Education and Stanley

I have read the facts about Haiti and I have seen the poverty.This small country has touched my heart on so many levels. Today was one of those days I was angry and sad at the same time. Angry because, plain and simple the world is unfair, and sad because I see how that unfairness has touched a young boy.
Stanley is a 14 year old street kid who may or may not have a place to call home. He has been known to sleep on Gwenn and Nick's front porch and is often at the front gate calling for "Papa Nick" and hoping that Nick will find some work for him that day. Sometimes he will come around a meal time in hopes of getting some food as well as a small sum of money for what ever chores he might do.It is obvious the way he hangs around that he likes it here.
Today I was going over some words in a Haitian/English picture dictionary with him and realized that he could not read. I came to discover that he maybe finished second grade and he could not even print his name. I gave him a notebook, a pencil and some crayons and we practiced letters for a little while. When Fritzie came home from school he hid our work from her seemingly ashamed to be practicing his name.
In America every child has the rite to attend public school. Every child can get special assistance and every child can get food. I know that not every child gets the best education, not every child gets the best food, but every child can be educated and every child can be fed.We have so much in the states that we have lost site many times of the value of what we consider to be our entitlement. Our chilren's life are filled with activities to entertain.Children complain about getting up early and they stay up too late.Parents fight with their kids about homework. While there are many who enjoy school, I mostly hear complaints from students and parents about what is wrong with their schools or how the teacher is to blame for not doing his/her job.
In Haiti the children who go to school all wear uniforms. Their white shirts are starched chrisp. Sometimes with a coal iron. Gwenn's girls are up and dresses and ready for breakfast at 5:30 AM. As soon as they return from school they take out their books to continue their study. These girls are 6,7 and 15. I have not heard one complaint all week about this arrangement.
I have spoken to three young men this week who have the privledge of attending high school. All high schools are private but follow a Haitian certificate program. Normal studies for these students are: English, French, Spanish, Creole (that's right 4 languages)math, bio, physics, soical studies,applicatons (?) and geography. ( I may have missed something as well) Before school and after school if you meet these young men they have their face in a book studying. If they do not pass their exams then they are taken out of the program.
Then there are the Stanley's. The children who either have never gone to school or only went for a very short time because there was not funds to go.They want so much to study. They are hungry for knowledge and hungry for food.
Then there is the deaf school. These children are educated in private schools up until about sixth grade. Then their education is ended.
I can't help but wonder "God why was I born rich?" Am I rich? By American standards, no. In Haiti, very much so. The only answer there can be is for me to respond to the needs I see with the resources God has given me. My money, my time, my blog. So that just maybe a few Stanley's in this world might be given hope.