American Haitian Foundation Executive Director Jack Davidson, of Signal Mountain, is taking a team to Haiti.
His team members are JoAnne Denise, Dr. Chris Young and Thomas Tripp.
St. Augustine Catholic Church parishioner and American Haitian Foundation Executive Director Jack Davidson, of Signal Mountain, is taking a mission trip to Haiti, which he points to on a map at St. Augustine.The reason for the trip is to hand out 3,500 pairs of shoes donated by parishioners of St. Augustine, other churches and community supporters for students at Complex of Education St. Antoine-St. Augustine in Petite Riviere de Nippes. In addition, team members will distribute 42 laptops, curriculum materials and tables for a computer lab the team plans to start for young adults.
Once established, the computer lab will teach 200 young adults introduction to Microsoft Office and Microsoft Word through two evening classes each day.
Davidson said the American Haitian Foundation has 10 teachers in Haiti trained by Cambridge University in the One Laptop per Child program. He said 200 children at Complex of Education St. Antoine-St. Augustine are already trained through One Laptop per Child.
AHF educates 1,200 children at the school and feeds them 500,000 hot meals per year at the school.
"So many corporations are outsourcing accounts receivable and accounts payable and purchase orders to other countries," said Davidson. "A lot of that business goes to India. If we can have a block of people in Haiti computer-literate, we can have people in Haiti to do that for companies. A big problem in Haiti is unemployment."
Davidson said he began helping in Haiti more than a decade ago because he felt like the entire world was surpassing the country in technology, education and business. He said there are very few computers in Haiti.
"As we increase education through computers in Haiti, people will become more and more aware of what's going on in the outside world and how to compete," he said.
While in Haiti, Davidson's team will continue to help a dental clinic by setting up a record keeping system. Team member Tripp, of Big Frog Mountain Solar Energy Corporation, will work on solar energy projects to meet the demands of the need for electricity in Haiti.