Chansolm Baptist Church School
Chansolm is a small ribbon town in a mountainous area, on the main Port au Prince - Port de Paix road. Pastor Emmanuel (also known as Pastor Mamma) moved to Chansolm with his family about six years ago to set up a small Baptist Church. The community that he pastors is very poor with a lot of basic and social needs.
Hands of Hope have been supporting the work of Pastor Emmanuel and his church in providing education for the poorest children in his community for a number of years.
There are currently four teachers employed at Chansolm Baptist Church School which has over 150 children attending each weekday. The classes are held from 8am till 1pm each day but because of the growing demand for places at the school, it is the desire of Pastor Emmanuel to increase the number of classes to six and possibly eight if demand remains high.
As in all schools in Haiti, there is a requirement for children to pay annual fees in order to meet the running of the school and payment of the teacher's salaries. At Chansolm Baptist Church school, fees are very low at only $50H (around £5.00) per year. Although this may seem an insignificant amount to us, there are many in Haiti who cannot even afford this small amount, such is their poverty. The funds given by Hands of Hope have been used by the Pastor to pay the annual salaries of the teaching staff (which ensures that an education will be provided to the children), school equipment - and shoes for those kids who don't have any.
The school is presently run from within the flimsy church building. However, the Haitian Ministry of Education stipulates that all schools must operate from their own premises and be adequately constructed with sufficient facilities if they are to be recognised by the state, follow the state syllabus and be allowed to set state examinations.
Recently, due to the generosity of Wakefield Baptist Church, funding has been made available for the purchase of land for the building of Chansolm Baptist Primary School. this is such an amazing answer to prayer and the first stage of a vision for a school and centre of learning that is now becoming a reality for this impoverished community. Hands of Hope are committed to the continued raising of funds for the commencement and completion of this school building project over the next two to three years.
We are so privileged that, together with our supporters, we are able to be involved in a vision which will make such a huge difference to the lives of many young people, through the provision of a state-recognised education in this very poor church community.