Dick Wildeman

September 2026

Dave was on the same flight with me to Haiti, and he told me about his monthly weekend trips to the north of Haiti. His nonprofit supports about fifty schools in the area by providing salaries for their teachers and training for their administrators. I was struck by a comment Dave made about the education system in Haiti. He called it a “ladder to nowhere.” He explained that although it was a good, basic education, it did not prepare students for the workforce. They were not trade schools. There was no jobs training. Faced with Haiti’s massive unemployment, students finished school lacking the skills needed to find work. And even those who could afford to attend a university and get a college degree ended up unemployed. Dave realized that he could not change the system. He kept working with the schools in the hope that the education students receive will eventually enable them to break the cycle of poverty.

Dave’s comment about the “ladder to nowhere” haunted me. I wondered if what we’ve been doing all these years is also going nowhere. Almost all the students we’ve helped finish secondary (high) school are still looking for work. Even the few who managed to get a college degree remain unemployed. What have we accomplished? Has it all been a complete waste of time, money and energy? Fortunately, our students and their parents gave me a resounding “NO!”

When I visit Haiti, we always have a meeting with all our students, about thirty of them and some of their parents. At that meeting it has become important to them that one of them, usually a student we once sponsored who’s now the parent of a sponsored student, speaks to me on their behalf. This time it was Andy who stood up to tell me how much they all sincerely appreciated the effort and sacrifices we made to help them, and that I keep coming back to visit them. He thanked me for enabling their children to attend school, something those parents could not afford to do on their own. Andy said he could not find the right words to say thank you, to share the depth of their gratitude. He said that our love for them was obvious, and they hoped that their love and appreciation for us was just as clear.

Thank you, Andy, for helping me remember once again that our gift to the poor of Haiti is not something measurable, and it’s not going nowhere. We are walking with them in their struggles, supporting them with our love and prayers, and lifting a little of the burden they carry. We are giving them hope, and they are filled with boundless gratitude. They give thanks to God each day for us, praying that God will shower abundant blessings on us and our families. It makes me smile to realize what a wonderful thing that is, to know that all those good people are praying for us today, just as we too lift them up in our prayers, asking God to relieve their sufferings and bless them abundantly.