A group of teachers from Teach for America Houston are in Haiti providing Teacher trainings in Gonaives, Haiti.

Today’s update!
Today we successfully made it to the opening ceremonies, although we are still unsure of whether Haiti is observing daylight savings time(for the purpose of our flight, we are assuming yes).

Next, we tried some Haitian Cheetos and bags of water. Our next step was the meat market, which only Lara was brave enough to enter. She returned with a charming story about a still pulsing cow leg.Needless to say, there will be no hamburger consumption for us.

We then piled into the car and drove to the larger market in town. The town we are staying in, Gonaives, is known for being the city of independence. We took some touristy photos with the main statute in town. We walked past the cathedral, which is by far the largest building in town. Sadly it was closed, but beautiful nonetheless.

The market was full of imported good and we were able to practice our one creole phrase, “key john ooo yay?,” meaning how are you?

Our teacher training followed. The lesson was focused on the steps of the lesson plan and we taught a riveting lesson about the 5 senses. We made sure to include lots of activities (around the world) and checks for understanding.
The most exciting part was one of the teachers then used the strategies to re-teach the lesson to those who came late.

We are now lunching at the house before we head back to school to hang out with the kiddos.

The Many Hands Editorial Team is a collective of dedicated staff, local leaders, and operational experts working directly on the ground in Pella, Des Moines, Haiti, and Abaco. United by a shared mission to be Love in Action, our team provides transparent, data-driven insights into sustainable community development. Every field report, impact update, and educational guide we publish is rooted in our daily work alongside these communities. We are committed to answering your hardest questions and sharing the real, unpolished stories of how local leaders are breaking cycles of poverty and transforming their neighborhoods from the inside out.

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