The power of cooperation at Ravine Sèche

The Ravine Sèche Reading Center began in 2014 after a book donation from the Livres en Folie fair. The Flassef Foundation, the Foundation Lucienne Deschamps and the Foundation Odette Roy Fombrun donated more books to create the original collection. The center serves one hundred fifty houses in a tiny historic Artibonite village built entirely by Food for the Poor.

PILH met Michaëlle Saint-Natus, the center's mentor, in 2019 when she volunteered to translate our book collection into Kreyòl. In 2020 PILH reciprocated with funds for new books and arranged library worker training for Edson Fanfan, the center's dedicated library worker and teacher. Edson trained for three days with Besly Belizaire at the Deschapelles Library, and on his return immediately began cataloguing the collection and planning reading contests for the children.

According to Gary Cassamajor, the village site supervisor, kids now stream in as soon as the center opens. Children read stories, then retell them to one another. To build on the momentum, PILH recently funded concept books and board books for the youngest children.

Ravine Sèche is growing because multiple funders pulled together. That kind of cooperation is what rural Haiti's libraries need everywhere, and Michaëlle Saint-Natus, who shares her expertise generously, shows what a thoughtful collaborator can do.