School Sponsorship
Dream Haiti School Esclane-Daniel
In September 2018 we opened our very own school in the community of La Chapelle, School Esclane-Daniel. We currently provide education for students in preschool to grade 4 and add a new grade level each year. In Haiti there are three levels (years) of preschool before grade 1; preschool 1, 2, and 3. Then students move up to grade 1. In our first year we had preschool 1, 2 and 3 with a student population of 35 students. During year two our enrollment increased to 65 students as we added grade 1. In year three we saw further growth by adding grade 2 and had 102 students enrolled with a total of 14 staff members including teachers, a School Coordinator, teacher assistant, a sports/ recreation teacher, cooks and maintenance staff. In the fall of 2022, we enrolled 117 students and had 16 employees on the ground. Each year our growth shows the incredible demand for high-quality and accessible education in our area. We are now working to expand our school building. You can make a direct impact in the lives of many by becoming a school sponsor.
Our Beginnings
Since 2015, we have invested in the lives and futures of children within our children’s ministry by starting a sponsorship program. We found there were many children in our kid’s club that were in danger of dropping out of school due to costs. Our original sponsorship program was intended to help students who were already enrolled in a school within their community stay in school. In 2018, we opened our very own school, School Esclane-Daniel, allowing us to expand our sponsorship program to focus on students enrolled in our school in the community of La Chapelle.
What is school like in Haiti?
Unlike the U.S., school in Haiti is not free. Families pay a tuition fee per child each year, which can cost up to several hundred dollars per year, depending on the school and grade. In addition, schools require students to wear uniforms and each child must buy their own books for the year. Transportation is also an additional cost, which many families cannot afford. If the school is not within walking distance, students ride the public transportation (Tap Tap or motorcycle) to school each day. Since we believe education is essential to empowering people in Haiti, our sponsorship program has been developed to help cover some of the costs of sending children in our community to school.
How does the Dream Haiti School Sponsorship Program work?
Sponsorship money is combined with other sponsors to help offset the cost of sending children in our community to school. The money goes towards tuition costs, uniforms, books, food, transportation to and from school, and cost of sponsor packets. It may also go to any of our other education based initiatives for the children in the community. As a key part of our sponsorship program, sponsors have the opportunity to establish and develop a personal relationship with an individual child whom they help send to school. For more specific information on School Esclane-Daniel visit our student sponsorship page.
We also have a new option as of 2018 to sponsor a teacher. This allow donors to give a larger donation each month that invests in the school and staff salaries. To learn more about sponsoring a teacher, visit our teacher sponsorship page for more details.
How much of my monthly school sponsorship donation goes to sending a child to school?
All of the money goes towards sending a child to school, our overall sponsorship program and education initiatives that are for the children in the community. The sponsorship program helps cover costs of tuition, uniforms and books for school, food, school supplies and transportation to and from school, along with staff salaries. A very small portion of the sponsorship money goes to help cover costs of making the sponsor packets and correspondence letters as well.
How do I communicate with my sponsor child?
We do most of our correspondence via email. This saves time and money. You will not have to wait on the international mail system. Instead, we encourage sponsors to email us letters at sponsor@dreamhaiti.org. Then, we send it to our team in Haiti, they translate it into Creole, and deliver it to your sponsor child. After they receive the letter, they will reply, it will again be translated and emailed or mailed back and delivered to the sponsor. Please allow for up to a month of processing time. We also mail our sponsors update letters from their student at least one time a year.
How often can I email my sponsor child?
We encourage sponsors to email their child not more than every two months because we are a small organization and do not have enough staff to take on more than that at the current time. We also ask that you keep your letters within two paragraphs long to ensure a quick reply. However, we want our sponsors to get to know their sponsor child and family so we absolutely encourage consistent communication.
How do I give?
Simply go to our Student Sponsorship page and click on the link to “Sponsor a Student” or “Sponsor a Teacher”. Scroll down to the bottom of this page and there you will find the sponsorship application where you will be able to choose your payment of $40/ month or $480 annually for a student. For a teacher, the amount is $100/month, or $1200 annually.