A Novel Travel Adventure

Fondwa: A Model of Rural Community Development

The Peasant Association of Fondwa (APF) is offering a unique travel experience for those interested in learning firsthand about rural community development in the countryside of Haiti. Fondwa: A Model of Rural Community Development is a program designed to give people a chance to visit the community of Fondwa, see what the results of development are in this community and their prospects for the future, and actively participate in seminars and activities with the people of Fondwa. The program will give the participants the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of what community and development mean in the hands of the people and to experience the struggle of the rural poor against poverty.

Why Fondwa?

Fondwa is a small community village in the western province of Haiti: Before 1988, there was no basic infrastructure in the area: the people had no access to roads, drinkable water, health care, education, telephones, electricity or technical assistanc'e'f6r agricultural activities. Although the people of Fondwa paid taxes, they did not receive any services from the government. In response to the isolation and lack of assistance, the people of Fondwa and their neighbors took action and created a project of integrated rural development. In April of 1988 the peasants organized themselves and founded the Peasant Association of Fondwa (APF).

Since its emergence in 1988, APF has succeeded in pro4iding the community of Fondwa and its six surrounding communities with the following: accessible water, a health clinic, a primary and secondary school, adult literacy classes, a road, reforestation and soil conservation projects, a community store, a grain storage silo, a community radio, savings and loans service and a guest center for outside visitors. APF's primary goal is to empower the people to assume responsibility for their own lives. As Fondwa moves forward, APF is looking towards the future by shifting its focus to building a sustainable, community-based economy in the area. Through a partnership between APF, the government of Cuba, and Fonkoze, Haiti's alternative bank for the organized poor, a number of small businesses are being launched: a poultry farm, a cooperative pig venture and meat processing plant, a bakery and a chair-making center.

Sample Program In Haiti (based on a 5-night program)

Day I - Visit Port-au-Prince. In Port-au-Prince you will have the opportunity to explore different facets of the capital city of what was once the richest colony in the world. Overview of the struggle of the organized poor for democracy.

Day 2 - Arrive in Fondwa. Welcome and orientation at the community center and tour of Fondwa. Overview of the history of Fondwa and the achievements of APF. Evening cultural activity with the Fondwa Contredance Group, a traditional folkloric dance group.

Day 3 to Day 5 - Program Activities. Each day will have a topic of focus, and the work activities, visits and seminars will be planned according to the day's topic.

Day 6 - Return to Port-au-Prince. Transport to airport and flight home.

SEMINARS will focus on these various topics: strategies for sustainable economic development; reforestation and environmental renewal; tropical medicine, rural community health, and the use of medicinal plants; empowering children economically to finance their education; community health care and food and nutrition; and education for liberation.

WORK ACTIVITIES may include: planting of various foods, plant trees or work in a nursery;

work with the cooks and learn to prepare a Haitian meal; work in the clinic preparing dosages of

medicines; help to feed and care for the pigs and chickens; work alongside a peasant family in

their fields; work with carpenters in making chairs. i

VISITS in Fondwa will give you the opportunity to see the varied projects, accomplishments and struggles of APF: the captured water source; community radio station; clinic and pharmacy; guest center; credit union; grain storage silo; the reforestation nurseries; the hen house; the school students' pig project; Fatima House Orphanage.

OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES: The group will be able to select further activities from among the following possibilities, depending on length of stay, interest and time of year: local nature hikes, observe a literacy class, visit a cock fight, visit the local market of Tombe Gateau, the Jean Gareau Library, a local coffee factory, play soccer or other sports with the students, tour a small vetiver oil factory in Okay, a day at the beach in Jacmel; spend a night in the home of a Haitian peasant family.

COST OF THE PROGRAM:

The cost of the program is $500 per person for a 5-day progran-4 and $800 per person for a 8-day program. The program is open to groups of 5 to 15 people. Included in the package is: accommodations in Port-au-Prince and Fondwa, transportation to and from Fondwa, airport service, 3 meals per day, translation, informational materials, seminars/classes, recreational and educational activities. We are open to proposals for other lengths of stay or activities.

For more information, please contact Sonia Lee at 011-509-21-76-31 or ahasting@acn.com

Publication of Nouvel Fonkoze

"Join Us . . . Not Because We Are Weak, But Because We Are Strong"

In a year of continued political uncertainty and economic hardship, I am pleased to report that Fonkoze

Haiti's Alternative Bank for the Organized Poor - remains a concrete sign of hope and stability in Haiti. Fonkoze not only continues to be a leader in grassroots economic development, it has now made a measured difference in the lives of more than 5,000 families.

Our growth has been phenomenal - a result not only of the work and vision of the poor in Haiti, but also of the support of committed private individuals -and organizations worldwide. Now, with almost 650 member organizations, Fonkoze has opened more than 5000 savings accounts with over $650,000 in total deposits, has extended almost 900 loans for over $850,000, has invested in 14 regional economic development projects for almost $250,000, and has opened 16 offices in various regions of Haiti, including all 9 Departments of the country.

Today Fonkoze is providing the poor in every region of Haiti with essential banking services - including a multi-faceted program of savings, continuing access to credit, competitive rates on currency exchange, and a speedy and secure money transfer system. Not content to ,stop there, Fonkoze also accepts the responsibility of ensuring that its clients have access to the literacy and business skills necessary to their economic success. In 1998 alone, over 1,200 of our borrowers benefited from our literacy and business skills program.

Finally, we are especially pleased to announce that Fonkoze, in partnership with one of our founding members The Peasant Association of Fondwa and the Government of Cuba, has embarked on a multi-year effort to create, in the peasant village of Fondwa, a model of sustainable economic development. For Fonkoze, this project will allow us to show our other member organizations how Fonkoze can work with them to create an economy in their communities that is not only robust, but is also sustainable - i.e., that does not threaten future resources in order to respond to the needs of today and that relies as much as possible on local resources and markets.

So please, celebrate our success with us, because our partnership has helped to make it possible. Together we have built the only financial institution in Haiti owned and operated by the poor, located in every region of Haiti, and on a path of financial self-sustainability. If you are reading about Fonkoze for the first time, I ask that you unite with us in this endeavor. Join us, not because we are weak, but because we are strong.

Joseph Philippe, CSSp

Coordinator, Fonkoze

FONKOZE USA Builds Bridges Between People from the Richest Country of the World and those from the Poorest Country in the Western Hemisphere

Fonkoze USA can boast an incredibly successful second year. In addition to "spreading the word" in the U.S. about the grassroots economic struggle in Haiti, Fonkoze USA and its supporters made grants to benefit Fonkoze's activities in the amount of $78,000, and loans to increase the size of Fonkoze's loan fund in the amount of $500,000.

This support from the U.S. was instrumental to the progress made by Fonkoze Haiti in 1998. Until Fonkoze reaches self-sustainability, donations are necessary to help fund administrative costs not yet covered by Fonkoze's income realized on financial activities. Last year, donated funds from the U.S. supported important Fonkoze programs like the Literacy and Business Training Program and branch office expansion all over the countryside.

Most importantly, U.S. investors - organizations and individuals - provided a significant portion of the funds from which Fonkoze makes loans to member organizations and solidarity groups of women street vendors.

By investing a portion of their savings, Fonkoze USA investors are forging an important partnership with Haiti's poor. These investments provide the credit necessary for small business expansion, an important component to grass-roots economic recovery in Haiti, and to improving the day-to-day lives of many of the organized poor. After a specified period of time, loan funds are returned with a small amount of interest to Fonkoze USA Investors.

Finally, Fonkoze USA welcomed two new staff members in 1998. Maryann Boord, Fonkoze USA Investment Manager, handles oversight of Fonkoze USA investment and loan processes, while maintaining contact with Investors. Emilio Dorcely is the Director of Fonkoze USA's new office in the New York City area. Emilio will be strengthening Fonkoze ties in the New York area and will be joining Leigh Carter, Fonkoze USA's Executive Director, in raising the funds necessary to meet projected goals for 1999.

Fonkoze's Literacy/Business Skills Training Program Translates Into Business Success For The Poor

A bout 80% of Fonkoze's borrowers are illiterate - often to such an extent that they cannot even sign their names to their loan agreement with Fonkoze. Over the past year, Fonkoze has directly linked its micro-credit program for Ti Machann (women street vendors), with its successfully tested Adult Literacy and Business Skills Training Program.

Currently, any Ti Machann who has received a loan from Fonkoze who cannot read and write is given the right to participate in the program for 4 months at no charge to herself. In fact, she is required to complete at least 2 months of the program before receiving her second loan. Every Ti Machann who already knows how to read and write is eligible to receive training to become a teacher in the program. If she successfully completes the training and becomes a trainer, she is paid a small stipend. By the end of 1998,84% of all our program trainers were themselves Ti Machann.

The shift in the program came as a result of the mounting evidence that the key to a successful micro-business is training in literacy, computation, and business skills. It is clear, first, that micro-businesses have a better chance of succeeding if the owner can read and write, make simple computations, and knows some of the basics of business development. Second, it is equally clear that high loan repayment rates are dependent on a successful business.

Fonkoze's Adult Literacy and Business Skills Program now helps the Ti Machann to strengthen their businesses, which in turn helps them to repay their loans. At the same time, continuing access to literacy and business skills training has become a principal incentive to maintaining one's membership with Fonkoze.

This past year, 675 Ti Machann in 87 different Literacy Centers throughout the country completed the full 4-month training program; another 684 completed their first two months of training and entered the second two months. For both groups, fully 86% of all participants successfully graduated from the program. The cost to our donors? – less than $20 per program participant.

Now that the program has been fully tested over a two-year period, Fonkoze will open this training to all Ti Machann eligible to participate. In 1999, plans are to open 300 Literacy Centers in every region of the country, and to reach more than 5,000 people, offering the tools they need to run successful businesses and to improve their own lives.

A Model For The Future - The Fondwa Sustainable Economic Development Project

Fonkoze has joined with one of its founding members - the Peasant Association of Fondwa - and the Government of Cuba to develop in Fondwa, a mountainous peasant village north of Jakmel, a model of sustainable economic development. Here, in an interview with Anne Hastings, Fonkoze Director of Projects, she explains why Fonkoze is so enthusiastic about this project.

Q' . What exactly is the Fondwa Sustainable Economic Development Project?

A: This is Fonkoze's most innovative economic development initiative since its creation almost five years ago. It has a single purpose: to develop in Fondwa over the next 10 years a model of rural sustainable economic development in harmony with Haitian peasant culture. As a model, Fondwa will be a resource of ideas, examples, and information for other Fonkoze members and for the entire developing world. As a sustainable community, it will be financially and economically viable and able to supply its environmental and human resources from within or nearby the Fondwa community. It will support a healthy community and a healthy environment. To be in harmony with Haitian peasant culture means that the community will reflect the deepest values and aspirations of its residents.

Q: Where and what is Fondwa?

A: Fondwa is a small peasant village of about 7,000 people. It is in a rural mountainous region of Haiti between Leogan and Jakmel. Before 1988, there was literally no infrastructure in the area: the people had no access to roads, drinkable water, health care, education, telephones, electricity, or technical assistance for agricultural activities. Although the people of Fondwa paid taxes, they received no services from the government. In response to the isolation and lack of assistance, the people of Fondwa and their neighbors took action to organize themselves. In 1988, they founded the Peasant Association of Fondwa (APF) and immediately began to define a project of integrated rural development.

Since its founding, the members of APF have succeeded in providing the community of Fondwa and six neighboring communities with the following: access to water, a health clinic, a primary and secondary school, adult literacy classes, a road, reforestation and soil conservation projects, a community store, a grain storage silo, a community radio, a small credit union, and a community center. In short, they have put in place, through their own efforts, the basic infrastructure necessary for a community to survive.

Q: What role will Fonkoze play in this project?

A: Fonkoze's role is to coordinate the financing of the project and provide business expertise and oversight. Already Fonkoze has provided the capital, in the form a 10-year loan, that is being used to finance the start-up costs for several businesses, including (a) a pig raising business (b) a chicken farming business (c) a wholesale bakery (d) a restaurant and (e) an educational program for international visitors in rural sustainable development.

In addition, Fonkoze purchased the property and financed the remodeling of the building that is home to the APF/Fonkoze Commercial center for Ti Machann. The Center, which operates like a shopping center, includes a Fonkoze bank, a wholesale store for Ti Machann, the APF restaurant, and the APF wholesale bakery. Rents form these businesses allow for repaying Fonkoze's cost of funds and the costs of operating the Center. APF is free to buy the entire property from Fonkoze at any time at a price equal to what Fonkoze paid, less any paid-off principal.

Q: Why is the government of Cuba involved in this project?

A: The government of Cuba - specifically the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Science, Technology, and the Environment - has agreed to provide expert assistance in the technologies of sustainable development. For many years before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuban scientists and technology experts began knocking on the government's door to tell them of their discoveries in organic agriculture, alternative renewable energy sources, energetic forests, and new methods of soil conservation. The government, however, was not interested in listening to the scientists because the Soviet Union was helping to support a single-crop (sugar cane), mechanized agricultural system dependent on imports of fuel, technology, and chemical fertilizers and insecticides.

The government dramatically changed its orientation following the collapse of the relationship with the Soviet Union, the loss of Cuba's ability to import many items, the loss of essential external markets for their sugar cane, and the difficulties imposed by the U.S. economic and trade embargo. Suddenly, the government realized that perhaps what the scientists and technology experts had been trying to tell them could provide a way out of their economic dilemma.

Since that time, Cuba has made tremendous strides in implementing sustainable economic development in their country. In fact, Cuba has been called the first sustainable economy for the 21^st century. Not just solar power, but also wind power, hydroelectric power, and biogas, are common sources of energy in Cuba. Virtually the entire agricultural system is organic, and the development of biological fertilizers and insecticides has reached new proportions. Cuba has developed new breeds of both chickens and pigs, as well as new sources of food for ensuring their health and their rapid development. Energetic forests are common now in Cuba, which 20 years ago was heavily deforested.

These developments have rendered Cuba uniquely qualified to provide Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, with exactly the type of technical assistance that can make Fondwa's Rural Sustainable Development Project a success.

Cuba is interested in participating in the project because it represents for them an opportunity to show the rest of the Caribbean and the Third World what it has learned about sustainable development over these last difficult years. Cuba is unable to provide financial assistance to other parts of the world, but it is uniquely able to share the technologies and techniques it has developed.

Q: At what stage is the project at this time (March 1999)?

A: The Commercial Center is now fully operational. The restaurant serves the many travelers on the busy road to Jakm6l and local residents from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The bakery sells bread to the Ti Machann in the entire zone between Leogan and Jakmel, including the villages of Lavale, Twen, Fondwa, Tonm Gato, and Dekouze. The Fonkoze branch office has opened close to 50 savings accounts, and is gradually attracting the attention of the local Ti Machann. The wholesale store is selling merchandise such as rice, sugar, flour, oil, etc. at discounted prices to Fonkoze members throughout the zone. The Commercial Center has created a total of more than 30 jobs already, not including the skilled and unskilled labor it hired over the last 6 months to work on the remodeling of the building and garden.

APF has already begun offering its 5 and 10-day programs in rural sustainable development to interested tourists. The first group of 13 was sponsored by BUST - Black Unity and Spiritual Togetherness - an African-American spiritual organization based in Louisiana and a major investor in Fonkoze. The group was so impressed with the program that it booked a reservation for a second group in February 2000 and a third in June 2000. A Fonkoze USA delegation of 11 recently completed the program as well, with the same commitment to book additional groups.

The first team of short-term Cuban experts will begin arriving in April prepared to develop 3-year development plans and offer workshops for the peasants in each of seven specialized areas: (a) soil conservation (b) agro-forestry and reforestation. (c) water capture and transport (d) pig farming (e) raising chickens for eggs and for meat production (0 peasant village planning and (g) alternative renewable energy sources. A permanent interdisciplinary team of three Cuban specialists will follow in June to work closely with local counterparts and the peasants of Fondwa over the next three years. Cuba has also agreed to provide scholarships for several young people from Fondwa to begin one-year of study in Cuba in March of 2000.

How can interested parties help in this project?

A: The two principal forms of assistance we are seeking at this point is, first, donations, large or small, to support the travel of the Cubans to Haiti and their living expenses while they are here. Tax-deductible donations can be sent to Fonkoze USA.

Second, book a reservation with the APF Sustainable Development program. This will give you a firsthand look at the project in progress and will allow you to determine other ways in which you might be able to lend a hand. But don't wait too long. APF cannot handle more than one group every six weeks, and they are already booking reservations for the year 2000!

Fonkoze Operations In Haiti Wounded But Not Critically

Fonkoze Continues to Make Strides in Spite of Difficult Circumstances

As many of you probably already realize, trying to build a stable institution in Haiti these days is nothing if not difficult. Stability is simply not a state many Haitians have ever experienced. Haiti was without a Prime Minister-and therefore without a government-for more than 18 months. The streets are in chaos and virtually every week brings news of another police officer, businessman, delivery boy, physician, gas station attendant, or senator wounded or murdered.

In the midst of this confusion, Fonkoze continues to develop stable, long-term relationships with many of the poorest of Haiti's poor and lends a hand to them as they try to lift themselves up out of poverty. Our objective is to keep our services available and accessible to our members irrespective of the turmoil in the halls of government or in the streets. Our mission and our dream is to make of Fonkoze a stable institution that the poor can depend on being there for them, after all the other government and nongovernmental assistance programs have vanished, as they so often do.

But let's face it - it's a struggle. The economy is so fragile that many of our members, no matter how hard they try, cannot pay their loans back or at least not on time. We struggle daily to show them that we will be here for them if they just hold up their end of the bargain. But they are simply not always able to do so. We have Ti Machann coming into us with burned passbooks - all that they have left after fire consumed not only their homes but also their inventories. Others die as a result of a difficult childbirth or an accident or some unnamed disease before they complete the repayment of their loan. Still others are robbed in the streets as they are on their way to make a payment.

This past year we faced our first robbery - in our Potoprens branch, while we were opened for business, at gunpoint, by a client we all knew and liked. He had opened two accounts at Fonkoze for his young children! He had come to a Fonkoze General Assembly meeting as a delegate from an organization of which he was a member. Fortunately, none of our employees were physically harmed, but the one who ' had the gun to her head is suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. She came to work faithfully every day after the robbery for three months, and then just couldn't do it anymore. The robber has been arrested, but has not yet been brought to trial. The ultimate insult - it appears he used Fonkoze's money to become a loan shark and make more money for himself at the expense of the same people we serve!

But that experience has left us a stronger, more determined organization. We now have heightened security at every one of our locations, hired a full-time Director of Security, and reinforced all of our buildings. We keep virtually all of our money that is not in circulation in Haiti in U.S. banks with FDIC insurance. We are building the foundations of our own self-insurance pool. As a result, the confidence the organized poor have in us is growing. We hope to earn the same from each of you. We cant promise there won't be another robbery, and we can't promise 100% of our clients will repay their loans. But we can promise to maintain our high standards of professionalism while working on the side of the poor, for as long as you and others like you let us.

The Intelligent Tourist: Participate In Peasant Life, Learn About Development, and Build Bridges of Exchange

Think about joining us in rural Haiti soon as part of the Peasant Association of Fondwa's unique travel experience for those interested in learning first-hand about sustainable economic development in the countryside of Haiti. Fondwa: A Model of Rural Community Development is a program designed to give people a chance to visit the community of Fondwa, see what the results of development are in this community and their prospects for the future, and actively participate in seminars and activities with the people of Fondwa. The program will give the participants the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of what community and sustainable development mean in the hands of the people and to experience the struggle of the rural poor against poverty.

For more information, please contact Sr. Anita Von Wellsheim, Coordinator of Fonkoze Albany at 800-275-4805 or send us an email at Fonkoze@aol.com. We're looking forward to seeing you soon!

Fonkoze Moves For A Major Expansion In The Haiti Connection: Leveraging The Diaspora's Impact On Haiti's Economy

Estimates are that as many as 20% of all Haitians live outside of Haiti - in Canada, in the United States, in the Bahamas, in Curacao, in St. Maarten, in Guadeloupe, in Martinique, etc. Although communities of Haitians living abroad differ widely from one another, they virtually all have one thing in common: they all send money home to Haiti to help their families and friends left behind. Estimates of how many U.S. dollars enter the economy of Haiti in this fashion vary widely - some are as high as $500 million dollars annually. But anyone living in Haiti can tell you how very important these dollars are to the fragile economy of Haiti. It is these dollars which may in fact explain why the economy of Haiti has not already completely collapsed. I

Fonkoze realized the importance of these dollars when, in 1998, it watched the amount of money it made on its currency exchange business grow from under $3,000 in 1997 to $35,000 US during 1998. We began to ask ourselves "where does all this money originate?" Our clients let us know that it was coming from their friends and family members abroad, who wanted to help to put food on their tables, send their kids to school, help to bury their dead, or pay for medical care.

The Haitians who send this money home send it because they want to help specific people, but in fact what they are doing is much more than this... indeed they are helping the economy to survive. Haitians in the Diaspora, often without knowing it, are participating in the economic development of their country.

Unfortunately, much of the money that they send home often doesn't arrive on time ... or at all. Why? Because many Haitians send their money home in cash with "friends of friends of friends." Whether the money ever reaches the individual for whom it is intended often goes undetermined, because the recipient cannot read or write, has no telephone, and cannot let the family member know whether it arrived or not. Or, it may arrive too late and end up being used for the funeral, rather than the life-saving medical procedure.

It is for these reasons that this year Fonkoze is making an all out effort to develop The Haiti Connection ... our solution for helping Haitians get their money home quickly and securely and ensure that the effect of that money is not only to help the individual for whom it is intended, but also to impact the Haitian economy in a way that benefits the poor.

With the help of its partner bank in the United States (City National Bank of New Jersey, one of the top ten minority-owned banks in the US and the only US bank with a Haitian American CEO), a talented and committed young MBA graduate, and a team of motivated representatives throughout Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean, Fonkoze has launched a major effort to increase the amount of money it helps to enter the Haitian economy from the Diaspora. During the month of April, our team of representatives, which includes a Haitian priest, several Haitian community leaders, and several Haitian business owners, will be traveling to Miami to participate in a weekend training session. There, they will learn how to educate Haitians about our service and how to implement the procedures that will ensure that the service Haitians receive is safe, efficient, and dependable.

So, get ready ... we expect that by the end of 1999 The Haiti Connection will be a well-known service in many Haitian communities and will be taking its place beside currency exchange as another profitable Fonkoze service that is helping the economy of Haiti and at the same time leading to the sustainability of Fonkoze.

Not Only Haitians Are Using The Haiti Connection

An important and valued service that Fonkoze offers its clients abroad is the possibility to get their U.S. dollars to work as quickly as possible in Haiti. Increasing numbers of individuals, private charitable organizations, and churches are opening accounts with Fonkoze in Haiti, where the recipients of those funds in Haiti can have easy and quick access to the funds.

Here's how it works. Perhaps a parish in the U.S. that is twinned with a parish in Haiti wants to be able to provide quick and easy access to the money it has raised on the Haiti parish's behalf. The U.S. parish simply opens an account with Fonkoze, authorizes its twin parish in Haiti to make withdrawals on the account as needed or when authorized by the parish in the U.S. Then, anytime the U.S. parish wants to deposit money into the account, it transfers its funds by wire or by check to our partner bank - City National Bank of New Jersey - and then sends Fonkoze in Haiti an email to let us know the money has been sent and any instructions on how it is to be used. Wherever the parish is located in Haiti, chances are there is a Fonkoze branch nearby, where the parish can access the funds. Fonkoze charges a small fee of $10 for each deposit made in the U.S., but the parish here pays no fee.

This service is now being used by parishes, individual benefactors, and many other types of service organizations. For example, an individual living in New Mexico wanted to help a pastor who operates a number of orphanages, so he opened an account with Fonkoze. A Maryland couple who wanted to help a young Haitian man through medical school opened an account with Fonkoze. A community organization in Illinois opened an account on behalf of a school in the impoverished Cite Soleil section of Potoprens. A non-governmental organization based in DC opened an account for its branch office in Haiti. Why do they like the service so much? Because, as one client put it, "I get better service than I get at my local bank, the communication via email is fast and inexpensive, my money starts to work right away, and I know the fees I'm paying are helping Fonkoze to do its good work with the women street vendors."

Developing Fonkoze's Future Directors

1998 witnessed a major expansion in Fonkoze's Training Program for Branch Bank Directors as Duquesne University joined with Fairfield University in offering this opportunity to Haitians living in the United States who want to return to Haiti and to Haitians already working with Fonkoze in Haiti.

The program was originally conceived of in conversations of the School of Business at Fairfield University who wanted away to help with the work Fonkoze was doing in Haiti. As originally conceived, the program offered a semester of classroom work in management, computers, and accounting, as well as internships in big city banks and small community banks for anyone accepted into the Fonkoze program. In return the student agreed to work as a Branch Director for Fonkoze for a minimum of 15 months for a monthly salary of $250 U.S., enough to cover his or her basic living expenses, anywhere in the country he/she was needed. After that period was completed, if Fonkoze agreed to hire the participant permanently and he/she accepted the position, Fairfield

would offer the individual another semester tuition free in Fairfield's MBA program.

To date, three people have completed Fairfield's program and three others have completed a similar program at Duquesne University. There is no question that the program has been very popular with Fonkoze's employees, for whom the program often offers their only hope to attend a major American university. Every one of them has benefited tremendously from their time in the States, and they have all increased their commitment to Fonkoze. They are stronger employees and managers, and Fonkoze is a stronger institution as a result.

But they have all also faced challenges in the program. It is not always easy to leave Haiti for the first time in your life and find yourself plopped down in an American university and living with an American family. The transition was very difficult for each of the students, especially for those students who were less skilled in English. But each of them met the challenge head on, and they all successfully completed their programs. The transition was equally difficult for the families who welcomed the students into their homes, but they too grew from the experience.

In 1999, the program as a whole will face new challenges. The principal challenge is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find, among Fonkoze's more than 100 employees, those who speak English well enough to be admitted to the program. Try as we might, neither Fonkoze USA nor Fonkoze in Haiti has been able to locate a university willing to provide scholarships for the students to enter an English as a Second Language program for two to three months before they begin their university work. Typically, these programs are prohibitively expensive for Fonkoze. A month of ESL can cost as much as $4,000 when the tuition and living expenses are totaled.

It is very difficult for students to become fluent in English in Haiti when there are so few native English speakers with whom they can converse. If they could simply live and study English in the United States for several months before they begin at a university, their English would improve dramatically faster. This means that not only do we need to find scholarships for ESL training, but we must find the families willing to host our students, and the individuals who are willing to work with them on their English prior to their enrollment in the branch manager training.

Fonkoze does not want to lose these cherished spots that we have worked so hard to obtain at Fairfield and Duquesne Universities, nor do the universities themselves want to lose the program. But unless we can discover a way out of the dilemma of English skills, we may be forced to do just that. Any ideas out there? If so, please send them on to Leigh Carter at Fonkoze USA (P.O. Box 53144, Washington, DC 20009, 202-6671277) or send us an email at Fonkoze@aol.com.