Who Are We?
Our Meraki is a nonprofit organization operating in Miami Fl and Atlanta GA.
Founded by Haitian American, Dr. Julie David. She lived in Haiti as a child, attended mission trips and witnessed first-hand the lack of quality education for children in Haiti. This experience has been the driving force for our mission at Our Meraki, to improve every step of the education journey for children in third world countries.
Did you know that millions of children worldwide are being deprived of basic education?
Almost 60 million children of primary school age are not in school. Of the world’s 787 million children of primary school age, 8% do not go to school.
In 39 out of 99 countries, fewer than 50% of the poorest children have completed primary school.
In low-income countries public finances for education are very low: the annual spending in a high-income country like Austria is more than 200-times higher per student than in a low-income country like the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Poverty remains one of the biggest factors that hinders access to quality education. In most cases poverty requires children to work, this means they leave school early or never enter school in the first place. Poverty also keeps children from having essentials to attend school or continue their education. Enrollment gaps and lack of supplies can be a big problem. This is where Our Meraki comes in, our mission is to give kids a better education. Currently, we are prioritizing Haiti.
Haiti is a small Caribbean Country with records of poverty, political instability, and natural disasters for decades. These challenges therefore have unfortunately impacted the quality of education for the children in Haiti despite the constant effort of the government and NGOs to ensure education for all kids. A basic human right.
Source: UNICEF
Educational Facts about Haiti:
Over 40% of children in Haiti are out of school.
The enrollment rate for primary school in Haiti is 57%, and fewer than 30% of the students reach 6th grade.
Secondary schools enroll 20% of eligible-age children.
Haiti’s literacy rate is 52.9%.
Haiti ranks 177th out of 186 in the world for national spending on education.
International private schools are primarily operated and funded by American, Canadian missions and churches, they educate 90% of the students.
Over 40% of children in Haiti are out of school
The enrollment rate for primary school in Haiti is 57%
The quality of education in Haiti can be improved through many initiatives, here at Our Meraki we have dedicated ourselves to being part of the solution. This is not just “the right thing to do” but a basic human right, every child deserves a chance to receive quality education, they are the future.
Our Meraki aims to enhance the education journey for children by funding enrollment, uniform fees, providing school supplies, backpacks, footwear, hygiene products, menstrual products for girls, providing general health education and much more.
“meraki [may-rah-kee] (adjective) This is a word that modern Greeks often use to describe doing something with soul, creativity, or love — when you put “something of yourself” into what you’re doing, whatever it may be.”
Placing the word OUR in front of MERAKI means that we will work as a team to put our heart and soul into providing a quality education journey for children in third world countries.
Learn more on how to go about that by visiting our website @ourmeraki.org or on Facebook and Instagram @ourmerakiinc.