On November 17th, 2009, Rea Dol and Euvonie Auguste, two educators and grassroots activists from Haiti, were given a commendation by the entire Board of Supervisors of San Francisco.  The commendation reads as follows:

Rea Dol and Euvonie Auguste are two women at the center of the struggle for democracy and popular education in Haiti.  Both have devoted their lives to empowering and educating the poorest communities in Haiti.  They are in the forefront of the effort to increase literacy among Haitian women.

Rea Dol is the founder and director of SOPUDEP, a school which serves the needs of 480 of the poorest children in Petion-Ville, an area just outside Port-au-Prince.  She has kept the school open in the face of continual threats and government repression.

Euvonie Auguste is a specialist in adult literacy who is a member of Fanmi Lavalas, the largest popular movement in Haiti.  As the director of the national literacy campaign during the administration of Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, she helped design a program that dramatically reduced illiteracy and brought education to the most marginalized communities in Haiti.  She has been at the center of efforts to educate women and to recognize and respect Vodou, the indigenous religion of the Haitian people.

Ms. Dol and Ms. Auguste truly believe that education is a right for all, not the privilege of a few.  They have risked their lives in this battle for literacy and social justice -- and we honor their work today.