We Are United in Our Dedication to Children’s Rights

Mr.  Joseph Thenas Pierre, who became president of “AKEDP” went to Haiti in 1998.   This fortunate occasion took him to the small village of Pisto.  He was surprised to see the amount of school age children in the street on a school day.  Automatically, he realized that there was a problem and something had to be done to alleviate it.  He came up to the conclusion that there was a rural public school in the neighborhood, but the Board of Education of Haiti close it out for no apparent reason, leaving the parents with no alternative means to educate their children.  Most of them didn’t have the financial means to send their children to school in the neighboring village or in a city located miles away.

When Mr.  Joseph Pierre came back to the United States, he decided to do something about the situation.  He gathered friends and family and started talking about what must be done.  Finally, he came to the conclusion that he would put together an association in order to discuss the fate of the community.  After deliberations, those in who attended the meeting decided to found “AKEDP” (Aksyon Kominote Enternasyonal Pou Developman Pisto).  This association has been founded primarily to help disadvantaged children of Pisto and those of the neighboring villages.

Since that day, we have been working very hard to improve the life of the citizens of Pisto.  We have good and bad times.  We sometimes have moments of despair, but we always have tried our best to put aside our own pride, interest and differences for the benefits of the associations.  With your help, we have built the school that has been in existence for ten years.  However, we are looking for more funds to sustain the school’s expenses and activities to implement more programs.  Please be generous by opening your wallet to help us achieve our goal.