<html>
<body>
<font size=3><b>Mobile Schools in the Earthquake Zone - An Update from
the Aristide Foundation for Democracy - <br>
April 2, 2010<br><br>
</b>by Laura Flynn <br><br>
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
<a href="http://HaitiAction.net">Haiti Emergency Relief Fund</a> 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.<br><br>
This project has surpassed our expectations at every level.<br><br>
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
<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leah-james/not-too-soon-for-mental-h_b_513863.html">
here. </a>)<br><br>
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:<br><br>
Esau, 31, Nazon: <i>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.<br><br>
</i>Marjory 28, Tabarre: <i>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.<br><br>
</i>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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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
<a href="http://aristidefoundationfordemocracy.org/about/the-university-of-the-aristide-foundation-unifa/">
UniFA (the Medical school of the Aristide Foundation</a>), 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
<a href="http://www.change.org/haitijustice/petitions/view/we_can_do_better_for_haiti_demand_transparency_and_improved_aid_distribution">
watch this short video </a>put together by the New Media Project
<a href="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 </a>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.
<br><br>
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.
<br><br>
<i>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. <br><br>
For more on the current work and history of the Aristide Foundation --
and lots of great photos from the mobile schools visit our website:</i>
<a href="http://www.AristideFoundationforDemocracy.org%20">
http://AristideFoundationforDemocracy.org </a><br><br>
Online Donations to Support the Mobile Schools and other Earthquake
Relief Efforts of the Aristide Foundation for Democracy can be made here:
<a href="http://aristidefoundationfordemocracy.org/" eudora="autourl">
http://aristidefoundationfordemocracy.org/<br><br>
</a>Or mail checks to: <b>Aristide Foundation, PO Box 490271, Key
Biscayne, Florida 33149 <br><br>
All donations are tax deductible and will be acknowledged.<br><br>
</b>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
<a href="mailto:AristideFoundation@gmail.com">
AristideFoundation@gmail.com</a>. <br><br>
<br>
</font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font size=3 color="#FF0000">Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#008000">415 863-9977<br><br>
</font><font size=3 color="#0000FF">
<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.Freedomarchives.org</a></font><font size=3> </font></body>
</html>