Recently, a brave member of Mrs. Jean-Charles’ 2nd-4th grade class asked to share her “earthquake story” with the school during our morning chapel time. She described the events of January 12th as they were experienced by her family, and the other students were very moved by hearing her story. In our first days back to class after the earthquake, all Quisqueya students told their stories via drawings, personal narratives, class discussions, and other creative writing assignments. None were required to share their stories publicly, but all were invited to do so if they chose. Only this brave girl volunteered to share her story in chapel, and after she did, other students have now asked to do the same. We’re proud of you!
In other news, the children of Quisqueya’s Haitian national staff members who are currently staying on campus after losing their homes in the quake are now spending their mornings learning again. The school works with a Haitian pastor to take care of the needs of this group of families, and the Haitian pastor has organized a few teachers to work with the children in the mornings. They are meeting in a shady little corner of campus and are learning basic math, Bible stories, and some French. The school is temporary, but it is a delight for now to hear their little voices singing each morning.
Children of our Haitian staff gathering to sing a song that teaches counting to ten in French.
Posted 3 hours, 6 minutes ago at 9:25 am. Add a comment
This morning in chapel we enjoyed some special guest speakers from the United States military.
Colonel Lowe is a member of the US Army and is a former physics instructor at West Point. Colonel Lowe joined us in chapel this morning to share with our students about his career and what the US military is doing in Haiti to assist in the earthquake relief efforts.
Colonel Lowe conducted a “Q & A” time with the students and answered questions about how long his average deployment is, what countries he has traveled to, why he joined the Army after high school, and what it is like to jump out of an airplane!
Colonel Lowe shared that 8 of the soldiers staying on campus are of Haitian descent and speak Kreyol. Those Haitian soldiers are helping to translate as the military continues to support relief efforts. Colonel Lowe invited the students to ask any more questions they have in the coming days and that they are glad to be in Haiti.
Posted 2 weeks, 1 day ago at 10:05 am. Add a comment
Today’s Quisqueya News update will help you get to know a few faces commonly seen around Quisqueya’s campus.
Mrs. DeBlaeij teaches our littlest Quisqueya Eagles in PreK through 1st graders. She is from the Netherlands and speaks Dutch. She has five grandchildren in Canada and the Netherlands, and has served in Haiti for many years. She is a very talented baker- especially her delicious pies!
Mrs. Jean-Charles teaches 2nd-4th graders at Quisqueya. She loves spending time with her elementary-age daughter and teenage son.
Mrs. Heath teaches our 5th and 6th graders, preparing them for junior high coursework. Mrs. Heath works with CSI Ministries and loves her little dog, Levi.
Junior high and high school students attend Bible classes with Mr. Day. Mr Day is from Dallas, Texas and loves soccer. He also loves riding motorcycles.
Mr. Kulpa teaches 7th-12th graders in math and sciences. Mr. Kulpa has lived in Florida and Canada, has a cat named Peter, and is famous for his beard!
Mr. DeKoter is our Quisqueya principal. He is a proud Canadian! Mr. DeKoter has a long history of service in Haiti and in the field of education, and he is joined here in Port-au-Prince by his wife, Mary. He loves the television series Chuck.
Mr. Blesh is working hard to coordinate technology for both the school and the Quisqueya earthquake relief efforts. Mr. Blesh spent time in the US Navy, has five children with his wife Denise, and is a “Mac person”.
Mr. Steinhauer is the leader of all the earthquake relief work based at Quisqueya, including the coordination of the many mission teams of doctors staying at the school. Mr. Steinhauer grew up in Haiti and has very strong Kreyol skills. He just welcomed the arrival of his eighth grandchild two weeks ago!
Mr. Hersey is the director of Quisqueya Christian School. He loves spending time with his wife, Ruth, and their two kids. Mr. Hersey is an avid reader who enjoys cooking Japanese food- he grew up as a missionary kid in Japan.
Mrs. Vervloet is another QCS staff member from the Netherlands. She works hard coordinating many jobs including intake of new medical teams, registrar duties, and alumni relations. One of her lifelong dreams was to ride in a helicopter, and her wish was fulfilled yesterday when she got to assist in a helicopter delivery of medicines to a Haitian hospital in need.
We love our Quisqueya team!
Posted 1 month ago at 5:26 pm. Add a comment
Here at the Quisqueya earthquake relief center, more doctors are arriving daily to assist with medical needs. We have welcomed new teams from Long Island, Mercyworks (Seattle), Christian Medical Network, Colorado Springs, One Heart Ministries (Kansas), University of Maryland, Catholic Relief Services, Aimer Haiti, Delta International (Oregon), Jesus in Haiti (Indiana), and Comprehensive Disaster Response Services. The 175 – 200 medical relief workers staying on our campus include firefighters, chaplains, paramedics, doctors, nurses, physical therapists, and midwives.
In the last few days, the medical relief effort has moved from a phase characterized by a high volume of critical surgeries and untreated earthquake injuries into a new phase of more post-operative care with a renewed emphasis on public health and infectious disease prevention. At our nightly meeting of all the medical teams’ leaders, the discussions are beginning to move from how to handle having too many surgeons and now enough operating rooms into the new area of general public health. We continue to coordinate patient transfer around Port-au-Prince and greater Haiti to get patients to the facility and specialists that best suit their needs. We continue to discover new operating medical facilities to add to our network of connected and communicating providers of care, including a just-established German Red Cross facility set up at a soccer stadium near Carrefour. We also continue to work to overcome challenges such as a lack of x-ray, ventilator, and CAT scan capabilities at many hospitals.
One of our earthquake relief center’s primary concerns is alleviating the future health problems associated with contaminated water due to rain and inadequate toilet facilities in many tent cities. Last night our doctors’ meeting featured a special speaker, Dr. Mary Deschamp from GESKIO, to share about how we can all work together to battle infectious diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and malaria in this season. We are so grateful to be able to offer a place of communication, teamwork, and coordination among the many doctors coming to Haiti to serve following the earthquake. Praise God for all the dedicated servants seeking to simply help people in need.
Meanwhile, our morning chapel service with the PreK through 12th graders enjoyed a great guest speaker. Former Quisqueya teacher Kim Hargrove and her fiance Johnny Gryglewicz came to Haiti to serve after the earthquake, and Johnny led our students on Monday in a fun game called “Beach Babe, Surfer Dude, Wave” before teaching on Jeremiah chapter 20.
Here, Johnny led two upper school girls in the championship round of the fun game.
Mr. Clay plays a game with senior students around lunchtime.
9th grade girls enjoy a lunch break.
Elementary boys join the lunch line.
Posted 1 month ago at 8:28 am. Add a comment
What a special day we had at Quisqueya yesterday – we celebrated the birth of a healthy little girl on our campus!
Quisqueya staff member Els Vervloet was alerted about 2 am by Roger, one of our Haitian staff members, that one of the Haitian family members staying on our campus was in labor. Els jumped into action, timing the contractions and locating a midwife who was staying in our Elementary Building with a medical mission team from Kansas City, Kansas. At 8:10 Friday morning, little Thalina was born to first-time mother Vanessa in the school’s music room! Mother and baby are doing well and are under the care of the doctors on our campus. In the midst of tragedy, a beautiful new life.
Even as we celebrated little Thalina’s new life, our students were beginning their third day back at school.
Our students sang “This Is the Day That the Lord Has Made” in a round in chapel.
Corrigan Clay continues meeting with our seniors, and is now working to implement some special electives like cooking.
The last hour of the day is dedicated for service activities and study hall. Several students learned to play the domino game “Chickenfoot” after their homework was finished.
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago at 1:12 pm. Add a comment
Yesterday was our first day back to class following the January 12 earthquake. Our students began the morning with a chapel time of worship, prayer, and Scripture before heading off to begin their academic work. Director Hersey and Chaplain Dave Manley led that time. Many students expressed how excited they were to see their friends again and get back into a routine.
We had a wonderful first day with 66 students coming to resume course work. Classes were led in the chapel as well as special times of instruction outside. We are conducting instruction in Bible, English, history, math, and science. Lunch is being offered once again in the Snack Shop at the same prices as usual.
We ended the day with a time of announcements and devotions led by Principal Tony DeKoter. Our PreK-3rd grade students are being led by Mrs. Ackerman, and 4-6th grade are taught by Mrs. Jean-Charles. The 7-11th graders are being instructed in English by Mrs. Kilpatrick, math by Mr. Kulpa, Bible by Mr. Denny, and history by Mr. Kilpatrick. Our Quisqueya senior class is receiving instruction from Mr. Clay. The afternoons are designed to be a time where homework may be worked on so that students are relieved of the stress of taking home assignments. At all grade levels, classes are doing special activities related to helping students cope with the earthquake we all have experienced. Some examples of these activities include writing about their experiences, art therapy, class discussions, and reading Scripture. We will continue to care for students’ emotional and spiritual health as we move through our academic curriculum.
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago at 7:56 pm. Add a comment
In other news, the children of Quisqueya’s Haitian national staff members who are currently staying on campus after losing their homes in the quake are now spending their mornings learning again. The school works with a Haitian pastor to take care of the needs of this group of families, and the Haitian pastor has organized a few teachers to work with the children in the mornings. They are meeting in a shady little corner of campus and are learning basic math, Bible stories, and some French. The school is temporary, but it is a delight for now to hear their little voices singing each morning.
Children of our Haitian staff gathering to sing a song that teaches counting to ten in French.
