This year the Race for the Children of Haiti is something very personal for Dorothy McCluskey.
Last year and the year before, she was unable to participate in the race locally because she was otherwise occupied. She was in Haiti as a missionary with OMS in the north of Haiti near Cap Haitien where she taught english as a second language. She knows how important the work that the Fergus HEARTS (Haitians Educated and Ready to Serve) group does, having seen firsthand the smiles of the children who are being fed and attending school.
More recently she was in Haiti at the end of August to meet with the pastors of the four schools that HEARTS supports.
HEARTS works with its Haitian partners in the delivery of food to an orphanage (Stella House) serving 40 children and the provision of education programs to upwards of 400 children in four schools, one of them accessible only by foot in the hills outside of Cap Haitien.
Were it not for the funding that is received from HEARTS, the majority of those children would not be attending primary school and would spend their time like so many children – without any hope for the future earning a few pennies to help their families buy a little food to survive.
Statistically, Haiti is a basket case, and is by far the most impoverished of the countries of the Western Hemisphere. Three in ten children die before the age of 10 from a variety of preventable diseases. Life expectancy is roughly 50 years for the average Haitian. The average annual wage in Haiti is less than $500. The incidence of unemployment is over 50 per cent. And, the majority go to bed each night hungry and suffering from malnutrition.
In a country of 9 million people, where half the population is under 16 and only half of the children of school age actually attend, the chances of finding a school to send a child to are not that great. While school attendance is compulsory, the government of Haiti lacks the resources to provide classroom space for all its children.
That is why private schools funded by groups like the HEARTS deliver the bulk of education programs in Haiti.
Even then, the majority of children attend on average for only three years and seldom get beyond primary school which ends with grade 6. Those attending high school which starts with grade 7, are very few and less than 10 per cent of those ever graduate.
HEARTS in addition to its support of the four primary schools, tries to do its part by providing six scholarships annually to young adults who wish to continue their education at the college or university level. McCluskey has been a part of the Race for Haiti 5km walk or run since its inception in 2003, and would welcome everyone’s participation.
Registration can be done in advance at St. Andrew’s Church in Fergus, at Grand River Running in the Fergus Marketplace, or on race day, Oct. 17, between 8am and 9am. The event begins behind James McQueen Public School at 9:30am and is followed by brunch, the awarding of medals in age categories, and draw prizes.
This will be the seventh annual event and the money raised has allowed for the continued operation of the orphanage and expansion of the school program to make Haiti once again the “Jewel of the Caribbean.”
