Ray
Thank you all for having me here today. I am honored to have
worked with you these past few months, and I am privileged to call many of you
my friends. The reason I came to Haiti, the project that drew me to the La
Croix New Testament Mission, was the creation of a vocational school. This
school would teach all of you a trade, a skill that you could use to not only
find respectable employment, but to develop Haiti’s infrastructure and change
her future for the better.
The school started in November and it is doing very well. We
have five disciplines, sewing for seamstresses and sewing for tailors, masonry,
electrical, and welding. We have great teachers teaching, but there is one
thing we need to make the school really great. We need you. We need you to become
a part of it. All of you have demonstrated that you are intelligent and capable
students. We want to take the great potential you hold, the great promise you
all hold, and unlock it. We can do this through the vocational school.
At the vocational school you will learn not only a trade but
the best practices of that trade. You will learn how to implant true quality
into the work that you do. You will be able to build things that will stand
strong for years to come and help people live safer and more productive lives.
You will learn to build the strongest homes that have electricity in them. You
will learn to truly change people’s lives with what you create, erecting
structures that turn communities into groups of people working for each other’s
benefit.
You will learn in these classes the measures you need to
take in order to be safe. You will learn use practices that will not only keep
you from getting hurt on the job, but safe for those receiving your services.
You will learn to build things that are safe and don't collapse in the storms.
You will need to take the safety lessons seriously, and you will have to focus
on creating high quality products. This will not be easy, and you will have to
work hard. But if you work hard at this, if you really give this your all, you
will be able to create a great life for yourself and you will provide your
community with the tools needed to make a better life for everyone in it.
There are so many people around here who have made such a difference in the La Croix community with their trade. Gesner Phillipe was able to build a new school here, not only making a good income for himself, but he made a building that improved the lives thousands of students. Danielle the welder has is able to make gates for people, helping them keep their homes safer. The tailors and seamstresses can make dresses and suits that people will pay over 2000 GDS for. These men and women have improved their lives and the whole community. They have made people safer, healthier, and happier.
This is a great skill you will have and no one can take it
away from you. You can never lose this skill, you can only sharpen it the
harder you work. This is a skill that you can take anywhere. It is a skill that
will give you a good job in L’estere, in Brazil, in Gonaives, in the Dominican
Republic, in St. Marc, in the United States, or right here in La Croix. If you
work hard and finish from the school, you will be hired from the mission upon
your completion from the school. If you cannot afford the school we will find a
way for you to cover the tuition either by sponsorship or by working for the
mission after your completion. I will be back here in January, and I hope to
see all of you enrolled in these classes when I come back.
Thank you so much. I will keep you in my prayers and I hope
to see you all learning a trade in January when I return!
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