When they began chipping in, adding their quarters to the proverbial pot, students in Slave Lake knew that tropical storms had destroyed many - make that most -- of the schools in Haiti. They knew that thousands of youngsters like themselves faced a grim future -- and only limited education -- without help from the outside world, from students like themselves.
But students at Lakeside Outreach School were shocked to learn that students in Haiti are up against far more than bad weather and a sometimes-cranky Mother Nature.
When he heard of the country’s plight and the impending visit of a student from Haiti, Justin Twinn began searching for more information on the internet. And when he was done he created a power point presentation to share with his classmates. And he offered to demonstrate when Haitian visitors stopped by the school last month.
But students were shocked when as Twinn flipped through the images, Haitian coach Bobby Duval stopped him from time to time to point out individuals who’d been murdered in recent weeks and months. Others, he said, have been kidnapped.
There is serious unrest in the country, he said.
The unemployment rate bounces between 75 and 80 per cent, he said, and “people are sick and tired of having nothing,” Duval told students in his presentation at the Outreach school. And that’s partly why Haiti has become a seriously destitute and war torn, he said. It’s a place where 125 children in 1,000 die before their first birthday, the worst in the western hemisphere. The average life span is 57years
With Duval was 13-year-old Kedtia Sairtillus. She’s the first Haitian student to benefit from Slave Lake students’ generosity. Thanks to their decision to rise to grandmother Mikky Locke’s challenge to contribute 25 cents each, her school tuition will be paid this fall. And thanks to a plan by Haitian rap star Wyclef Jean and others like Bobby Duval, Kedtia and her teacher Nadia Zephirin were able to take part in an aboriginal sport development conference in Calgary last month, and continue on to Slave Lake to meet the people who will allow her to attend a better school this year.
“I wanted to see other countries, to see how other people live,” Kedtia said when asked why she wanted to travel to Canada, and to take part in an indigenous conference in sport development in Calgary. But more than joining with other athletes to learn about sport development, the young soccer enthusiast was happy to discover a country where “people work together to keep their country clean, and there’s no fighting,” said Duval, translating for her.
Kedtia is from the worst slum in Port-au-Prince, and has been going to school since she was four years old. But she’s especially appreciative of the chance the Canadian dollars will afford her to go to a school “where I can learn French and where they teach you good things.” She looks forward to going to a school where classmates won’t laugh at her when she asks questions, Duval continued.
Currently she studies geography, science, history, and a civic education class called ‘I love Haiti’ that teaches students basic hygiene and gives instruction on dealing with people. She said things are ‘much different’ in this country. From visiting just three schools one Monday morning, she could tell that students in Slave Lake are “much more developed in their knowledge,” said Duval. “It’s the way they talk, the way they write.” He said the teenager had watched closely as she walked through four Slave Lake schools and visited classrooms. Offering a closer look at the realities of his homeland, he told students that there one million students in Haiti, and only three playgrounds.”
Born in Haiti, Duval was educated in Puerto Rico.and earned a degree from the Concordia University in Montreal.He was going to school in Boston, and traveled to Canada for a weekend.
He fell in love with the country, “and told my dad to send the cheque here.”
A soccer player for many years, he was part of a championship team when he was at university.
“I was a national champ in Canada and when I went back (to Haiti) I got arrested” and thrown in jail for no real reason, he added. Years later he was among many whose release was brokered by (former US president) Jimmy Carter and Andrew Young.
Still, Duval refused to turn his back on his homeland. Neither would he go into exile. Instead, with the help and support of friends he started a giant sports program for some of the poorest children of Haiti. Noting that 900,000 students in the city of Port-au- Prince alone attend schools with no facilities to meet their physical education needs - even though the government insists that’s included in the children’s education.
Creating what would become L’Athletique d’Haiti on 10,000 square feet of borrowed land, he developed a program that teaches boys and girls between the ages of seven and 20 years the fundamentals and skills of soccer, basketball, volleyball as well as track and field. The same program that insists participants are enrolled in school also provides them with a hot meal every day.
Duval later teamed up with Haitian hip-hop star Wyclef Jean, who late last year announced a program to help get more Haitian children back to school. The idea won the support of Canadian consultant Hugh Locke who has been doing some work in Haiti, and Hugh’s mother Mikky who invited students in this province to get involved.
The project quickly caught on, and raised $1,399.49 in Slave Lake. It's enough to pay tuition for nearly 20 students this fall.

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