One of Our Beautiful Miracle Success Stories!
Okay, truth is that not all of the students who have entered the SPARE program over the years have flourished and become a “success story.” There have been students who couldn’t keep up with academics, no matter how hard we all tried. There were some who had to be expelled from the program for a number of different reasons. There have been many lessons learned the hard way both by the staff of SPARE and by the students. The good news is that we’ve learned a lot, we’re appropriately humbled through it all, and we’re constantly learning and fine tuning how to be in this mission in a way that’s respectful and creative and fruitful.
And this is all the more reason why we want to make sure to celebrate some of the beautiful things that have already happened and which are in the process of happening right now!
We’ve currently got 8 kids in college!! Isn’t this amazing news? In a country of over 80% illiteracy, this is a minor miracle. Speaking of “miracles,” you can read about one of our most shining “SPARE success stories” who is literally named “Miracle Pierre.” He was our first SPARE graduate to make it through both high school and college and to get a job.
Miracle Pierre is special to SPARE for many reasons. In fact, he played a key role in the intitial formation of SPARE. We met him for the first time on one of our trips to Haiti. Several members of our group were volunteering at the Home for Children run by the sisters of Mothera Teresa (The Missionaries of Charity) in Port au Prince. Pierre lived close to the Children’s Home, and he was volunteering there as well. He hit it off in particular with two MCC members who were on that trip, and he shared with them his desire to go to school again. He was 16 at the time, and was hoping to enter secondary school. Upon returning to the states, these two members brought the story of Miracle Pierre to the MCC, and money was immediately donated to help Miracle continue his education. This was when Haiti Allies began to organize itself and carry out oversight of this work in the U.S. We now have about 30 sponsors throughout the U.S. and we’re growing all the time.
Miracle, with the faithful support and love of his sponsor Roger Williams, took full advantage of the opportunities the SPARE program offered him. He graduated from high-school, 
university, worked in a bank for a while, and now is a teacher at Community School of Cite Soleil, where he oversees the French Language Skills Program. He is also in training to assist the principal of the School, and is an excellent soccer (football in Haiti) player. Miracle is an inspiration to the students he serves, all the students in the SPARE program, and he is a wonderful ambassador for the SPARE. We are so proud of him we can’t begin to adequately express it!