At the tail end of my week in Haiti last October I had the chance to look around Cowman School. I went because God was already impressing upon me the very real possibility that Melissa and I might be called to teach there and I wanted to see if first hand. In July, our hostess, Jane, made sure the whole family got to see the Cowman campus. God willing, this will be where the kids will be doing their learnin’ and Melissa and I will be doing our teachin’ next year. Cowman is named after Charles and Lettie Cowman, the cofounders of the Oriental Mission Society in the early 1900s (which is now called One Mission Society). Incidentally, Lettie was the author of the famous devotional, Streams in the Desert. Last year, there were over 30 students enrolled here, many of them the children of missionaries. But the school desires to be more available to Haitian children, especially the offspring of employees of the mission. There is no comprehensive public education system in Haiti. Parents must pay each semester for each child to attend class and, although the amount is not much more than we might spend on dinner and a movie, the price is too steep for too many Haitians. (This is why the mission coordinates the “Starfish Kids” program where individuals around the world can sponsor a child to receive ongoing education and a nutritious daily lunch. You can check out the details HERE.) Cowman has plans to expand into the high school years – it has traditionally provided education only through the middle school years, so older students had to be homeschooled or go off to a boarding school far from home. And this is where I personally hope to be of aid. For now, I think Cowman hopes to approach the challenge by having one person on staff (me??) to coordinate various classes taught via internet or software. It all sounds like a lot of fun to me! My students here know that I can’t keep out of discussions of history, current events, science and social studies in my English class anyway…
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