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Educational and Cultural Collaborations in Deschapelles
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Robotics in the Library: August 2017

Patrick Myslik, Sam Paulson and Rocket Otte celebrating a working robot with the youth of Deschapelles! Click on the photo to read their blog.

A group of students from Region 4 Valley Regional High School (Chester, Deep River, Essex) travelled to Deschapelles in the summer of 2017 with their parents to share their love of robotics.  Entitled the “Deschapelles Robotics Initiative”, the group  spent nearly a week in Deschapelles working with 15 children ages 8-14 on how to build a robotic tractor (the Track3r) and maneuver it using robotic mechanisms.  They created a blog that can be viewed by clicking here.

As Patrick Myslik, Sam Paulson and Rocket Otte explain in their blog: “Patrick, Rocket and I all thought it was awesome to share something we are passionate about with other kids who were just so excited to learn something new. Sharing our knowledge with these kids to teach them new skills left us smiling. We felt immense gratification knowing how much we accomplished in just a single day. In addition, we feel really good knowing that once we leave these kids they will have skills to further their own robotics abilities and be able to teach others themselves.”

Book Buddies Update-May 2017

This year’s Zami Liv (Book Buddies) group met to read their books that they are sharing with students in Middletown, Connecticut.  They first met on the lawn of the library but the rain came so they went inside.  The librarian,
Pleurette Mervil, led the discussion.  The six girls and two boys read
beautifully in French, and Pleurette was wonderful in engaging them in
thoughtful answers to her questions.  They were all provided with the new
“Pot Liv” (book bags) created by volunteer seamstresses in Essex to carry the books safely home and dust-free for the week.  There, they will be able to read them again, and read them to family members and neighbors. They will  return the next Saturday ready to write a paragraph about themselves and the book.  They are looking forward to a response from their Book Buddies in Middletown.

Legos Project

Screen Shot 2014-07-24 at 3.59.57 PMThe goals of the Lego Project are to encourage young people to “build a new Haiti” through the use of Legos.  It encourages children to combine their imagination with problem solving skills.   The children involved in Deschapelles are at least 10 years old and either attend school or, if they are unable, are members of a children’s club. Approximately 20 children are involved in the Deschapelles Lego Project.

The Project was proposed by Emanus Simeon, a Boston area resident and friend of SCEH who was born near Deschapelles.  The Legos were donated by Mark Moorman, a friend of Emanus, who had worked with Legos with children in Cap Haitien, a city in the north of Haiti.

 

International Book Buddies Project

The International Book Buddy Project, proposed by a Middletown, Connecticut middle school teacher in the fall of 2013, is a new program that pairs “reluctant” readers and writers at a middle school in Middletown with similar aged children in Deschapelles Haiti.  The overall concept is that children from each country read the same book in their native language.  They then begin a “conversation” about the book with a counterpart in the “sister city.”

The program in Deschapelles is spearheaded by a group of young men who bring culture, arts, sports and music to their “club” which consists of children of different ages.  Also involved are children from a program which provides scholarships to children who would not be able to attend school otherwise. The children ages 14-15 are the most interested in the Project.

Haitian children, no matter what the level, rarely have an opportunity to read books for pleasure.  They are familiar with many “stories” from a more oral tradition, but the idea of reading books for pleasure and contemplation is a new concept.

This is a unique project in that it will provide opportunities for real interaction between children in Middletown CT with children in Deschapelles Haiti.  The contrast between the two groups would add to the ensuing discussions.  The Haitian participants would be dedicated students, eager to study in school to advance their chances to be successful in the world.  Reading books for pleasure would open up a whole new world to them.  Writing about their reactions to the books would be a totally new experience.  In contrast, the teacher in the Middletown School is seeking to have her students read because there would be a reason to read and write about the books.  Both groups would have opportunities to learn about different cultures and with very different outlooks on life.

Cross Cultural Exchange: Update: Summer 2015

SCEH President Dan Taylor-Stypa sharing videos made by EES students

What is life like for children in Essex CT? And what is life like for children in Deschapelles Haiti? How can children learn from each other about their similarities and differences?

It was important to have given the directors of the schools the experience in using the tablets to video.  They understood the purpose of the exchange  and in learning about it had fun themselves.

Building on their “learning” about each other, the Essex students were successful in their ability to adapt to ways of conveying information about their school with a minimum of words.  Their videos of activities were shared with the schools in Haiti.  The two photographers helped the first school devise a plan of how to respond.  They followed the guide of what one puts in a back pack, a geometry lesson exercise done on a blackboard, one child speaking about himself and school and then recess or as they call it “recreation”   The children, both in Essex and Deschapelles learned that it was important to enunciate and project their voices.  The video link below, was created by Andrew Snyder, using selected clips of the different activities from both exchanges. The growth in understanding of both groups on how to better convey information is quite evident.  The ODES facilitators for the project did not ask for the most talented children to do the videos (which is often what happens in Haiti) but rather asked for volunteers for the different tasks.

It takes more time than one might think to make this actually happen: carrying tablets with videos in travelers’ luggage; sharing with the different classes; recording in the ambient noise atmosphere of schools in Haiti;  and then returning the new videos from Haiti back to Essex.  But it was well worth the effort as the children in Haiti and Essex now know a bit more about their simllarities and differences in their school lives, and they became creative in adapting to a format that was more successful.  In the fall of 2015 the 6th graders in Essex and Deschapelles will share information about different foods that are locally available and how they are purchased.

Tennis Update:

Kim Bergner, MD is a huge supporter of the SCEH tennis program at the Club Tennis Deschapelles (CTD) in Deschapelles, Haiti. She sponsors fundraisers and gathers donors for the program. Dr. Bergner created a website to share details of the history, operations, coaches, and players. Please click on the link here to explore more.

Sister Cities Essex Haiti
P.O. Box 26
Essex CT 06426
info@sistercitesessexhaiti.org

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