Installation of solar power and SmartBoard

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  Standing under the shade of a small tree next to the health clinic, we watched as the giant pole carrying the towering solar panel swayed back and forth.  The men and teenagers gripping the pole were dripping sweat, reaching as far up the pole as their arms could extend, shouting orders to each other, while onlookers cheered in excitement.  We stood nervously, urging the 400-pound panel to not shift and slip out of everyone’s hands, but as more people grabbed the long pole, it stabilized and was secured into the ground.  This image of everyone’s hands supporting the structure reminded us of the team effort and collaboration that led to this culmination of solar panels being installed in Canaan, Haiti.  We would like to thank all of our generous donors and partners, Enersa and HaitiFutur, for enabling us to bring solar power and interactive, technology-based SmartBoard learning system to the students of Canaan.  Most importantly, we would like to thank the people of Canaan, Haiti for opening up to us, embracing us as friends and showing us what determination & joy looks like amidst difficult circumstances.  You have been our inspiration throughout this journey.  There is a saying in Creole, “Dye mon, gen mon”: Beyond the mountains, there are mountains.  With support from so many people, we can together climb each mountain that we face.

Preparing for a Canaan School Visit – April 2018

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Hello everyone.

3 Generation Education has been incredibly busy over the past few weeks, and there is lots that will be happening very soon! A couple of months ago, we were officially recognized as a nonprofit by the California government, a huge step for us.  As an organization, our first aid to a school in need will be a generator and a laptop.  Some of the Board will make a trip to Haiti in April.  During our visit, we hope to make these available to the school.

Thanks to the incredible generosity of Bill and Judy Long, Fred Moses, Karen Grossman, and Ji and David Hwang, we have received enough to fund both the generator and the laptop.

In February, my mom and I traveled back to MA, to have an official board meeting. We met up with all of the board members, who have been so helpful and dedicated to this organization, and we talked about future plans for this nonprofit. Also, I look very fancy, because I participated in a Korean Arts Festival, in which we explained all about what Koreans do during the New Year. I have attached both photos below!

Meanwhile, Jina has decided to collect art supplies for the kids there, such as colored pencils, sharpeners, coloring books, etc… We are all excited for her to become part of this group! She has already gotten several donations with the help of her school friends, and we will be collecting them until April 3rd. Also, with my club at school, we are collecting clothing, certain kindles, donations, and will also have several fundraisers. We will be having a bake sale this coming Monday, and hope to generate around $100. All of the proceeds will go towards getting reading material for the students in Canaan. We have also gotten 12 Kindles, and are in the process of downloading French texts to bring with us.

Regarding the trip, we already have about 9 people joining us for this life-changing memorable experience. We would like to thank them for their continuous support in this.  We are all so excited!  If you would like to help us, use the Donate button on the home page.  Please share this website with your friends and family. Help us raise awareness regarding our organization!

Veterans Day 2017

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Hello everyone,

Hope you all enjoyed the Veterans Day weekend. Did anyone do anything special? My junior friend, Barbara “Bee”, invited me to visit the Veterans hospital this morning in Palo Alto(photo of building is below). I had the opportunity to listen to many stories about WW2, the Vietnam War, and the Korean War, which was both equally interesting and sad. Some men had many physical disabilities which was sad to see, but everyone was proud of the dedication and bravery that the Veterans had. In the end, although this was a short visit, I’m glad that I got the chance to speak to many of them. I hope that others somehow thanked the Veterans for their sacrifice and service!

Also, I would like to talk about the upcoming plans that my family and I have been working on. Currently, I have been talking with a family friend from MA about getting some tablets out to Haiti. We have been speaking on a regular basis, and he has brought many great ideas! I am very glad to have met someone who is very skilled in technology and is also very willing to help. Anyway, I will be releasing more information about these tablets once I get a prototype in the next week or so(apps, costs, etc). Additionally, I have been working with some friends towards creating a club at my school. I hope to make this club official by the start of January!

Thank you for continuing to read these blogs!

Hannah Hwang

“Never in the history of the world has any soldier sacrificed more for the freedom and liberty of total strangers than the American soldier”.   -Zell Miller

Recent Wildfires – Spring 2018

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Hello,

Sorry to not have posted in such a long time, but I was really preoccupied with my classes! Today, I would like to talk about the recent wildfires and ways to support and help the victims.

As many of you know, the wildfires that have been raging through northern CA are still going, and they have afflicted more than hundreds of people. Additionally, they have destroyed thousands of homes, buildings, vineyards, and more, which will all take a while to rebuild. My family and I live in the Los Altos area, which was about 100 miles from the fires. About a week ago, I remember how the smoke from the fires traveled downwards, ultimately creating hazy and cloudy weather. The skies turned gray, and the air smelled like smoke for several days. Unfortunately, mankind has not created a way to prevent tragedies like this, but, please feel free to donate to all of the victims of these fires. You all can help these people by donating money, praying for them, donating blood, and more. Here are some websites that can be used to donate through:

-https://www.gofundme.com/disaster-relief-santa-rosa-lunches

-http://www.napavalleycf.org/fire-donation-page/

Please pray for these victims, and offer support to them. Thank you all!

Hannah Hwang

 

“Helping others might not change the whole world, but it could change the world for one person”.    -Unknown

Beginnings

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Hello!

It has been a very long week, but I am excited to say that I had lots of time to think. This week, my teachers talked a lot about beginnings. Beginning with a new teacher, new class, or in my case, a new school and state. That led me to think about why my family and I visited Haiti.

We decided to go, after talking with Arthur Demosthenes, and learning about how we could make an impact on the children and families there. We were introduced to Arthur by church friends, and he later joined our family for dinner. He helped inspire the idea of going to Haiti, and because of him, we learned much from our experiences there.

During the next couple of weeks, I would like to summarize our experiences in Haiti, day by day, so please stay tuned! Thank you for reading this short post, and I hope to be more detailed in the future!

 

“From small beginnings come big things” – Proverb

My experiences

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Hello,

I have decided to try and write a new blog each Friday, but we will have to see how that turns out!

I am 16 years old, and I currently am a sophomore. Although I am fairly young, I have been lucky enough to visit a 3rd world country. In our society today, people are incredibly privileged, and have much more than we think. I traveled to Haiti this past August, and it was truly influential on me and my family. We went there as guests of a pastor, and yet, living there was unbelievably hard. We only drank bottled water, because their water was too dirty for us to drink. We could only take quick showers, but would get sweaty and dirty almost an hour later. There were many, many mosquitoes that left bites all over our bodies, and there was almost no way of protecting ourselves. The sun was very strong, and there was little sunscreen or protection from its rays.

We stayed for 1 week, but I don’t know if we could have stayed another week. My sister and father got extremely sick, and it was very difficult for the last few days. Many people around the world do not honestly understand how much others struggle. I hope that by the end of this school year, I will consistently raise some funds for teachers in Haiti, and then I hope that some people will be interested in visiting Haiti with me next year. I’m not going to lie; this trip was very influential, but difficult. I want to find other students like me, who have dedication and passion for helping others.

“When you know what you want, and you want it bad enough, you’ll find a way to get it”.   -Jim Rohn

My Motivation

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Hello all,

This is my first blog post, and I don’t know 100% what to expect. All I do know, is that I have a clear goal in my head. I have a passion; something I think about all day, because I desperately want it to come true.

My goal is this: During my high school career, I want to create some sustainable source of income for a K-8th grade school in Haiti, and then, figure out how to impact others by building a company. This idea of 3 generations, is my hope to unite people from all generations to help and make a stand. If you are a kid, helping your community and others is incredibly important. It sets you out to think about others, rather than yourself. I was always the type of kid who did that. Usually, I did that too much, and ended up not taking very good care of myself. However, I feel blessed to have learned the important lesson that comes with helping people. My parents were the ones who started me on that track, and I want others to do this too. It’s never too late to make an impact! Even older generations can do many things. It is important to not dis-acknowledge them, just because they are older. In reality, it is the mindset that people place upon them that makes them believe that their work is done.

Through this blog, I hope that others with similar goals and ideas can join me in impacting the world. My father has always told me to “impact a billion people, for big goals can be achieved with time and hard work”. Be the type of person who dreams so big, that others may laugh at your dream. This will push you to achieve new things.

“Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek”.   -Mario Andretti

Yard Sale & 6th Grade Classroom

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In March of 2017, our family made the decision to move to California from Massachusetts. So we planned to have a garage sale before the move. Around the time we were deciding to move to CA, our family friends, Bill and Judy Long, introduced us to Pastor Arthur Demosthenes, who is doing life-changing work in Canaan, Haiti. When he mentioned a need to build a 6th grade classroom at the Grace primary school in Canaan, we were inspired to help support the school. Since we were planning on having a garage sale, we offered to donate the proceeds towards the building of the 6th grade classroom.

As the date of the yard sale approached, our family decided to change our small garage sale into a community yard sale. We contacted the local newspaper, posted on the community blog, and emailed friends and family to spread the news. At first, we were worried that few people would come to our yard sale, let alone help. But on the day of the yard sale, an astounding number of townsfolk showed up with their own items, purchased goods, and even stayed to help manage the process. It was a great community bonding event, and in just one weekend, we raised $3,000. We were able to cover the entire cost of the 6th grade classroom, and used the leftover money to purchase desperately needed medicine for people in Canaan. The yard sale allowed us to experience the power of one community’s effort to help another community.

Later that summer, we traveled to Haiti for the first time, to witness the impact that the classroom would have on the people there. Although our trip was tiring, filled with mosquitoes, flies and cockroaches, we loved the connections that we made with the people! We could not talk with the people because of the language barrier, but we found ways to communicate nonetheless. We even painted the classroom that we had helped fund, and were deeply moved by how the community viewed it as hope for the future. No one in our family thought that this trip would become a way for us to make a positive impact on the lives of others, but we are glad to have gotten so much motivation and inspiration from our trip.

http://lincoln.wickedlocal.com/news/20170531/lincoln-yard-sale-raises-2500-for-classroom-in-haiti