❤️ Preschool Breakfast Fully Funded — Now Expanding to First Grade
Thanks to our Breakfast Club, every preschooler receives a hot breakfast each morning. Help us reach 15 new members so first graders can start the day nourished and ready to learn.
Your $30/month provides breakfast for one child every school morning.
👩🏾🎓Women's Leadership Fund
Seven MCLC graduates now in university are women — future nurses, agronomists, business leaders, and veterinarians. They earned full-tuition scholarships.
Don't let costs like housing, meals, books, and transportation force them to leave school. Our goal: fully fund all seven by March 31.
- 3 of 7 Women Fully Funded43%
What Does Breakfast at Matènwa Look like?
Children arrive, hands are washed, and breakfast is served—no fanfare, just routine.
When breakfast is there every school morning—not just occasionally or when there’s extra funding—children settle in and their learning day begins calmly and confidently.
Want to make this possible every day?
A $30/month Breakfast Club gift provides daily breakfast for one student all school year.
Education That Belongs to Everyone
In a time when one in four children in Haiti are out of school, the Matènwa Community Learning Center (MCLC) remains a place of safety, dignity, and possibility. Here on Lagonav Island, children learn in their own language, families grow their own food, and teachers lead with compassion—not fear.
For nearly 30 years, MCLC has shown what’s possible when education grows from local roots and communities are trusted to lead. Every day, students discover their own strength and potential—and the wider world begins to see what Haitian communities can achieve when they are empowered.
Your generosity helps make this model flourish. And the impact is growing.
Watch: A Day in the Life of an MCLC Student
What You Made Possible in 2025
Each number represents a child learning in safety, a teacher empowered to lead, and a family gaining the tools to thrive.
students enrolled this fall — the highest in MCLC’s history
teachers trained in nonviolent, native-language, participatory teaching
school directors mentored in compassionate, community-centered leadership
schools and families planted new organic vegetable gardens
rainwater tanks improved irrigation and productivity for families
Matènwa graduates began university studies in health, agriculture, and business
What we Do
Matènwa Community School
Matènwa is redefining what education in Haiti can be—where children learn in their own language through creativity, equality, and hands-on exploration that inspires confidence, curiosity, and lasting change.
Institute for Learning
The Institute for Learning is transforming education across Haiti. We've trained teachers at more than 120 schools to make learning joyful, peaceful, and rooted in rural life—while shaping the next generation of Haitian leaders.
Mother Tongue Books
Students are creating vibrant storybooks in Haitian Creole—now more than 2,000—awakening a love of reading and the power to tell their own stories with creativity, confidence, and imagination.
Creole Gardens
Matènwa’s Creole Gardens bring learning to life as students and their families grow food, care for the earth, and inspire thousands of others to farm organically and protect the island of Lagonav.
Summer Camp
Camp fills Matènwa with joy as hundreds of children and adults gather to sing, dance, create, and learn—celebrating local talent, building confidence, and renewing hope in tough times.
Art Matènwa
By turning natural and regionally sourced materials into vibrant works of art, Matènwa’s artisans create opportunities that educate, empower, and strengthen community life.
Why Matènwa?
Amid Haiti’s uncertainty, Matènwa offers something rare and powerful:
a proven, community-led model that helps children learn, families grow food, and teachers lead with confidence.
MCLC works because it is rooted in the realities of rural Haitian life:
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Children learn in Haitian Creole, the only language all Haitians share—dramatically improving literacy and comprehension.
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Teachers use nonviolent, child-centered methods, replacing fear with curiosity and respect.
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Families grow home and school gardens, strengthening nutrition, resilience, and independence.
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Local leadership guides every decision, ensuring the work honors community wisdom and creates real, lasting change.
For nearly three decades, Matènwa has shown what’s possible when communities are trusted, supported, and empowered. And every gift helps this model reach more children across Lagonav and beyond.
Latest News From Matènwa
How Matènwa celebrated International Women’s Day
Students gathered under the shade trees at MCLC to celebrate International Women’s Day and honor the women who keep the school running. Monday morning in Matènwa, the school courtyard filled with students gathering under the shade trees to celebrate International Women’s Day. Students formed a wide circle — hundreds of them — clapping, laughing, and cheering as each of the women who teach, cook, clean, and keep the school running was called forward and presented with a certificate honoring her contribution, leadership, dedication, and vision for the community. It was joyful, loud, and proud — exactly the way Matènwa celebrates the people who make the school what it is. Each woman on staff was honored for her contribution, leadership, and dedication to the Matènwa community. At MCLC, women help lead every part of the school. Women parents head up the visitor committee — the group that organizes local families to host visitors in their homes when people come to Matènwa to learn about the school — as well as the water committee and the breakfast program. Women staff serve on the leadership team, run classrooms, and plan the annual summer camp. A longtime female educator directs the Institute for Learning, where teachers from across Haiti come to be trained in Matènwa’s pedagogical approach. Since the school was founded, gender equality has been a core principle. Girls and boys have the same opportunities — to speak, question, experiment, and lead — taking responsibility for the life of the school. None of this happened by […]
Working Toward Clean Water for Four Communities
In the mountains above the Matènwa community on Lagonav Island, a place called Little Spring is a lifeline. Every day, […]...
From Matènwa to the Frontlines of Care
By Williamson Jacques | Matènwa Community Learning Center At the Matènwa Community Learning Center, we often say that education is […]...
How the "Matènwa Way" Travels
This is my third week on Lagonav Island, and yesterday I got to see—up close—the Hub School initiative, a next […]...
You can help change the future of education in Haiti.
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