Enrollment at the school built by United Hearts for Haiti was 75 a year ago. Today 275 students of all ages attend the school in the southwestern city of Cavaillon.

Rev. Paul Aladin
United Hearts for Haiti

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

The thriving school established by area supporters in southwest Haiti is attracting a growing crowd of young students. But growth brings challenges, and Rev. Paul Aladin is looking for more help.
United Hearts for Haiti, the nonprofit he started in 2008, hosts a chili cook-off Saturday, April 22, to help spread the word of its educational program in a rural corner of the war-torn nation. The cook-off promises both honors for top cooks and generous helpings of their best concoctions from 1:30 to 4:30 at Bridgepoint Community Church, 121 17th Ave. N. A donation of $10 is suggested.
Aladin and his family fled the war-torn Caribbean nation 30 years ago, but he says his heart remains with his homeland and the people struggling to prepare the next generation for a brighter future. “Education is the key. Without it, it’s almost impossible to have a better future.
“Sixty percent of the people cannot read. After 35 years of political turbulence, the system has collapsed. The schools are closed. But the next generation needs teachers, doctors, firefighters, and police. We need to think how we can have them – the answer is education.”
Aladin’s charity has spent more than 15 years searching for ways to provide that vital service. In the past, he has taken volunteers from the region to Cavaillon to offer lessons in practical trades like welding, plumbing and sewing. That led to the construction of a school christened Train and Sustain, where several classes of young adults have now graduated.
The next step: Adding high school courses, so that those who’d not been able to complete an education could earn diplomas. Then elementary grades extended the program to the young. Enrollment has exploded from 50 or so a year ago to 275 today, he says, aided by the school’s recent achievement of licensure by Haiti’s Education Ministry.
Aladin concedes that United Hearts’ annual chili cook-off isn’t a big moneymaker. Just as helpful, he says, is the opportunity to spread the word among churches, businesses and individuals who can make more substantial contributions to the program.
“Our growth is very strong – so strong that now we need a partner to help us,” he observes. “The school is a work in progress.”
Cavaillon, he adds, is peaceful and normal despite the headlines reporting the chaotic breakdown of order in Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince. Commercial flights are expected to resume soon from Miami to the airport between Cavaillon and Les Cayes. “I hope more people will go to the mission, see our school, meet the people,” he says. “There is so much we can do to help, and so much we ourselves can learn from their will to survive.”