Haiti Partners

05/28/2026

We invite you to read another of Co-Director, John Engle's, short writings. This one is entitled "Learning Unknowing - Belief at the edge of mystery," and details some of his earliest experiences upon just arriving in Haiti in 1991. Here's an excerpt:

~~~
.. The mountains rise spectacularly from the coast, lush and dramatic, cascading down toward beaches of white sand and turquoise Caribbean water so clear it seems lit from within. The plains spread wide and green. Port-au-Prince itself holds surprising architectural beauty. The famous gingerbread houses, ornate Victorian structures built by Haitian craftsmen in the late 1800s, their fretwork and turrets somehow still standing amid the chaos of the city. The streets pulse with color, with music, with the smell of street food and the sound of Haitian Creole rising and falling like song.

Haiti is a place of stunning, almost defiant beauty. And in much of its urban landscape, that beauty is increasingly smothered by poverty, by plastic waste, by crumbling infrastructure, by the accumulated weight of generations of extraction and misrule.

Christine and I were learning, from those very first days, to hold both at once. The magnificence and the suffering. The laughter and the grief. The extraordinary resilience of a people and the extraordinary weight they carried.

This is Haiti...

VIEW FULL POST: https://englejohn.substack.com/p/learning-unknowing

05/21/2026

🇭🇹 Chapo ba zanmi nou nan IMN! (Hats off to our friends at IMN!)

This past Monday, May 18, Haiti celebrated Flag Day. Even amid difficult times, the students and staff at our Partner School, IMN Community School, brought incredible joy and energy to the streets. Dressed in the national colors, they marched, danced, and performed live music to showcase their deep Haitian pride.

IMN stands out because of its amazing dedication to the arts—every single student learns an instrument as part of their education, making vibrant celebrations like this possible!

We are so grateful to partner with such resilient, passionate educators who recognize how vital music and art are for youth development. Thank you for being a beacon of hope! ✨

05/18/2026

Happy Haitian Flag Day from The Children's Academy!

05/18/2026

🇭🇹 Happy Haitian Flag Day! 🇭🇹

Haitian Flag Day is more than a celebration of our flag.
It is a celebration of resistance, dignity, courage, and freedom for all oppressed people. It honors the legacy of our ancestors, who united to create the world’s first free Black republic.

May 18 reminds us of the power of unity, women and men standing together to build a freer and more just world. Together, we can.

Deep respect and gratitude to Dessalines, Catherine Flon, Sanité Bélair, Henri Christophe, and all the ancestors who paved the way.

Let us continue to raise the flag with pride — through our language, our culture, our work, and our love for Ayiti and its children. 💙❤️

At Haiti Partners, we believe education rooted in dignity and community continues this legacy every day. Happy Haitian Flag Day from The Children’s Academy!

05/12/2026

We invite you to read another of Co-Director, John Engle's, short pieces. This one is entitled "Study Culture." Here's an excerpt:

~~~

Allain reached for a small tree branch and stripped off the leaves with practiced ease. He grinned as he handed it to his six-year-old twin sons.

“If there is going to be education,” he said, “there has to be punishment.”

Jude and Nichola giggled with delight. The idea of children correcting the Haitian Creole of an adult white man with a whip was more than silly. They recognized the gesture. In schools throughout Haiti, branches, belts, and paddles were commonly used to punish misbehavior and even wrong answers. But them whipping me? The reversal made it funny.

Allain wasn’t being cruel. His humor exposed the strangeness of applying what was normal in school to this moment, an adult learning from children.

In that moment, I learned a lesson I would spend years trying to understand: culture teaches long before we ask questions, and often long before we notice the lessons being passed on.

The Invisible Force Shaping Behavior, Meaning, and Our Capacity to Adapt

05/10/2026

Today we celebrate all the moms in Haiti, the US, and everywhere who do so much to provide the best lives they can for their children, families, and communities. Thank You Moms! / Mèsi Manman! ❤☺️🎉

05/07/2026

This image is of two of our Children's Academy teachers, Jerry and Roudy, holding an original drawing of Haiti's "father of Haitian letters," Frankétienne. The drawing was created by our art teacher, Berley, together with his students.

If you look closely in the drawing there is a scroll with a famous Frankétienne quote: "I write not to make people sleep, but instead to awaken their soul and conscience."

Frankétienne is a monumental figure in Haitian culture, celebrated for creating "Spiralism," a style that reflects the beautiful and chaotic complexity of life through experimental writing and art. Across his long career, he used his voice and vibrant paintings to fearlessly represent the Haitian people's struggles and resilient cultural identity.

Among those inspired by Frankétienne is our Co-Director, Merline Engle. Last year, after his death, she penned a poem about him: haitipartners.org/general/remembering-franketienne

A vital part of the education we aim to provide is to encourage students to be proud of their heritage and culture. Celebrating Frankétienne like this is just one small way we accomplish this at The Children's Academy.

05/05/2026

On May 1st, we recognized AGRICULTURE & LABOR DAY in Haiti by hosting an AGRICULTURE, BOOK, & CULTURAL FAIR. To extend the impact to the broader school community, we welcomed students and parents from three neighboring schools to participate in the celebration. The event showcased the core pillars of our school-based community development model:

- SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE: The fair featured a massive harvest from our permaculture gardens and local family gardens. Fresh produce was prepared and shared, and surplus was made available to parents. To support ongoing reforestation efforts, our school nursery distributed saplings to students and families to plant at home.
- LITERACY AND EDUCATION: Academic excellence remains our priority. Our teachers curated a wide selection of books for display and distribution, emphasizing the importance of reading to a quality education.
- CULTURAL HERITAGE: We highlighted local craftsmanship through a display of traditional handwoven bags, hats, sandals, and instruments. Celebrating these handicrafts fosters a deep appreciation for Haitian identity and craftmanship.

At The Children’s Academy, we believe that sustainable agriculture, literacy, and cultural pride are essential to a holistic education. These elements are foundational to our efforts to equip students to become Haiti's future leaders.

Thank you for your continued support in helping Haitians change Haiti through education.

04/30/2026

We're happy, once again, to share with you our "Stories of Change" page. Here you'll find short stories and videos through which you can easily get to know the people we work with in Haiti, our partners and colleagues, and learn how their lives are being changed by the work your support makes possible each day.

We hope you enjoy and thank you!

View stories and videos showcasing the change that your support makes possible.

04/28/2026

Once again, we invite you to read Co-Director, John Engle's, latest short piece on Substack. It's entitled "The Meek." Here's an excerpt:

~~~

If someone were to say that the story of Jesus Christ isn’t literally true in every detail, or even at all… it still leaves us with something extraordinary.

That humanity, at its best, has been deeply moved by the idea of a powerful being choosing humility. Choosing compassion. Choosing to love. Choosing to forgive — even in the face of suffering and death.

What’s captivated and inspired so many is not a hero who dominates. It’s a hero who serves. Who suffers. Who loves.

What does that say about us? What does it reveal about what we most deeply long for?

Maybe the teaching about the meek is less about describing the world as it is, and more about revealing the world we know — deep down — must be possible. A world where people like Joseph don’t have to worry about being crushed by unjust systems. A world where strength is measured by restraint. Where power is guided by love. Where dignity is not fragile...

"The meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace." — Psalm 37, attributed to King David "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." — Jesus, Sermon on the Mount