CONASPEH Scholars and Development Projects

by admin | published on Dec 22, 2014

Haiti

The National Spiritual Council of Churches of Haiti (CONASPEH), made up of 6,000 churches, is an umbrella organization for Protestant churches and associations throughout the country. Established in 1986, it seeks to be, not only an advocate for its member churches, but also a preacher of the gospel to all peoples everywhere, particularly those in the remote areas of Haiti, and particularly those in critical need. In recent years, CONASPEH has faced a variety of hardships.

Several CONASPEH projects have been identified and are being supported by a group of friends of CONASPEH in the Kansas City area. They include:

Haitian Scholars Program: this program is designed to fund college education for graduates from the St. Andrew School who cannot afford college. College in Haiti is very reasonable, costing $1000 a year. Doctors are a seven-year program; other degrees are two- and four- year programs. The scholarship students will apply to and report to CONASPEH throughout their higher education.
Chicken Coop: the purpose of the chicken coops is to provide sustainable food production as well as a way to generate income. The basic operational premise is to buy 1000 baby chickens, raise them for 42 days, and then sell enough of the chickens to purchase the next 1000 baby chicks and another 42 days’ worth of chicken feed. The strategy allows the chicken coops to become self-sustainable.
Community Garden: because of the climate in Haiti, it is believed that shade houses are necessary to effectively grow vegetables. A shade house is covered in shade cloth which blocks 30 percent of the sun’s rays, providing a less hostile environment to grow vegetables. Funds will be supplied a community garden’s first harvest. By using heirloom seeds, it is hoped that these community gardens can become self-sustainable.
Feed an Orphanage: $100 will buy enough food to feed 40 children for a week in Haiti. There are orphanages related to CONASPEH member churches that CONASPEH sponsors for support.
Food for Learning: the K-12^th St. Andrew School at CONASPEH has a program called “Food for Learning.” Essentially, children who can’t afford food are given one simple meal each day at school. The improvement in academic performance of children in this program has been dramatic. The feeding program is currently only funded for students from kindergarten to 7^th grade. There simply are not funds to feed the older children. The cost to feed a child for a year is $260.

Costs associated with these programs are:

$1,500 will provide material and labor for the Chicken Coop
$3,000 will provide 1000 chicken and feed
$1,500 will provide a shade tunnel and community garden
$200 will provide food for an orphanage
$260 will provide food for the Food for Learning Program for one student for one year
$1,000 will provide a college scholarship for one student for one year.