden started by the school’s director in 2010 to improve the food security of the school has been expanded with money from a grant of the Diocese of Richmond. The Battaglia Grant has provided funding to increase access to water for irrigation, improve soil quality through composting and increase production through training in new agricultural techniques. These changes have allowed the school to reduce the money spent on food for the students and provided some income for the school through sale of some of the vegetables.
Earthquake relief – food supplies and faculty salaries (2010):
Used school bus (2007): After Eileen Highberger gave information about her 4th mission to Haiti to the OLN parish at all masses, she received a phone call from someone offering a $10,000 donation toward a much needed bus for the school. Without a bus, many students couldn’t get there except by walking many miles each day. Former director, Sister Jeanna, had a brother in New Jersey and a sister and her husband in New York. Her sister died and her brother-in-law knew of a warehouse of used buses for sale due to consolidation of school districts in the area. He said some were in great condition. He was able to get one. So, with the donation and money left from Sister Jeanna’s sister (which helped pay the shipping costs), we were able to procure a bus and ship it to Haiti, transferring the title to the school. Her brother in New Jersey saw to the shipping from that port.
Treadle pedal sewing machines (1998): The school needed sewing machines, and with limited electricity, that meant treadle machines. We sent 2 or 3 treadle sewing machines and several portable electric ones. In 2006, Eileen Highberger reported seeing a girl in front of one of the classrooms sewing on a treadle.
Annual sea containers: Our Lady of Nazareth has been involved in sending many and varied items to our twin, Papaye Normal School, via a sea container since the late 1990's. The purpose of sending items in the sea container is to help our twin with much needed supplies. Each spring, the Director of the Papaye Normal School is contacted to determine what items the school currently needs. Then her requests are put in the OLN Saturday and Sunday bulletin and our parishioners respond so generously. Items are collected from our parish family and the items that are to be sent via sea container are boxed in April. Not everything is sent via sea container. Each time we visit our school we carry, as checked baggage, as many supplies as we can physically handle. However, many of the needed items are too large, too heavy or too numerous to be carried as luggage - thus, the sea container. As soon as the sea container items are boxed they are taken to FedEx Freight where the boxes are weighed, measured and put on a pallet and then sent by truck to the Parish Twinning Program of the Americas (PTPA) in Smyrna, Tennessee. OLN pays the trucking costs, but FedEx Freight has been giving us a generous charity discount. PTPA loads the pallets into a sea container which they then ship to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It takes about three months to reach Port-au-Prince and go through customs. Therefore, our twin will be able to pick-up the items in Port-au-Prince sometime in July. Some of the items that have been sent over the years are: treadle sewing machines, tons (literally) of school supplies, approximately 50 folding chairs, many very large 12-qt. and 14-qt. cooking pots, toiletries, sheet music, sewing supplies and toys. At the time of the riots (around 2006), food supplies were short, and powdered milk was one of the items collected at OLN and shipped in the Diocesan container. There was also a shortage of writing paper. We had a collection for that and shipped a huge amount (74 boxes) of loose-leaf paper in the container.