The Cardinal William H. Keeler Trade Center

By Robyn Fieser

Ericka Saint Fleur has always felt at home under the hood of a car.

In a family dominated by mechanics—her father and two brothers fix cars for a living—talk of transmissions and carburetors was common dinnertime conversation. As Ericka was growing up, tools doubled for toys.

It is no surprise, then, that when it came time for the 20-year-old Haitian to pick her career, the choice was easy. "I always wanted to be a mechanic, no matter what," says Ericka.

But saving the $1,200 it costs to study at a private vocational school in Haiti, where the average family earns only about $250 per year, was not easy. In fact, it would have been impossible had Ericka not found the Cardinal William H. Keeler Trade Center, which, thanks to generous contributions from its partners, costs Ericka's family just $20 per month.

After 15 years in the making and a two-year delay on the heels of devastating Tropical Storm Jeanne, the center inaugurated its first class of 160 students in October 2007.

'We Try to Bring Them Peace'

Located in the northern coastal city of Gonaives, the center provides young adults like Ericka the opportunity to learn skills in seven trades, including plumbing, electricity, carpentry, accounting and home economics.

Courses can last from six months to two years, depending on the level of expertise students hope to reach. "In the case of a mason, it is the difference between simply digging a foundation and building cement walls and designing and carrying out the entire job," says the center's director, Father Hector, a Salesian brother.

Students at the center spend hours each day in one of the seven workshops behind the main building learning the skills of their chosen trade. But just as important as teaching them technical skills, says Father Hector, is helping them achieve emotional and spiritual maturity so that they can become self-sufficient, contributing members of society. "The youth of Gonaives is not only poor, highly vulnerable and with little means, it's also the harshest in the country. Many of these kids have grown up in violent ghettos where the criminal rate is very high," says Father Hector.

The port city's poverty was worsened in 2004 by Tropical Storm Jeanne, which killed more than 2,000 people and damaged every building in the city. Gonaives has also been the scene of much of the violence associated with the country's longstanding political instability.

The result, says Father Hector, is a culture of hostility and aggression. "You could feel it during registration [for the school semester] in the disorderly behavior, the shouting, the nastiness," he says.

To counteract the aggression and instill peace and trust in students, school teachers hold morning discussion groups and prayer sessions. On weekends, they invite students back for sports and other activities. "What we do hour upon hour is we try to get involved in their lives. We try to walk among them to bring them some peace," says Father Hector.

Going Strong

Just a few months after the center opened, more than a dozen students are participating in the weekend recreational program. Many students have traded in guns and gangs for carpentry and accounting.

Still, only 60 percent of the inaugural class can pay their share of the monthly fees, putting more pressure on the center to find additional funding to cover the $1,000 or so it really costs to educate each student. There is an empty space for a cafeteria in one building and plenty of hungry students but no money to equip and maintain it. And already there is a waiting list of 200 students for the upcoming year.

"We have the capacity to welcome even more than 200 but not sufficient material to run the classes properly," says Father Hector.

The Cardinal William H. Keeler Trade Center was built with funding raised by the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Headquartered in Baltimore, Catholic Relief Services has a longstanding relationship with the archdiocese and its former archbishop, Cardinal Keeler, for whom the center is named.

Robyn Fieser is CRS' regional information officer for Latin America and the Caribbean based in Guatemala.