Why Phanuel Really Needs Our Support

1. He Lives in Haiti
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The journals of foreign policy refer to Haiti as one of the world's failed states. Its poverty is unimaginable. Consider the Bateyes in the Dominican Republic: Haitians are practically slaves there - but Haiti is so poor they prefer this labour, mistreatment and poverty instead. Phanuel is in a fortunate position for his demographic because he has been accepted to university. Education = Hope and Opportunity.

2. The High Transportation Costs
This is one of the reasons so few children in Haiti go to school: it's very expensive to get to one. They can't afford public transportation (which in many cases is an old pick-up truck or van). This is why many of those who are in school walk barefoot for three hours to get there. Joining a class filled with about sixty students, every day one or two of these students faints from walking such long distances on an empty stomach.

3. Everything Costs Money When You Have Little
When you have almost nothing, everything is an expense. For example: As a student, you start with no supplies as everything must be purchased: every pen and pencil, every sheet of paper you use ( there's no package in your office desk or in the photocopy room). Again, as a student working on an essay, you make an error and need whiteout - but since the cost of living in Haiti is extremely high and you don't have whiteout, you must buy it for a few American dollars. As a student, essays must be handed in electronically - but working at the Internet cafe becomes expensive. In North America, university books are enormously expensive - in the Developing World they are almost impossible to purchase. With no spending-money, you would be stuck when you have to buy an academic article, or pay a fellow student to borrow his book for a night, or to photocopy a page or two. These are only some examples.

Why Catholic High Schools Would Make This Their Project

Often, Catholic schools fundraise for the same causes as public schools. But Catholic high schools in theory stand for something else: the Gospel. Other causes are charities are important - but they get a great deal of support from the general public. Causes like Phanuel’s, which are motivated by the Gospel, do not get the same breadth of support (E.g. Schools all across the country raise money for Terry Fox Foundation annually).

Perhaps Catholic schools could make more of an effort to support Gospel-motivated causes. (For example each year many Catholic high schools give their Fashion Show money to a local hospital; but if they decided to switch their fashion show to Phanuel for a few years they would produce a rare university graduate, and hope for an entire community in an impoverished country).