wfn.org | FEATURES SERVICE The Soil and the People

[a.whitefield@quest.org.uk]

May 8, 1997
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

[97.5.1.5]

FEATURES SERVICE

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This article, on an Anglican university for agriculture in Haiti is
taken from Ministry Matters from the Anglican Church of Canada. It is
written by Jim Coupland, a retired teacher from Palgrave, Ontario, who
has been active on behalf of Holly  University both in Canada and in
Haiti since the school's inception.  It is printed here with the
permission of the magazine's editor.

The Soil and the People

To save the land  and its people, Episcopal Bishop of Haiti Zach Duracin
in 1995 requested the Anglican Church of Canada to assist the diocese in
opening a university that would  teach agriculture.  A visitor coming to
Haiti by air first sees the barren brown hills and how  mountain streams
carry the soil into the valleys and into the Caribbean sea.   Less
apparent as one lands in Port-au-Prince and yet an inevitable 
consequence of this, are the large numbers of peasants who gravitate to
the  slums of the capital where they join the uneducated and unemployed
who are  already there.

With the loss of all sources of food and fuel which deforestation
brings, some would argue these people have no choice but to come here in
hopes of finding something better.

And yet, this is not a natural state for Haiti. Where peasants have been
educated on how to look after the land, they tend soil that is rich and
soft, with lush growth, delicious  and plentiful  fruit, fast growing
crops.

To save the land and its people, Episcopal Bishop of Haiti Zach Duracin
in 1995 requested  the Anglican Church of Canada to assist the diocese
in opening a university that would teach agriculture.  Through its
Volunteers for Mission programme, the Canadian Church found  someone to
head up this project in the person of John Veldhuis, a retired  school
principal from Bowmanville, Ontario. Mr. Veldhuis became the first 
president of Jacques Theodore Holly University, named after the first 
Anglican bishop of Haiti. The university's mandate was to teach Haitians
to  use their land wisely and to learn to feed and support themselves. 
Holly University opened in October, 1995 on the campus of College St
Pierre  in Port-au-Prince, with 14 students enrolled to study 
agriculture.

In February, 1996, the University added a school of business
administration and in the fall of 1996, schools of silviculture (the
study of trees) and of  education.  As of late last year, more than 100
students were enrolled to  these four colleges.  To gain international
accreditation, to develop quality courses and to  access the human and
physical resources required to sustain the fledging  school, Mr.
Veldhuis formed several partnerships between Holly and different  
academic communities in Canada and the United States.

As of last fall, McGill University, and the University of Guelph,
Cornell University and Iowa State University, Alfred College, the
University of Western Ontario, the Nova Scotia College of Agriculture,
the University of Ottawa and the University of Saskatchewan had all
become academic partners.

Land outside Port-au-Prince has been set aside for a research farm for
the students, a bright, friendly group, full of  hope.  The university
has teamed up with a rural village where these students can apply their
knowledge and practical skills by working with farmers.

With the exception of Mr. Veldhuis, the university's staff is comprised
of Haitians.

The project needs the drive of volunteers to find money and supplies
and, for those qualified, to teach part of the curriculum.