Access to education
Education is far from universal in Haiti. Most schools are private and even the ones that are public are not free, Lanni said.
“There is no free public education in Haiti,” she said. Consequently only 50 percent of children in Haiti can go to school. In Haiti most teachers are not even paid, Lanni said.
Only 10 percent of schools are public, and at these schools, kids often sit three to four to a desk in classes with 100 kids, she added. Most kids are educated at tiny private schools, she said.
“Someone running a school in a church is the only option for children living in the mountains,” Lanni said
Lanni noted how a lack of supplies is far more glaring than even the poorest U.S. school districts in struggling inner-city areas and parts of the rural south. Books are rare, even in well-funded schools.
“Going to a school with no lighting, air conditioning, no gym, no floor, no lunch program, and not even a library or restrooms puts what we complain about in the U.S. into perspective,” she said.
Teaching is also lot different than it is in the U.S.
“There is a lot of memorization and copying information and reciting it back to the teacher,” she said. “Teachers are trained in the U.S. to use different strategies for different students. There is no kind of training like that down here.”
For village kids who are able to go to high school, it’s an hour-long walk each way.
Three of the children in Lanni’s English class are orphans, and their lives are a remarkable tale of survival and resiliency.
One boy in her class witnessed his mother’s murder. She was burned to death.
“Despite all of this tragedy in their life they are very loving children,” she said. “It’s been a real privilege to get to know them.”
Help from her friends
Lanni’s fellow Saugerties High School teachers and her students have embraced the cause.
For many years, Saugerties High School eleventh grade math teacher Michelle Milgrim has pitched into help Lanni. Now as a junior class advisor, she makes helping The World is One Place a key part of her effort to get teens to think outside of what she calls the “me-focused bubble.”
The junior class soon embraced the cause.
“The junior class has done a fundraiser to raise money for two chalkboards, a class set of rulers, a class set of protractors, teacher plan books, chalk, and other office supplies,” she said.
She noted that the Saugerties High School Key Club and senior class are also raising money for the school.
She says perhaps the most powerful impression on her students is seeing that someone from Saugerties has gone on to do something amazing in such a faraway place.
“No matter where you come from, you can go and do amazing things for other people,” she said. “That’s what we’re trying to get through to these kids.”
Milgrim hopes to put together a Skype conference in which her students could communicate with the children in Haiti.
“I hope that would impress on them,” she said, “what a wonderful thing [Lanni] did.”
Saugerties High School science teacher Michael Cooper has also joined Lanni’s cause, helping out since the charity’s inception. He designed its new website.
A Saugerties lifer, Cooper has known Lanni since he had her as a teacher during his time as a student at SHS. He simply calls her an “inspiration.”
“Nancy is one of those people who is committed to improving the world around her, whether it be in the Hudson Valley, or thousands of miles away in Haiti,” Cooper said.
As for why he got involved, Cooper says charity embodies the very purpose of teaching. “To secure education by building a school, contributing to teacher salaries, and improving sanitation for this Haitian community, contributions to The World is One Place are providing the children of Bwa Chandel with opportunities never afforded to their parents,” he said.“Education leads to progress, which benefits us all no matter where in the world it takes place.”
He loves that the World is One Place is a truly grassroots organization supported by the people of the Hudson Valley, and he is proud of what sets it apart from the mega-charities we see on TV.
“The World is One Place is a unique charity in that every dollar truly makes a difference,” he said.“We do not rent an office, we do not have paid staff, and the money received in donations is directly applied to our efforts in Haiti.”
Cooper is satisfied to see the entire chain, beginning with community members’ generosity to Lanni’s work on the ground, to the improved infrastructure of the community to the smiling faces of the children.
“It is a remarkable process to witness, and I am so lucky to be a small part of it,” he said.
To contribute, visit www.theworldisoneplace.org.
As for what’s next for Lanni after the school is complete, she says she’s too busy to think that far into the future.
Someday Lanni hopes to invite the teachers from Bwa Chandel so they can observe U.S. teachers to see how things are done here.
“I can’t just build them a school and then forget about them,” she said.
