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Last Friday afternoon a conference room at LES (Lennoxville Elementary School) was surprisingly quiet as 41 students focused all their energy into sewing felt Haitian and Canadian flags onto t-shirts that will be sent to children in Haiti.
The grade three LES class has formed a bond with 42 pen pals in a public school in Cap-Haïtien, a city on the north coast of Haiti, as the result of a class project organised earlier in the year. 
PHOTO: CORRINNA POLE Three of the 41 LES grade three students - (L-R) Draven, Alyson and Desiree - proudly displaying personalised journals that will accompany several other custom-made class projects to a grade four class in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti.
Although Cap-Haïtien was not hit as badly as Port-au-Prince, it didn’t stop local students from worrying about their “friends” as news of the quake spread around the world.
“When my parents told me (about the quake) I couldn’t talk about it, I was too worried,” said one student named Alyson.
“Then we found out they are more on the north end of Haiti so it wasn’t so bad,” continued her friend Desiree.
“And we knew all our pen pals are ok,” added Alyson.
According to teachers Isabelle Desbiens and Bonita Juby-Smith, the pen pal project was part of much larger activity that would have the children create a book with a working title “Shades of Us” later in the school year. It was aimed at cultivating their French language skills, written skills and their understanding of different cultures.
Desbiens, who worked in Haiti for three years, said her class has become very attached to their Haitian friends even though they have not yet received a response from their first letters, sent through postal mail.
“I had to come in and explain to them (after the earthquake) where their pen pals were and what has happened,” said Desbiens. “I’m sure they will never forget that day, where they were and what happened, and they were so generous.”
“They came flooding down the hall and one child said right away we can do a fundraiser,” said Juby-Smith. “There’s no question they know it’s not ok what is happening down there and they are talking about it.”
The school ended up declaring last Friday as “Haiti Donations” Day and children were invited to wear the predominantly red and royal blue colours of the Haitian flag and make a small donation that would be forwarded to the Canadian Red Cross Haitian Relief Fund.
One grade three student, Draven, told The Record that she gladly gave up her lunch and snack money right away.
“I am lucky I can get treats but they don’t have much right now,” explained Draven. “I can go without my snack money and give it to them.”
Along with the t-shirts, Desbiens filmed a video with the children sending greetings to their friends, reciting the “peach pledge” and standing for the Haitian national anthem.
The recent tragedy has opened up many other subjects among the children, taught them unexpected lessons in areas such as empathy, and has acted as a motivator for them to improve in other subjects.
Smith also furnished the class with little notebooks for a proactive project. The LES class decorated the covers specifically for their designated pen pals and included personalized messages in French.
“It was amazing,” said Desbiens. “I hardly had to do any correcting, they knew what they wanted to write and just went at it. Not many of them asked me how to spell this word or that. The ones that usually have trouble in French even did really well writing their messages.”
The children also wrote short texts, in both languages, about what hope means. Desbiens gave The Record permission to share a few of the children’s expressions.
“Hope is to remember those who died and to let their soul into your heart,” wrote Amanda.
”Hope is wishing for a miracle to happen for Haiti,” wrote Bradley.
“Hope is courage we give to Haiti. Hope is energy we give to Haiti,” wrote Sam.
Once commercial flights resume, Desbiens’ husband, who is originally from Haiti, will deliver the t-shirts, video, friendship bracelets the children will soon be making, pencils, personalized journals, and texts to the grade four class attending the public school in Cap-Haïtien. By Corrinna Pole 2010-01-26 |
Montreal Canadiens
