Today, many of our students are celebrating Valentine’s Day with parties and treats. Tomorrow we do not have school because the Haitian government has declared a National Day of Prayer. Please join us in lifting Haiti up in prayer as we move forward into healing and rebuilding. Next week we do not have class due to a scheduled break. Enjoy your time off as a season of rest and renewal!

Today in chapel it was announced that Quisqueya students will participate in the International Day of Math competition during the first week of March. Students who volunteer to compete will take part in the online competition with schools from all over the world. Many students raised their hands to show interest in participating, and more information may be found by any student on the bulletin board outside the administrative office.

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!

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.

Dear Parents,

Our school is experiencing growing pains.  The number of children back to school is beyond our expectation. If your child is out of Haiti, please enroll them in school there.  We do not have space for more at the present time.  If you wish to return next year, a spot will be held for you. We will not be accepting anymore enrollments at this time, but your name may be placed on a waiting list and we are reassessing space every day. The enrollment is closed at this time since we do not have the physical space available to us for classroom use.

We have taught the students in the past to serve in their communities. As a school community we are putting our talk into action – letting our light shine. That’s also a school focus at this time.  It is expected that the number of medical teams we are serving will grow smaller in the days, weeks, months ahead, as will the number of our national workers living on the school campus. God has used and is using this school His wonders to perform.  Praise Him!

School hours will be from 8 A.M. – 3 P.M. Please be punctual so that your children are in class on time and also are picked up on time at the end of the school day. No later than 3:30 P.M. Help us to do our task by being punctual.

School is on.  The academic focus will continue to increase as well as learning to use the resources of the people on the QCS campus and have them tell the students their story – What brought them here?  Why are they serving in Haiti? What type of education/schooling did they receive?  What kind of doctor are they? What is their field of specialization?

Thank you for your support and encouragement during these difficult times. Together we go forward building and rebuilding, not only physical structures, but also the lives of the children entrusted to us. Please direct questions to tdekoter@quisqueya.org.

Serving Him,

Walking in His SonShine in Haiti