College Harry Brakeman

College Harry Brakeman
Location
Petit-Goave
Information
Type	Private
Religious affiliation(s)	Methodist
Opened	1976
Grades	1 to 13

College Harry Brakeman is a Methodist school (primary and secondary) in Haiti. It is run by the Eglise Méthodiste d'Haiti (Methodist Church of Haiti).

History

The school was built in the 1970s by Methodist pastor Harry Brakeman of Michigan with the help of numerous construction volunteers looking to escape Michigan's winters.^[1]

The school has an enrollment of about 600 students.

In January 2010, the 7.0 Magnitude earthquake that devastated much of Haiti caused considerable damage to the town of Petit-Goave, followed by a 5.9 magnitude aftershock centered directly below the town. Due to good construction techniques, the school suffered little damage other than a computer lab which was built around 2008 above the school's auditorium. The unfinished computer lab was not built to the same standards as the rest of the school and was destroyed in the quake and aftershocks.

Following the quake, the Methodist Church of Haiti and United Methodist Volunteers in Mission (UMVIM) partnered with Kansas-based United Methodist Church of the Resurrection to help the church rebuild Petit-Goave.

The school was featured in the 400th episode of the NPR program This American Life.

References

1. ^ Feltes, Jane. "This American Life". Stories Pitched by our Parents. Public Radio International. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/400/stories-pitched-by-our-parents. Retrieved 3/4/2011. 

External links