Santo Domingo.- A groundbreaking event took place in the DR which ended officially yesterday. Amistad America, Inc.; the Cross Cultural Center of Santo Domingo and IERCEF with the support of the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic, hosted six Haitian and two Dominican students to participate in a team building, international relations program.

This was the kick-off of our Haitian Student Resettlement campaign, a program to get as many as possible Haitian students back in school so that they can attain their respective degrees and return eventually to Haiti, better equipped to participate in its development at a high level. It was a success.

Eight Haitian students participated in a two-day sail which gave them the opportunity to bond and communicate, in a neutral environment, with each other and the crew of the Freedom Schooner Amistad.

This was a never-before-experienced opportunity for them all and was described as empowering in many ways. After the sail, the Cross Cultural Center hosted a Roundtable to discuss the impact and import of working together and the student's feelings as to what a future Haiti needs.

Etienne Jean Chavenet, 23, from Roseau said if he had the chance, he would do it all again. "All I want is to go back to school; we need school". Melissa Jean Francois, 21, from Carrefour was in her last year of a nursing program when the earthquake took her parents, destroyed her transcripts and interrupted indefinitely her academic career.

"Sailing on the Amistad was an experience I will never forget and I did not know there are people who cared like this". She is, as they all are, willing to start over again: they just want the chance. The mission of the program is, to prepare these Haitian students to pass rigorous credit assessment exams and be admitted to schools of higher education outside of Haiti.

What we envision is a Haitian student resettlement program offering a complete U.S., D.R., and Canadian college/university preparatory program that would, under one roof, provide everything from counseling services like bereavement to English, Spanish (reading, writing, math) to team/esteem building programs. Also it would include sessions devoted to cultural acclamation too.

We all know that thriving in America requires more than knowing English. The program will also help market these students to benefactors, international scholarship funds and admissions officers thus when scholarships are in-place and they have been excepted by a school, these students will be prepared to truly hit the ground running.

"It was personally moving and I am proud of the role IERCEF played, albeit small, paying for the Haitian students lodging while in Santo Domingo, (Steven W. Jones, president and CEO of IERCEF).

Our business is study abroad and people will ask what does this all have to do with study abroad? I say a lot. IERCEF is about study abroad and global engagement; it is precisely these types of experiences we want U.S. students to be engaged with when participating in whether they be service learning, youth-in-governance and/or foreign service career-building internships.

 U.S. student involvement in programs like our Haitian student resettlement initiative greatly enhances the experience for everyone and underscores the discipline of global engagement and international relations. 

With the gracious support of proven leaders like President Fernandez and his administration, the State Department and their Embassy in the DR and OAS, our Haitian student resettlement initiative, will be that "ray of hope" for thousands of students; Haiti's next generation of leaders. Meanwhile, Haitian students pray for the miracle of continuing their education.