Haiti École Lakay Project

“It was like the arrival of the end of the world.”

January 12, 2010. It was a beautiful day on the Caribbean island of Haiti. Just a few clouds in the sky and the temperature hovered around 27°C. But Father Pierre wasn’t thinking about the weather. As the spiritual leader and executive director at École Lakay where he oversaw young students learning the trades, he was thinking about how lucky he was. Despite teaching in one of Port-au-Prince’s poorest neighbourhoods, he was optimistic about the young people under his care. He saw them as the future of his country. Right now, they were inside learning songs for Father Pierre’s upcoming birthday party.

Now, after months of living with the children in a tent on the school lawn where they fought off thieves almost nightly, Father Pierre has been able to scrape together enough wood and scrap metal to erect a modest living space with electricity. Although École Lakay is still in ruins, he is doing what he can to offer makeshift classes to the children with whatever tools haven’t been stolen or damaged.

While media interest has waned, for those of us in the Canadian building and construction community, things are just getting started. Together, Builders Without Borders and the Canadian Construction Association have stepped up and pledged to help rebuild École Lakay.

Your gift will help build a nation

If not for fate, these kids could have been any one of us just a few years ago. We were young students and we, too, had an interest in building, in construction, in making beautiful structures and roads where there once were none. But for many at École Lakay, a devastating earthquake brought their dreams to an end. Within weeks of the tragedy, representatives of our industry met with Builders Without Borders to produce a plan to rebuild École Lakay.

It’s what we do. It’s what they do.

Students at École Lakay become carpenters, cabinet-makers and electricians. Our goal isn’t to raise money to simply build a school. Our goal is to raise money to build a school whose graduates can rebuild Haiti. But we need your help to rebuild École Lakay. Phase I alone — which includes rebuilding the workshops and replacing damaged or stolen machinery and equipment — will cost $500,000. Whether you give $500 for tools, $5,000 for furniture or enough to fund an entire workshop, your gift is critical to the success of this project.

But we can’t do it alone.

Canadian Construction Association and Builders Without Borders
need your help.

DONATE NOW