[Reader-list] Students in the Ozarks help kids in Haiti read

[Chintan Girish Modi]

From
http://www.ky3.com/news/ky3-students-in-the-ozarks-help-haiti-20110216,0,3514845.story

*Students in the Ozarks help kids in Haiti read*

by Jay Scherder, KY3 News

BOLIVAR, Mo. -- Students in Ozark and Bolivar are educating children in a
country that has had its share of troubles in recent years.  They're helping
Haitian children learn to read.  Most Haitians don't speak English but
students from the Ozarks are writing and translating books in a language
that they can understand.

Fourth grade students at Bolivar Intermediate have technology at their
fingertips.  They use Skype, Smart Boards and computers as part of everyday
life.  Meanwhile, some 1,500 miles away, it's a much different situation.

"The teachers in Haiti go through very little high school, college, any sort
of training," said Bolivar Technology Integration Specialist Lisa Berg.

Students in Haiti get by with the bare minimum if anything at all.

"I asked them what they have there, as far as teaching supplies, and they
have nothing," Berg said, "They have no books, they have very little paper,
no crayons no markers."

Berg is trying to change that.  She's on a mission to educate the children
and teachers of Haiti.

"We kept saying we're coming to train teachers and they couldn't grasp
that."

Berg has been to Haiti since the earthquake
<http://www.ky3.com/news/ky3-students-in-the-ozarks-help-haiti-20110216,0,3514845.story#>once
before.  She took supplies, knowledge, and books.

"With copyrights, I can't get books translated, so I knew we had to write
our own stories to get it translated," she said.

That's where the students come in. The fourth grade students write the books
using online storyboard program Storybird. The books are then edited and
translated into French by Ozark high schoolers.  It's a language required by
law for students in Haiti to learn.

Berg is making the trip
<http://www.ky3.com/news/ky3-students-in-the-ozarks-help-haiti-20110216,0,3514845.story#>once
again in March with a new supply of books, thanks to students in the Ozarks.


"Everybody wants to do something and a lot of times they're giving up their
money," Berg said. "These kids are giving up their time, giving up their
knowledge."

Berg's church, Wells Spring Baptist Fellowship, pays for most of the trip.
She still has to raise some funds on her own. The school helped pay for the
books the last time that she went, but she isn't sure whether it will be
able to do that this time. One way or another, even if she has to pay for it
herself, the books will be going to Haiti.