Teacher recalls decision to stay in harm’s way
Published: July 31, 2005
During what was supposed to be a routine, week-long break from the school in Haiti where he worked, Lower Nazareth Township resident Stephen Keppel found himself at an alarming crossroads.
In response to former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s February ouster, gangs surrounding the capital city, Port-au-Prince and the town where Keppel worked wreaked havoc, causing violence, closing the border, blocking roads and brandishing firearms.
When the situation became so dire that even the director of the school returned to the United States, Keppel had to make a decision: go back to the States, where he could stay with his family and raise funds for the school until it was safe for him to return, or sweat it out in the Dominican Republic, where he was vacationing, and hope for an early return to the students and staff at the school.
“They sealed the border and set up roadblocks. That was a sign that we probably weren’t going to get back (to Haiti) for a little while,” Keppel said.
He opted to stay.
Two weeks later, he left the Dominican Republic and finally returned to Haiti. He and other staffers reopened the school, making it the first school in the area to open its doors after Aristide’s removal. All told, students missed only five class days.
Keppel works for The Haitian Project, a Catholic mission that supports and operates the Louverture Cleary School, a tuition-free school for academically gifted but poor Haitian children. The school is located in Croix-des-Bouquets, a town 10 miles south of Port-au-Prince.
Keppel began teaching English and literature at the school after graduating from Notre Dame University in 2003. He said his main motivation for doing this work is simply “because I knew that I had been given so much, and I felt a strong need that I had to give something back.”
“In Haiti, you can do something for someone every day, because there’s such a need,” Keppel said. When Hurricane Jean hit in September 2004, it demolished a town called Gonaives and thousands perished.
“We hear about the tsunami, but it seems like Haiti always gets overlooked,” he said.
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