The need for quality teacher instruction in rural Haiti creates opportunities for international volunteers to give through service directed towards secondary school students, where they can gain lifelong experience while lending a helping hand. In Haiti, the rural population is less educated than the urban, and secondary schools enroll less than 20% of eligible children. As a high school teacher or study abroad coordinator, you will not only be able to teach students who may otherwise be at a disadvantage without higher learning, you will also gain from an opportunity that allows you strengthen your pedagogy, learn about international students and the challenges they face, and participate alongside passionate volunteers that are seeking to change the lives of others.
Volunteer teaching abroad is accompanied by a unique set of advantages. You can receive firsthand experience teaching secondary school students in order to give them tools for higher paying jobs or higher learning. You can have the capacity to give students in an impoverished country a window the larger world through your conversations with them. You can grow through the experience and discover something new about yourself. And, mostly importantly, you can touch the minds and lives of young people who also want to effect change in the future. If you are a study abroad coordinator, teaching in rural Haiti could be a path that allows you to diversify your leadership experiences.
HavServe offers several ways for international volunteers to get involved on the ground in Haiti: the HavServe Summer Camp and Educational Enrichment Program for children, or two week and four week programs where you can be involved in other projects, including ones that focus on sustainable development. You may discover that the teaching experience abroad opens up other doors for you to travel, adventure and work on projects that make a difference.
Sophocles believed, “To be doing good deeds is man’s most glorious task.” Volunteering abroad enriches the lives of Haitians and your very own. Consider how your skills can change the future for someone and begin the journey today by signing up for one of our many volunteering options!
If you HAVE, you too can SERVE.
Written by Maria Gutierrez
