Innovative Technology Must no Longer be a Luxury for Rural Schools

In the 1st rural section of Basse Plaine, commune of Limonade where the Cima Community School of Hope is located, there is no access to electricity. A minority of the people who can afford a mobile phone, much less a smartphone, find it difficult to keep it charged. This is a problem in today’s technology-driven world.


To combat this problem, Cima Community School of Hope (CCSH) joined forces with the Steve Sinnott Foundation to launch The CCSH Resource Learning Center to facilitate education focused on multimedia and information technology. The Center is available to our staff and students from 1st Grade to High School. Today, our CCSH-RLC is equipped for audio-visual language learning. Students can learn English, Spanish, and many other languages in a participatory way, while we encourage the self-study method.


With 25 computer workstations and 19 tablets, powered by a 6-kw solar system, the space is conducive to learning. We promote inclusive education, we have knowledgeable IT and language teachers, and we are user friendly. The Resource Learning Center serves:

  • The staff and students of Cima Community School of Hope.
  • The 21 children of Caring for Haitians Orphans with AIDS (CHOAIDS).
  • More than 50 community youth enjoy interactive weekend courses.


Students are eager to connect to the global village and acquire innovative technological knowledge. A computer Lab is no longer a luxury for our rural school. They use basic software like Microsoft Office, they can navigate the internet and operating systems easily. They learn through audiovisuals and in a very interactive environment. It helps develop their ability to learn by listening, reading, and writing in their language, often through playing fun and engaging games.


In addition to learning a foreign language and navigating a computer, the CCSH-RLC helps to better prepare the students for a successful professional career. It may even serve as their main profession in the future; students can freelance anywhere. They understand this and show interest and motivation to learn at every opportunity. The use of information and communication technologies in education plays a crucial role in providing new and innovative platforms of support for teachers, students, and the learning process more broadly. We encourage students to read through our book club and use social media to their advantage. Students were able to participate in the Virtual Global Classroom Event on June 16th for the Day of the African Child and connected in solidarity with children in the USA, Brazil, DRC, and other African Diaspora countries.


We have initiated a film based project called “Cine Changement”. Every Wednesday students watch a short film or documentary that fosters open debate. They ask questions about current events, issues that jeopardize their future, and propose solutions and alternatives for a fragile country like Haiti. We also took advantage of our CCSH-RLC to integrate our adult literacy parents and community members so that no one is left behind. All 3 Alfa classes (about 93 students) were invited to watch the Maestra documentary about the 1961 Cuban Literacy Campaign. The literacy students admired the sacrifices made by young students to eradicate Cuban illiteracy within one year. They have a chance to reflect on and evaluate their civic engagement as Haitian citizens. Regardless of their social rankings and age, they can make a difference, be an agent of hope, and their voices count.


Sonje Ayiti recently acquired Starlink for reliable internet capability to boost innovative virtual learning opportunities for staff, students, parents, and the community. The CCSH-RLC now has reliable internet access to promote more cultural and educational exchange activities with other schools in the diaspora, which would be even better for a global connection to the outside world and help teachers to have more content for their lessons.




Biography


Gabrielle is a native of Cap-Haitian, Haiti. Obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Information Systems from DeVry University and a background in Business Administration. In Haiti, she was National Director for the Foundation of Compassionate American Samaritans (FOCAS) then as Transition Manager of Food for the Hungry (FFH). She has devoted herself to SONJE AYITI full-time as the President and Executive Director, the organization that she founded in Georgia in 2004 to help Haitians to help each other in order to create their Haitian dream with pride and dignity. As a Social Entrepreneur, she co-founded and serves as Executive Secretary of SAPEN SA since 2009.


This article first appeared in Engage 27.

BY GABIE AURIEL • March 25, 2024

36 Bicycles. Countless Futures in The Gambia.

By Ann Beatty • May 20, 2026
How a simple act of practical solidarity is transforming the journey to school in The Gambia’s Central River Region North Policies have been written. Schools have been built. Yet for many children in The Gambia’s Central River Region North, access to education is still measured in kilometres, not opportunity. 

Education for Hope in Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous Times

By Laura Griffin • May 13, 2026
‘In a single hour vast tracts of shaded woodland became a jumble of torn trees and upturned soil, exposed to the glare of the summer sun. Such land-clearing events are rare, but forests exhibit remarkable resilience in the face of disaster. I’m told that the Chinese character for ‘catastrophe’ is the same as that which represents the word ‘opportunity’. And, the blowdown, while catastrophic, presented opportunities for many species.’ (Wall Kimmerer, 2003: 89). In the context of a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world (Stein, 2021) what kinds of education for hope might support children’s and young people’s critical engagement in local and global issues? In the spirit of exploring the possibilities of hope further, this short article focuses on the area of global citizenship and sustainabilityrelated education. It will briefly open by sharing commonalities across pedagogical approaches that take up the concept and act of hope more critically, and close by offering reflective questions for educators, with suggestions for further reading. Perhaps it is a kind of hope that is grounded in the present, in future reimagining(s), in ethical solidarity, and an acknowledgement of our deep entanglement with the living metabolism of planet earth 1 our singular home (UNESCO, 2021); a hope that engages with complex root causes and lived realities of multiple overlapping crises in critically reflexive and contextually relevant ways. As McCloskey notes, ‘Hope can fire our collective imagination and critical consciousness as a mainspring to activism and intervention in the world.’ (2025: 3). Commonalities across critical pedagogical approaches to hope include: Acknowledging the context of a ‘seamless single story of progress, development and human evolution’ (Andreotti, V.D.O., 2021b Relating to social and ecological justice and the wellbeing of people and planet Using participatory, action-orientated and inquiry-based learning processes Exploring diverse worldviews and perspectives Practising grounding in the present with opening up possibilities for change (relational, embodied, response-able 2 ) Experiencing ‘struggle’ in different forms (dialogical, selfreflexive, open-ended) Engaging individual and collective agency, action and activism Looking for lifelong and life-wide learning and unlearning. 1 See ‘Co-sensing with Radical Tenderness’, in Machado de Oliveira Andreotti. 2021a 2 See ‘Crossing Borders’ in 2 Depth Education “Depth Education and the Possibility of GCE Otherwise, 2021b. Source: Andreotti, V. 2021a & 2021b., Atif, A. (2025)., Bourn, D. 2021., Bryan. A. and Mochizuki,Y., 2024., Giroux, H.A. 2025., Meade, E. 2025. Whilst engaging in the concept and act of hope more critically reflect upon: What kinds of education for hope might you explore further and why? How might you provide generative spaces for engaging in diverse worldviews and perspectives? In what ways can you facilitate individual and collective agency? How might you support learners’ practice grounding in the present in order to relate differently? In what ways can you support learners in navigating complex root causes and lived realities of local and global issues? As Chief Ninawa Hini Kui affirms, ‘The future depends much less on the images we project ahead than on our capacity to repair relations and build relationships differently in the present.’ (Andreotti et al, 2023: 73. An invitation for further reading: Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future . d’Abreu, C., Belgeonne, C., Bourn, D. and Hatley, J. (2025) ‘Transformative Learning for a Sustainable Future’. DERC Research Paper 24. London: UCL Institute of Education. Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism. Machado de Oliveira Andreotti, V. (2021a) ‘Hospicing Modernity: facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism’ , London: Penguin Random House. Development Education and Hope . McCloskey, S. (2025). (ed) ‘Development Education and Hope’. ‘Policy and Practice: A Development Education Review’ , Vol. 41, Autumn. Centre for Global Education, Belfast. Link to and download the full reference list here

I heard it said today by a friend that “You learn a language best when you use it to speak and write about things that are important to you. ”

By Susan Piper • May 6, 2026
This summed up to me about why I volunteer for the Hands Up Project. HUP is a charity trust which, through its network of volunteers, connects children around the world with young people in Palestine. By means of online interaction, drama and storytelling activities, it enables the use of creativity and selfexpression to promote mutual understanding, personal growth, and the development of English language skills. I joined HUP in 2020 during COVID. After going to Palestine in 2017, I wanted to get more involved in working with Palestinian children in schools. HUP gave me the opportunity to link up with schools in the West Bank and Gaza. Every week I’d tell them stories from all over the world, then we’d discuss it, play games and I’d get them to retell it. Sometimes we would work from their coursebook English for Palestine’ in mutual team teaching sessions with their teacher. The simple act of telling a story became much more than entertainment. It became connection, healing, and a bridge to the world beyond their immediate reality to help them improve their language skills, and to give them a platform to speak about their lives in a language that connects them to people everywhere. I loved it, every week, seeing their smiling faces on the screen and building long lasting friendships with their teachers. I even went to Gaza in 2023 and met some of the kids I’d only seen on Zoom. It was a beautiful experience and something I will never forget. As hostilities escalated, I lost contact with everyone. I thought about where the kids were and what had happened to them. As I watched schools being bombed, universities flattened, and people killed in their thousands, I thought about where the kids I’d met were and what was happening to them. I kept in contact with many of the teachers I knew and heard daily news of displacement, destruction, hunger and bombing. Recently, I’ve started to link up again with children in Gaza, and it feels wonderful to be back helping them learn after being denied an education for over two years. Connecting with children in Palestine is more than just words. When a child in Palestine confidently tells their story to someone on the other side of the world, bridges are built, empathy grows, and the world gains a fuller picture of childhood in contexts far from peace and privilege. My work with these children is rooted in the belief that education and voice are inseparable. Through storytelling and English language learning, I witness children not just learning new vocabulary, but reclaiming their narratives, believing in their potential, and finding human connection in a world they perceive has abandoned them. And more than anything, this work reminds us all that children — everywhere — deserve to learn, to speak, and to be heard. Links to HUP information, books and resources: The Hands Up Project BY SUSAN PIPER Susan Piper is currently an ESOL teacher in Oldham, Greater Manchester and has worked in education for over 30 years. She is also a volunteer for the Hands Up Project and is the International Solidarity Officer and President of her NEU district. She believes in quality education for all and aims to make her lessons creative and inclusive so that effective language learning can take place.