Our Haitian partners were hosted by the St. Columba Haitian Ministry of Oakland for a week stay getting to know the supporters of the Bruner Memorial Scholarship program for 100 children from the inner city of Port-Au-Prince. Click the picture to enlarge. To learn more about the scholarships click here.
Dear Friends,
Our much appreciated Haitian guests who are core team members for the Bruner Memorial Scholarships program arrived safely at San Francisco airport on Jan. 11. This program is in year 5 paying for 100 at-risk children from the inner city of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. It is named after the 2nd President of the Grand Ravine Community Human Rights Council who was brutally murdered because of his commitment to non-violent, non-partisan human rights advocacy.
It has made me wonder that it was difficult getting funding for this exchange which I believe is as worthy as projects that we all admire from GoFundMe and other crowd-funding programs. Here are two young Haitians who have dedicated their lives to helping their less fortunate community members–advocating, putting their lives on the line–for basic human rights. And we want them to know us as we are here, also volunteering for human rights but in much safer, healthier circumstances. Oh well, just my concern for equality.A couple of old time Hurah folks donated $500 to the overall cost of $2100. We’re still waiting for $240 from GoFundMe. The rest came from friends locally.
So our volunteer Haitian partners came and we enjoyed their input on the program. We held a celebration of these men and their compatriots and remembered the devastation of the earthquake in 2010. Our guests were able to meet with the Haitian Ministry group (above picture) which has sustained this program from the beginning. They also visited the Bay Area scenes–Zoo, hockey game, schools, mueums.
At this point mid-year for year #5 we are launching an all-out effort to recruit a stable 100 scholarships for the forseeable future. Anyone reading this who might want to help out, however little, or even to recruit people, please write Tom Luce, hhecoordinator@gmail.com. The scholarships are set at $250 which takes care of tuition as well as supplies including uniforms. The students are picked for being the most at-risk for ending in street life, indentured servitude, or sex slavery.
Sincerely,
Tom Luce
HURAH! 
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