BARON: the uneducated

Not long after the church started growing and blooming on it’s dry patch of sand, another need for Christ quickly pushed to the surface…the children.

Even twenty years after Ezekiel had been a child in Baron, there was STILL no school on the mountain, and the few children that DO have an opportunity for education are still forced to make the long descent down the mountain to the village.  There, they attend the village’s only school, the same Catholic school Ezekiel was privileged to attend. 

“Catholic” in Haiti is quite different from “Catholic” where you may be from, and as more people were coming to Christ on the mountain, the need for having a school where the kids could learn about Jesus and the Bible--not about animism and syncretism--was pressing. 

Once again, a major ministry need stood before Ezekiel.  As overwhelming as it was to even consider starting a school, Ezekiel gave it to the Lord, and as more and more children came to the church and to him to learn about Christ, he felt the Lord give it back to him.

“So we started a school,” Ezekiel told me. 

“Which is….where?” I asked hesitantly, not sure if I could physically withstand an additional treck.

“Well, it’s here, of course,” said Ezekiel, pointing around the now empty church. 

“Yes, but you told me you have 150 students,” I responded.

“Yep.”  said Ezekiel.

“You have 150 students in HERE, all at the same time?”

“Yep.  I’ll show you.”

So we stood, he pointed to a few panels that looked a bit like chalkboards and said they use them to “divide” the tiny room into four parts. 

“Preschool, back room, Kindergarten, the room where I sleep back there, then 1^st grade, here, 2^nd grade HERE, 3^rd grade HERE…” he showed me, motioning towards each corner of the room with the small chalkboard thing making the divisions, “4^th grade HERE, 5^th grade out there, and 6^th grade, outside.”

I’m sure my face expressed what I was thinking.  You have GOT to be kidding me.

I pictured 150 little ones, 8 teachers, all teaching a different lesson, all in the same room, all at the same time.

“Look,” Ezekiel said, reading my baffled countenance.  “I know it’s not ideal.  I know it’s not great.  But there is no other Christian school.  There is NO other school at ALL.  NONE of the children going to this school can afford to go to the Catholic school in town.  They would NEVER receive an education, much less one in Christ.”

“It’s not the best.  But it’s more than this mountain top has EVER had, and it’s affordable.  And we’re able to spread the Gospel to the children of the mountain and therefore also reach their parents.”

The way Ezekiel jumped to defend this ministry touched my heart deeply.

This wasn’t just a thing God put before him that Ezekiel was wishy-washy half-hearted to attend.  God placed it before him, just as He had the church, just as He had Baron, and though it wasn’t Ezekiel’s personal dream, he had given God his all. 

I realized that he loved this little school, and loves these little children.  He loves the church, he loves the community. 

It IS JUST as God has ASKED us to do His will for our lives.  No reserve, no timidity, but boldly, with great love, to the best of our ability, pouring ourselves out like a drink offering.

I ask him what “affordable” means.  He tells me each child pays (or tries to pay) 500 gourdes for the entire school year…$12.19 US.  There are 8 teachers and a director.  School is 9 months long. 

I quickly do the math.  500 gourdes X 150 kids (IF they all pay).  Divided by 8 teachers and the director (so, 9) who runs the school when Ezekiel is gone or working on the church.  And community development.  And discipleship.  And evangelism.  And providing for his OWN family.   

So, 75,000 for the year, divided by 9 staff, divided by 12 months, that’s 694 gourdes each per month…$16.93 USD.  About 56 cents a DAY.

 The 5th & 6th grade building, still being built

That is IF IF IF the school has NO expenses outside of their 9 staff. 

But then, at the MINIMUM, what about benches?  Chalk?  Supplies? Papers?  Repairs?  

I am overwhelmed for the 10^th time that day. 

 the school bathroom

Ezekiel does this drive and hike every single week?  He built, and works, at this church every single week?  He pours out on these people, who cannot pay him a penny, nor read, nor even often feed him, every single week?  He then oversees the school, and tries to pay the teachers, and tries to care for the children, and tries to do the very best that he can, every single week?  And his teachers teach 30-40 hours a week classes of 20 children in a wood hut with a dirt floor for about 9 cents an HOUR?

“Oh, let me tell you something exciting!” Ezekiel tells me, cutting through my buzzing brain.

the soccer field, of course!

“So many people here are so frustrated that they cannot read the Bible for themselves, and so we’ve been teaching the children at the school to read so they can read for their families.  But there is still a strong desire here for people to read the Word for themselves and to teach their children the Word.”

“So last semester,” Ezekiel continues, “I spoke to our teachers, and they started teaching adults in the afternoons just how to read.”  (School is from 7 am-noon). 

“And all of the gran-moun were just loving it (older people), so we will continue that again this year, too, a reading school for adults in the afternoons.  It means so much to people who have never been able to be educated to learn to read, and for new believers to be able to read the Bible for themselves!  You know?”

By this point, I was ready to move INTO the hut next door, live in the shirt and skirt I was wearing, receive no pay whatsoever, and teach, preach, help, care for and love this community until the day I died of either starvation, exhaustion or persecution. 

Like Ezekiel. 

No.  Like JESUS.