Why is this program the key to the future of Haiti?
Because, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” — Proverbs 14:34
The answer to solving Haiti’s crisis of poverty and despair is righteousness. Sin is the real problem! The answer is the gospel (leading people to faith in Christ as Savior) and discipleship or teaching them how to live as Jesus wants us to live, which is a life of godly character!
After a successful launch of a school in Limbe in 2009, we saw the lives of the suudents grow in character. Tidor taught each class a lesson on a particular character trait every week. Lessons and verses are emphasized by the teachers through the week. Awards were given for students who showed the greatest improvement in that quality. Parents were thrilled with the changes they saw at home in their children. The atsmosphere of the school was changed in a positive way as kids learned how to treat each other and glorify God with their lives.
Since the course was so successful, many other schools began asking us about it. With God’s help, we printed 16,000 of these books. We included the gospel in the front and back of the book, knowing that whatever was included would be taught. Our vision was to have a school or church teaching from the character manual in every village in northern Haiti! (See the map below.)
To accomplish this, we sent Gito and Figuens out by motorcycle to visit schools and churches. We have started with those closest to Limbe. The distribution of books began in April 2012 and ended in 2015. To date, we have over 500,000 students taking the course. We have covered the north-central area around Limbe, and the far northeast up to the Dominican border. We went south to the northern edge of Port O Prince. The travel and danger became quite a concern for our young men, and we ran out of books.
As an outgrowth of this distribution, we have books being used in Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Turks and Cacaos Islands, Florida, and Canada wherever Haitians live. Please pray that the Word of God would continue to travel far and wide, and it would find fertile soil in the hearts of children and adults.
Questions asked at each school or church where the books were given out:
- Where is this book going?
- How many kids are being taught?
- Is it in a church, school, or both?
- This is free material provided through God’s help. Will you provide the teaching free to the students?
- Will you report to Tidor the resuls of your teaching?
- Will you report to Tidor what you have learned about character for yourself first from teaching this book?
- After you have been teaching this book and have seen what God can do, would you pray about another ministry that could use this book, and introduce them to Tidor and this book?
Future Plans and Needs
This work has opened the door and a hunger for more training in understanding why “Character Determines Success”. We have started holding conferences in various parts of Haiti for leaders who come hungry to learn more on what to teach and how to teach their students about gody living. There is a great lack of materials and help for leaders to make these important truths known. Check out the Character Conferences page to learn more of what, how, and what we are doing to make this happen.
Pray that the curiculum would be known all over Haiti and the books would be in great demand and many more schools and churches would adopt this plan.