Gerson and Heather

My Life Was Changed
When I was born, my mother became a single parent of two boys. Although she was a hard working woman, her low level of education hindered from getting a job that could meet our needs. When both my brother and I reached the age to start school, she could not pay for either one of us to go. We had no choice but to stay at home. A few years later she was hired by a candy factory that paid her hardly enough to care for our basic needs. In spite of her low income, she decided to send my brother to a mission’s school that only required a small fee. I remember waking up in the morning to watch him leave for school, and wondered when it was going to be my turn. Every day, for two years, I looked forward to him coming home to share with me the new games or songs that he had learned in class. I was eight years old when I had a chance to walk in a classroom myself. With much joy, in October 1988, I walked through the gate of “Nisale Sagger.” As a kid back then, I anticipated the food, the excitement of playing with friends during recess, and the pride of wearing a school uniform, as education was a luxury to underprivileged children. As an adult today, I understand how my life has incredibly changed by having the opportunity to attend an educational institution. My brother and I were very fortunate to be two of the few underprivileged children that had a chance to receive an education.

Education, a Tool in God’s Hand
God has powerfully used school to shape my future. When I turned seventeen, I began to develop a passion to learn English. I started by reading every English book and listening to every tape that I could possibly find. At the age of nineteen, I enrolled in a two-year electrical program. Meanwhile I was going to high school, trade school, and learning English. On Christmas break of 1999, I had my first experience in working as an translator. After I graduated High school, I began to work part time as an interpreter for a mission in the Northwest province of Haiti. A year later, I was asked to work full-time with children who suffered from chronic malnutrition. With no medical training, I researched the internet where I came across effective treatments that prevented many of them from dying. After my electrical skill became known around the mission’s campus, I started to be called on for maintenance and troubleshooting of some of the equipment that was used to provide free health care to the population.

I am not writing to make the world know about my accomplishments. I am writing to emphasize the importance of education, which thousands of children in the Far West region are deprived of. Before I came to college in the US last year, I spent three months in a small village off the Far West cost, about ten miles from Port de Paix. By spending time with the children of that community, soon enough I came to realize what an asset some of them can be for the region if only a chance is given them just like it did to me. It is sad to know these children will live and die, and never have a chance to fulfill their destiny. I am also writing this as an encouragement to those who sponsor children across the world. As one whose elementary education was sponsored through a mission’s school, I understand how priceless every dime that was invested in my education is. The difference my sponsors made in my life and the lives of those I had the privilege to assist is enormous. I was just a typical underprivileged little boy like the thousands in the Far West and millions across the whole country. I am just a star fish that was thrown back into the ocean.

Education, a Tool for Evangelism
First things come first. Education is defined as “developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.” Education plays an important role in the overall function of humankind. Evangelism and community development become less effective where education is absent. If our ministry is going to conform to the great commission annunciated in Matthew 28:19 “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” we must indeed make disciples, not just converts. If we are going to fulfill this imperative among this people group, we have the responsibility to invest in the church leaders. The churches in the Far West area are lacking the most important elements that contribute to good discipleship. Most preachers there are incapable of reading and understanding the Bible well enough to teach it, and most congregations are intellectually unable to grasp the full meaning of Christianity. Christianity is often conceived as a set of rules that one has to follow in order to please God. Our ministry will put a lot of emphasis on the development of the powers of reasoning and judgment for discipleship ministry and community development.

Build a Legacy with Education
Our long term educational mission is to launch a training program for current ministers, and a strong academic program to prepare the children for the future. We will achieve our goal by developing an education center to teach church leaders how to read and write that will be followed by a training program in theology and Christian ministry. At the time of completion of this program, our leaders will be equipped with the basic knowledge of the word of God. This process will take at least five years. Three years of basic reading and math, and two years of ministry training. While we will be working on improving the preachers’ ability for a much greater impact on their communities, we will also institute a quality education system for the future generation. Therefore we are working on developing a strong academic program for children and young adults. First we want to build an elementary education system that will be different from most of the ones that we have encountered in the country. Most underprivileged students, if lucky enough to complete elementary school, still struggle to read and write. The problem lies in the education system as a whole. That is why our gaol is not to build schools alone, but to establish a good Christian education system that will propel our kids to became intelligent and credible servant leaders. In order to help our elementary graduates to continue with their education, a high school education system will also be made available to them. As our goal is to help the Far West region to become a self-sustained community, our academic program will include a college level of education. The ultimate goal of our educational program is to empower our students to drastically impact their community for Christ.

Our Immediate Plans
The first step in our educational plans in the Far West is to take a group in this summer to build the elementary school. We are currently in the process of buying a piece of land to build on. We want to get the school built this summer, and have it ready to open in September for the new school year. Our partner in this project is a native of the Far West who shares our vision and desire for community development in the area. He has experience in the field of education and will be overseeing the school once it is built. We are praying for God to provide the people and resources needed in this endeavor. We are very excited to see the ways He will work in this, and we hope He will use us to change these children’s lives.