Hugues Bastien, Director of Institution Univers 

Hughes Bastien is the founder and has been the Director of Institution Univers since this Christian school was founded in 1994. Here is the story of Hugues, his early life and the events that led him to start Institution Univers.

I was born in Haiti in 1961 as the 9^th child in a family of 12 children. My parents emigrated to New York in 1969 and over a period of years brought their children to the United States as their financial condition allowed. I waited years to go to the U.S., and finally at age 15 (1976) my parents brought me to New York City to live and advance my education.

Just a couple months before I left Haiti, I became a Christian and that transformed my life---even though I didn’t know what my future would be and what God had in store for me. But I knew God was calling me for a special assignment, partially because I was the first of my 11 brothers and sisters to become a Christian.

In 1977 I became a member of Pilgrim Wesleyan Church in Brooklyn, NY, and in 1986 I became the Youth Leader of that church.

In 1980-81, my desire was to be a missionary to Ethiopia, after witnessing on TV the devastating famine that plagued that country. The opportunity to do mission work in Ethiopia didn’t materialize, so I continued with my college education.

I went to Bronx Community College in New York from 1980 to 1983 and graduated with an AAS degree in Electrical Technology. Then I went on to City College of New York from 1983 to 1985 and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Electro-Mechanical Engineering

In 1984 I went back to Haiti for the first time since I had left in 1976. That visit made a life-changing impact on me as I compared my life-style in New York with the lives of the poor people in Haiti. I returned to the United States with a significantly different perspective on the problems of Haiti, its people and what they need to build better lives.

In 1986 as a youth leader, I took 30 young adults from my church to a three-day conference in Urbana, Illinois. The theme for that conference was “People Answering the Call to Evangelism.” This conference is where I first heard the song “People Need the Lord,” by Steve Green. It was a spiritually moving experience. I knew there and then that God was calling me to serve as a missionary in my home country of Haiti.

In 1989 I began a U.S.-based sponsorship program to support a little private school in Ouanaminthe, Haiti. People donated money to support teacher salaries. In 1990, with the help of some co-workers and friends, this fund-raising program was registered as a 501-c-(3) organization so that contributions would be tax-deductible. The organization in the U.S. was called Coalition of Children in Need Association, and it is still the principle U.S. fund raising organization for Institution Univers.

I lost my employment in New York in 1991 as Director of Operations for Homes for the Homeless. So in 1992 I moved back to Haiti and worked with a youth sports program.

The birth of Institution Univers was in 1994 when four Haitian friends and I joined together in Ouanaminthe to commit to provide a better educational program for children than is provided in the local public schools. The kindergarten was opened in 1994 with 84 students and three teachers. Every subsequent year a class level was added; the school added classrooms and teachers in 2005 for the 10^th grade, and the 11^th grade is in place for the 2006-2007 school year.

Kindergarten students start as early as 2 years of age. All class levels have a daily Bible period.

In the very early years of Institution Univers, I returned to New York City for a few months each school year to drive a taxi and earn enough money to pay the school’s teachers. Tuition of $45 per year was charged for attending students, but this tuition and other U.S.-based contributions were insufficient to pay school expenses for a couple of those early years of the school.