15th June 2011
Hand in Hand, face to face: Travel retail charity meets new Haitian President Michel Martelly as seen in the Moodie Report
HAITI. Key figures from travel retail charity project Hand in Hand for Haiti were honoured this week by a visit from Haiti’s new President, Michel Martelly. The charity’s core focus, the Lycée (school) Jean-Baptiste Point du Sable, will open in September, eventually offering education to over 700 students from pre-school to secondary level. The pop star President was sworn in last month, promising widespread reform to advance the earthquake-ravaged, poverty-ridden country. Improved education forms a key element of his "new Haiti, open for business now" pledge. |
President Martelly (second from left) with Olivier Bottrie, Ed Brennan and Peter Frisch
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The hurricane-proof, anti-seismic school was inaugurated last month.
The project, which has raised several million dollars since the January 2010 earthquake, is the biggest charity fund-raiser in travel retail industry history. Uniquely, the school is not only being funded by the industry, but operated by it on an ongoing basis through a Foundation. Bilingual education (English-French) with best-in-class academic standards in alignment with the Haitian academic curriculum will be provided.
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Above and below: Olivier Bottrie and Ed Brennan talk the new President through the ambitious school project
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