A School Built on Resilience in Haiti

In Navarre, Haiti, children were learning in a building that was never meant to be a school. The community had been lent a small space on a temporary basis, and it was falling apart: its walls were patched with chopped palm trees, and its damaged roof was riddled with holes.

When the owners asked for their space back, Navarre turned to buildOn, and with support from DataPhilanthropy, the community began building a permanent school of its own. What followed is a story of residents buying land together, carrying materials by hand, and overcoming months of delays to build a school that will educate students in the community for generations to come.

What You’ll Find in This Story

• What school looked like in Navarre before the new building, and what happened when the borrowed space was no longer available
• How residents bought land, carried materials by hand, and restarted construction after months of delays
• What the new school means to the students, teachers, and neighbors who helped build it

Learning in a Borrowed Building

Katiana Sevingné, a teacher at the school, remembers the days in the temporary building well. “Before construction, we were learning in difficult conditions because the building was not in good condition and we did not have enough space. The children were crowded into a very small facility.”

The students kept coming anyway. Dana Pierre Louis, a 12-year-old fifth grader who hopes to become an engineer when she grows up, puts it simply: “Even though the conditions were difficult, I always found a way to come to school.”

Things were already tough. Then the owners asked for their space back. Suddenly, the community faced an urgent question: where would the children learn?

“Even though the conditions were difficult, I always found a way to come to school.”

Dana Pierre Louis, Fifth grader in Navarre, Haiti

Finding Land and Funding

The people of Navarre turned to buildOn. After a series of meetings to assess the community’s needs and the project’s feasibility, everyone agreed that a new school was both possible and deeply needed. DataPhilanthropy, an organization that has partnered with buildOn to build 20 new schools over the past year, stepped in to fund the school.

Before ground was even broken, the community faced its first test: finding land. Negotiations over the first plot fell through. Rather than give up, residents searched for another option, and when a second plot became available, they pooled their own resources to help purchase it. Before a single brick was laid, the people of Navarre had already shown how much this school meant to them.

Stuck in the Mud

Once construction began, the realities on the ground soon got in the way. The road to the site was unpaved, and some sections turned to thick mud in heavy rain. Others flooded entirely. Residents lay stones and wood in the mud to make it passable, but that left the steep slope slippery. 

Every delivery of construction materials to the site was complicated and risky. The road had claimed the lives of truck drivers in the past, so drivers had to take extreme care to ensure they made it to the worksite in one piece.

Katiana saw the difficulty up close. “Some of the roads were in very poor condition, which made it difficult for the materials to reach the site. In some places we had to put wooden planks down so that vehicles could pass. Some materials had to be carried by hand.”

Trucks often could not reach the site entirely, and work gradually slowed to a halt that lasted for months. For a community that had waited so long for this school, the interruption could have been disheartening. But the people of Navarre refused to give up.

Carrying the Materials by Hand

In July 2026, buildOn’s leadership team in Haiti organized a staff service project to restart construction and push forward as far as conditions allowed. The community answered the call, giving their time and energy, sometimes working day and night. Where vehicles could not reach, residents carried the materials themselves: sand, gravel, water, and benches traveled more than 4 km to the site on their arms and heads.

After months of waiting, seeing the work resume brought new hope to Navarre. The roads were still difficult, the weather still unpredictable, and every delivery still took extra effort, but the community had proven something essential: hardship can slow a project down, but it cannot stop a community determined to build its future.

Giving Back to the Community Where His Own Education Began

Among those who helped was Bellevice Michelson, a 26-year-old father who knows firsthand what can keep a child from finishing school. He began his education in Navarre because it was the closest school to his community, but had to leave in the fourth year of fundamental education because his parents could no longer afford it.

Like many young people his age, he had to find another path. As a teenager, he took up masonry and steadily built his skills, and by the time buildOn arrived in Navarre, he was already working as a mason. He saw a chance to grow, so he joined the construction crew and worked closely with buildOn’s masons and engineers, treating every day on site as a lesson. “I was already familiar with bricklaying, but with buildOn’s engineers, I learned a lot that I didn’t know.”

The techniques, methods, and advice he gained allowed him to keep learning even after his schooling was cut short. Today, he hopes to keep developing professionally and, one day, to become a site manager at buildOn.

Bellevice also regularly encouraged his neighbors to join the work, convinced that everyone had a role to play. For him, building the school was a way of giving back to the community that raised him, and it was personal: this is the very school where his own education began. “The school closest to us was the École Isabelle Présumé Duprévil in Navarre. Seeing this new construction is of great importance to me and the children in the community.”

A Source of Collective Pride

Today, neighbors passing by stop to admire the new building. For Dana, watching her community come together left a lasting impression. “When I saw people helping to build the school I felt happy because people were making an effort and giving their time to support the children. When the new school opened I felt good. I felt comfortable and full of energy.”

Katiana sees a brighter future for her students. “Before, we were learning in a small and very cramped space, but now we have a new building. Our learning conditions have improved and we are very happy and proud. The children who come here will be happy and will be able to continue their education.”

“Our learning conditions have improved and we are very happy and proud. The children who come here will be happy and will be able to continue their education.”

Katiana Sevingné, Teacher in Navarre, Haiti

For the people of Navarre, this school stands as proof that they stayed united through every difficulty: every bag of cement transported, every load of sand and gravel carried by hand, every hour spent on site, and every solution found along the way. It is a true source of collective pride.

If you want to help us build schools in Haiti and around the globe, consider making a tax-deductible donation to support buildOn’s work today.