Haitian school director speaks to Zonta

Cape Girardeau members of Zonta International learned Tuesday night that their philanthropy in Haiti has helped a pre-K-through-sixth-grade school expand from 65 to 350 students since the island's catastrophic January 2010 earthquake.

Addressing 30 club members at Ray's Plaza Convention Center, Haitian-American Caucus School director Samuel Darguin said he recently accepted 50 children from an orphanage whose discipline is often lacking, but he said that difficulty is merely one of the growing pains of the program.

"Had it not been for Zonta, I don't know how we would have been able to do it," Darguin said, explaining the school has grown from hot plastic tents to a large building owned by his father Jean and that it soon will occupy another building being constructed.

Raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., the 27-year-old native Haitian said he had earned degrees in political science and community development at Stony Brook University and had been hoping to do something for his country when he received 40 to 50 text messages on the morning of the earthquake and saw video in Times Square of the damage.

Darguin said it took three days to verify the safety of his father, mother and sister in Haiti.

Darguin said his dad was trained as an educator but spent 27 years working in an airport so their family could be in the U.S. But now Jean Darguin is realizing his lifelong ambition to educate Haitians through the Haitian-American Caucus School, young Darguin said.

Local Zonta Club president Shannon Daniels said before the dinner meeting that representatives of the 38-member group have gone to Haiti six times in the past three years, working with the Darguins in the village of Michaud outside the city of Croix des Bouquet on the island's north side.

Those members are Dr. Janet Ruopp, who just returned from a three-day trip to give dental care to 325 people, Polly Holten, Jennifer Hendrickson, Robyn Gautschy, Cheryl Klueppel, Dale Humphries, Carolyn Kempf, Dr. Kim Keser and Cheryl Mothes, who holds the club record with four visits.

Daniels said her group financially backs many projects such as AIDS treatments in Rwanda, "but some of the members wanted to be more hands-on and go get personally involved."

Holten said they have also been teaching the Creole-speaking Haitian women carpentry, jewelry-making, agriculture and microfinancing to help them be self-sufficient.

Asked whether any women there have benefited, Darguin cited one with three children who was almost evicted from her shanty three years ago. With a $50 microfinancing loan, he said, the woman has established a secondhand clothing store and routinely borrows $1,000 at a time to make further improvements.

Based in Oak Brook, Ill., Zonta International has 33,000 members in 67 countries "whose mission is to advance the status of women worldwide through service and advocacy," its website says.

A charter member since 1976, The Zonta Club of Cape Girardeau also is involved in the Missouri Mentoring Partnership, Safe House for Women, the Family Counseling Center and various scholarships, said Daniels, who may be reached at (573) 979-3609.