Haiti (MNN)–Haiti needs nearly one and a half billion dollars to rebuild the country after decades of poverty and social upheaval.
Haiti’s new president, Renee Preval, spoke with the U.N. Security Council March 30th asking for an international commitment to help after decades of political corruption and graft as revealed by the recent elections.
According to the new president, reconstruction should take place in three phases, beginning with creating jobs and providing food aid.
Another glaring problem is conquering illiteracy. More than 48 percent of the population can’t read, which makes their ability to secure work and food difficult.
Worldwide Christian Schools’ Steve Geurink says they’re a part of the solution. “What we see in Haiti is that there are many, many denominations and ministries that are coming in and seeing the need for education, but none of them were networking together.”
WCS partnered with a group called CRECH, the Christian Curriculum Consortium to develop a new curriculum that pulled worldview and discipleship together.
This pioneering effort is expected to unite Christian schools under one curriculum, which will have far-reaching effects on teacher training and cooperative efforts among various church and mission organizations.
Guerink explains that, “It’s promoting a world and life view that looks at everything from the Gospel message and then also the fact that you have to take care of the world around you–those things are all incorporated into this curriculum so that they begin to look at the world with a worldview that’s larger than just the most pressing need that they have at the moment.”
The curriculum was first presented to educators in October of 2005. It is made up of six books, one for each grade from first grade through sixth. So far, two of the books have been printed, two more are going through the printing process, and CRECH is trying to raise funds to finish the printing of all six books. Each book prints for about three dollars.
