Patrick Eugene and Kurt Ferdinand, founders of Haiti's Hope, pose for a photo at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg on Thursday. Haiti's Hope provides information about the rural poor in Haiti in a non-government, non-partisan method. (Amanda Bowles/The News Leader)
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Haitian students give back, educate native country
Patrick Eugene and Kurt Ferdinand, founders of Haiti's Hope, pose for a photo at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg on Thursday. Haiti's Hope provides information about the rural poor in Haiti in a non-government, non-partisan method. (Amanda Bowles/The News Leader)
By Mindi Westhoff/staff • mwesthoff@newsleader.com • June 20, 2008 HARRISONBURG — For most kids, a broken arm means a hasty trip to the emergency room, usually no more than 15 minutes away. But where Patrick Eugene grew up in Saltadere, Haiti, going to the hospital meant traveling more than an hour, either by foot or on horseback, to get medical attention in the Dominican Republic.
Though his parents had jobs that always kept food on the table, Eugene and his four siblings were surrounded by poverty growing up. When he was just 17, Eugene decided to do something about the problems not only in his community, but in all of Haiti by starting the Haiti's Hope Foundation.
Many church and outreach groups come through Haiti, Eugene said, but most simply address the immediate problems of food and shelter rather than the greater issue of education.
"What do they do?" Eugene said. "Some of them give food, but they never take the time to send them to school."
For the past eight years, Eugene and other Haiti's Hope Foundation founders, like fellow Haitian Kurt Ferdinand, have provided seminars for hundreds of children and high school dropouts throughout Haiti.
Because jobs are so hard to come by in Eugene's hometown, many parents leave their children to travel to the Dominican Republic for work.
Since many are killed when trying to cross the border, Eugene said there are hundreds of children who simply wander the streets, unaware of the importance of an education.
Some educational seminars focused on finding and keeping a job in Haiti's poor economic climate, but others had to start with the basics.
"(Some) didn't even know how to sign their name," Eugene said.
Ferdinand and Eugene grew up just 25 miles away from each other, but they didn't meet until Eugene began studying computer science at Eastern Mennonite University two years ago. After finding out that his fellow student was also a fellow Haitian, Eugene told Ferdinand all about Haiti's Hope.
"When he told me about it, I fell in love with Haiti's Hope," Ferdinand said. "If I have opportunities to help Haiti children go to school, I have to do it."
Since they've been able to raise more funds in the past few years, the 200 members of Haiti's Hope have provided college scholarships for Haitians.
Eugene, Ferdinand and other Haitian students studying in the U.S. also give presentations on the state of Haiti and how Americans can help.
On Saturday, Ferdinand and Eugene wil discuss the educational and economic status of Haiti and how residents can sponsor students for between $29 and $250 a month.
Source: http://www.newsleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080620/NEWS01/806200328/1002