[News] Mobile Schools in Haiti - work of the Aristide Foundation

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Mobile Schools in the Earthquake Zone - An Update 
from the Aristide Foundation for Democracy -
April 2, 2010

by Laura Flynn

When the Aristide Foundation for Democracy 
launched our Mobile School project in late 
February we wanted to do two things quickly: 
support children living in refugee camps across 
Port-au-Prince and offer immediate employment to 
young Haitians at a time when the whole economy 
has collapsed.   With generous support from the 
<http://HaitiAction.net>Haiti Emergency Relief 
Fund we were able to get schools up and running 
very quickly.  Since late February we've been 
running Mobile Schools, three hours a day, five 
days a week, serving 1260 kids in 5 refugee camps in the earthquake zone.

This project has surpassed our expectations at every level.

First the amazing compassion, vitality and 
professionalism of the 102 monitors we called on 
to staff the project has inspired us.   The 
monitors are mostly young people who were 
students at the language and computer school of 
the Aristide Foundation at the time of the 
quake.  Many of them have lost their houses and 
are facing terrible difficulties in their own 
lives.  The coordinator of the mobile schools at 
the Tarpage encampment in Tabarre, Mirlande 
Janvier, was buried under the rubble with her son 
for two days after the quake before being rescued 
by her neighbors.  Nevertheless she's working 
full-time running the mobile schools in her 
community.  All the monitors and staff come to 
work every day with incredible energy and love 
for the kids they are working with.   In March 
they got a boost when  Leah James, a social 
worker from the University of Michigan did a 
training with them on how to support children 
suffering from the trauma of the quake.  (See her 
story on the Huffington Post 
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leah-james/not-too-soon-for-mental-h_b_513863.html>here. 
)

Second the overwhelming response of the families 
in the camps has humbled us.   Parents and 
community members quickly came together to build 
the shelters in which classes are held.  At each 
site when we opened there was a massive press of 
parents desperate to get their children into the 
schools.  We knew we were offering a very modest 
program – under canopies in the open air, without 
books or professional teachers. The parents saw 
this as something far more profound –a chance, a 
future, some hope for their children.   Here are 
a couple of testimonies from parents:

Esau, 31, Nazon: I thank God every day that my 
children can continue their education here at the 
school. You spend your whole life working to 
build a home to make life better for your 
children and then in a moment the catastrophe 
takes all that work away from you. We moved from 
our house because there were a lot of cracks in 
the walls. The concrete split open and was 
hanging from the ceiling. It was not safe 
anymore. First we stayed [in a camp] near the 
airport but it was very crowded so a month ago we 
moved here (to Nazon). When the director accepted 
my children to attend this school I was so very 
very happy because I want them to continue 
learning and getting an education. It's good for 
them to go to school to have a normal life like 
children should have. It helps them be more confident.

Marjory 28, Tabarre: At the school my daughter 
learns to count, to say the alphabet and also she 
learns hygiene. When I come to walk her back 
after class she sings to me the songs they sing 
in the school. Her favorite song is "Head, 
Shoulders, Knees and Toes" Now she knows all the 
parts of her body and the days of the week, and 
months of the year. She is very clever and is 
learning everything very quickly. The teachers at 
the school are caring and love each of the 
children.  They know what are the strengths of 
each child and they try to help each child. Going 
to school helps children forget about the 
earthquake for a short time. It’s good that the 
school is outside because the children will not 
go indoors. When there are aftershocks, the teachers calm the children.

We planned to take no more than 800 kids – we 
ended up with 1260.  We had to draw the line 
there because we simply don’t have the money to 
do more, but school coordinators in each camp 
continue to report getting pleas from parents 
everyday to take their kids into the schools.

And then of course the kids themselves are 
amazing.  They arrived from the first day in 
clean clothes, every child with shoes on.  How is 
that possible when we know the kind of misery 
these families are living in?  Well, Haitians 
have always sent their children to school with 
pride and dignity – even an earthquake, even the 
misery of the camps, cannot shake that.  Watching 
the kids sing, dance, play, laugh, smile has been 
healing for everyone involved--kids, monitors, 
coordinators, parents.  It's a cliche perhaps to 
say that children are resilient, and yet, they 
are, and they are the future of the nation.

When we opened the schools we thought, we hoped, 
we prayed that food distribution to families at 
refugee settlements would become more 
dependable.  This has not happened.  In none of 
the five camps where we are working is food 
distribution regular or sufficient to meet the 
needs of those living there.   Two of the 
settlements--at Nazon and at Fontamara--report 
that the Aristide Foundation was and is the first 
and only aid agency of any kind to come to where 
they are.  These two camps are not on main roads 
(though they are smack in the middle of 
Port-au-Prince), but even at Carradeux on the 
campus of 
<http://aristidefoundationfordemocracy.org/about/the-university-of-the-aristide-foundation-unifa/>UniFA 
(the Medical school of the Aristide Foundation), 
at Tapage in Tabarre, and at Building 2004, a 
stone’s throw from the airport, there is nothing 
resembling regular food distribution.  This is 
the situation across Haiti.  The aid is simply 
not getting there.  For a clear picture of the 
failure of the relief effort to meet even the 
most basic needs of the Haitian people 
<http://www.change.org/haitijustice/petitions/view/we_can_do_better_for_haiti_demand_transparency_and_improved_aid_distribution>watch 
this short video put together by the New Media 
Project 
<http://www.change.org/haitijustice/petitions/view/we_can_do_better_for_haiti_demand_transparency_and_improved_aid_distribution>and 
sign on to this petition being circulated by the 
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti 
calling on the major aid agencies to do better 
with our money in responding to the crisis in 
Haiti -- and to include the voices of the Haitian people in recovery plans.

The grim reality in the refugee camps of 
Port-au-Prince right now is hunger.  The snack we 
provide in the mobile schools is for many kids 
the only meal they get that day.   That is both 
totally unacceptable and the situation we are 
forced to confront.   Naturally children line up 
more than once, or stash away snacks for their 
parents.  And yet, somehow the AFD monitors and 
coordinators along with the families in the camps 
have established enough discipline to run this 
project – including a daily snack distribution 
for the children right in the midst of camps of 
starving people.  There have been no major 
disruptions –a profound measure of how committed 
these communities are to making these schools 
work for their kids.  The Foundation is committed 
too -- to staying in the camps and working 
alongside the majority of Port-au-Prince's 
inhabitants, as we have for the past 14 
years.   Needless to say, we aren't getting help 
from the major aid organizations.  Perhaps that 
will save us.  The mobile school project along 
with every other project of the Aristide 
Foundation is Haitian-led and 
Haitian-staffed.  There is dignity in that.  In 
the end only Haitians can lead the way out of this catastrophe.

Laura Flynn is a member of the board of the 
Aristide Foundation for Democracy-US, which 
supports the work of the Aristide Foundation in 
Haiti.  AFD-Haiti was founded by Jean-Bertrand 
Aristide in 1996 on the principle that to bring 
real change, democracy must include those at the 
margins of society: street children, market 
women, landless peasants, restaveks (children 
living in Haitian households as unpaid domestic 
laborers), the urban poor. For 14 years the 
Foundation has dedicated itself to providing 
educational opportunities and opening up avenues 
of democratic participation for those who 
traditionally have had no voice in national 
affairs and no access to education.  It seeks to 
echo and amplify the voices of the Haitian people 
on a national and international level.

For more on the current work and history of the 
Aristide Foundation -- and lots of great photos 
from the mobile schools visit our website: 
<http://www.AristideFoundationforDemocracy.org%20>http://AristideFoundationforDemocracy.org 


Online Donations to Support the Mobile Schools 
and other Earthquake Relief Efforts of the 
Aristide Foundation for Democracy can be made 
here: http://aristidefoundationfordemocracy.org/

Or mail checks to: Aristide Foundation, PO Box 
490271, Key Biscayne, Florida 33149

All donations are tax deductible and will be acknowledged.

If you are interested in establishing sister 
school relationships between schools in the US or 
elsewhere and the Mobile Schools in Haiti please 
email us at <mailto:AristideFoundation at gmail.com>AristideFoundation at gmail.com.



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