The Lagosette School started in 1999 and met on the Manna property even before a church was built. Then, in 2000, a church building was completed and it for some classes while others still met in the yard. Brian Wallace, who had previously served as a missionary in Lagosette, began to make trips from his home in the D.R. to Haiti in order to help the school.
In 2001, the Lord laid it on the hearts of Steve and Melissa Brooks to get involved and they started S.O.S. Children’s Missions which connected American sponsors with students in Lagosette. The school began with a small infrastructure of some teachers and a director, but no substantial buildings.
In the summer of 2003, after working in the Dominican Republic, the Gautney family moved to Lagosette with the hope of improving the school and working with the community in Lagosette. They immediately began to provide more infrastructure through supporting individuals and groups. The result of that was to build several open air classrooms, office area, a small food storage depot, an open air cooking area, and outhouses for the school. A cement floor was also added to the church building. Brad hired a new director, Duchange, and the two worked closely on many improvements to the daily operations of the school.
The school now hosts over 300 students, and provides one hot meal every school day (for many, their ONLY meal). The meal program started when the director of the school recognized that many of the children were coming to school hungry, thus struggling to focus on their lessons. So, a program to insure at least one meal was initiated in the early stages of the school. .
