Once a child has reached 7 years of age, he or she is eligible to apply for membership in Timoun Tèt Ansanm. Preference is given to the following:

• Children between the ages of 7 and 8
• Children from very poor families and “restaveks”
• Children who live very close to the TTA Center
• Children who are related to a current monitor
• Children who already have a brother or sister in the program

The children are divided up into groups of 12 with one young adult monitor assigned to each "family".

These families meet once a week for a two hour program which includes a simple meal. There are 25 children meeting in the town of Duval, another 70 in the mountain village of Vyelo, 50 in the village of Alè and 45 in the town of Damye.

Twenty six young monitors, who receive a small stipend to cover their time and travel, work with these children to learn about such things as protecting the environment, purifying water using the sun, recognizing healing plants growing free around their house and resolving conflicts without violence. Because we are a Catholic organization we also help the children reflect on the basic principles and practices of Christian life, often bringing the events of the liturgical year to life through drama, dance and song.

The children are with us for six years and each year has a slightly different focus, starting with learning the basic skills needed to prepare a child for learning to read and write and progressing through ever more complex cycles of age-appropriate skills, Topic covered include learning to know their place in their families, their circle of friends, their school or church community, their village, their country and eventually their membership in the world community.

Cycle A: myself, my body, orienting my self in time and space, my family, my religion

Cycle B1: others, the local community, living with others peacefully

Cycle B2: the world, the environment, the creation of the world, the village of Verrettes, other towns and cities nearby and the country of Haiti.

Cycle C1, C2 and C3: Picks up the same themes but on a level of complexity more appropriate for older children. They explore their gifts and weakness, the difference between friendship and love, the rights and obligations of citizenship, skills and attitudes of a peacemaker. They look analytically at Verrettes and offer themselves in service to make their town better.

For the last eight years Timoun Tèt Ansanm has sponsored summer camps for the children in the program. There are two camps each year, one in Verrettes and the other in one of the more remote locations outside Verrettes

Each camp lasts two weeks and offers one hundred children a full program of daily activities starting with a full breakfast at 8 AM followed by a variety of workshops including arts and crafts (using recycled materials), dramatics, health, cooking (using solar ovens), conflict resolution, children’s rights and sports.

At 1 PM everyone stops for a hot lunch followed by a few more workshops. Since the rain generally arrives around 4 PM, the children need to be well on their way home before then. The children rotate through all the workshops, which are conducted by Monitors trained by Timoun Tèt Ansanm.

At the end of each camp, the parents are invited for a special celebration which includes a good meal and a gives the children a chance to demonstrate what they have learned and express their thanks to all their teachers.

Approximately 30 adolescents who have already “graduated” from Timoun Tèt Ansanm and who are between the ages of 13 and 18 serve as aides each year. They help the cooks prepare the meals, wrap gifts for the younger children at Christmas time, clean up before and after programs and help with the annual inventory of equipment and supplies. In return they benefit from a formation program appropriate for their age which focuses on personal health and hygiene, “savoir faire”, conflict resolution, sexuality and the basics of running a small business.

There are 50 adult monitors who assist the program in a variety of ways, including serving on the Board of Directors, supervising a weekly two-hour educational program with a group of 10 children, meeting with the teenagers twice a month, teaching the adult literacy classes or helping out with the monthly work parties. All monitors are expected to attend a monthly training session designed to help them reflect on the objectives of Timoun Tèt Ansanm. These sessions have included a visit from the Minister of the Environment who discussed reforestation efforts in Haiti, an educational specialist who taught a class on learning through the use of games and a psychologist who explained the various stages of child development.

This program was begun in 2008 to teach reading, writing and simple math to the parents and older brothers and sisters of children in the program who had never had the opportunity to go to school. The literacy classes are taught by young adult monitors who received special training from Albert Schweitzer Hospital and from the Rotary literacy training program (Rotalfa). Classes meet three times a week.

Following the Haitian tradition called “Konbit”, parents, neighbors and monitors gather once a month to share in the physical work of maintaining the property around the center. They receive a small stipend and share a good meal together.

In an effort to diminish dependence on outside funding, members of Timoun Tèt Ansanm have experimented with several programs designed to raise income locally, including raising chickens for their eggs, selling fruits and plants grown on the grounds, showing movies, renting the center for weddings and funerals and selling telephone cards.

Learn more about Haiti and Verrettes