By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Supervisors of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Port-de-Paix, Miami's sister diocese, show off the motorcycles purchased through the generosity of a Miami donor. Marie Louise Sylvestre, director of the diocese's Department of Schools, is standing third from right in this picture.
MIAMI | In October 2011, representatives of Amor en Accion, the archdiocese's lay missionary group, visited with the director of the Department of Schools in the Diocese of Port-de-Paix, Miami's sister diocese and the poorest region in Haiti.
Marie Louise Sylvestre said she had a team of field teachers, or supervisors, visiting each of the diocese's schools to provide training and educational materials for the teachers, who while deeply committed to their jobs often have only an eighth-grade education themselves. But Sylvestre said transportation was a problem. Her supervisors often had to spend several days walking or riding a mule to reach the mountainside towns that dot the diocese. The roads are often impassable even for hard-to-come-by four-wheel drive vehicles. She suggested motorcycles might help.
Thanks to an anonymous Miami donor, Amor en Accion secured $3,600 to purchase three Chinese-made motorbikes, which Sylvestre's supervisors are already putting to good use. She sent these pictures after the motorcycles were purchased.
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Two of the supervisors of schools in Port-de-Paix, Haiti, Miami's sister diocese sit atop the Chinese-made motorbike that will help them visit schools and train teachers in the remote mountainside schools.
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