Field notes: Haiti
Back to school in Jacmel: UNICEF supports Haiti’s Ministry of Education with school tents and supplies
By Jennifer Bakody reporting for UNICEF from Haiti
JACMEL, Haiti, 15 March 2010 – The warm yellow light of the noonday sun fills the vast gated property of Ecole Sainte Therese; it shines through cracks and holes in the school’s outer walls to light up dark classrooms that are empty save for rubble and dust. Outside amidst a lush tropical garden, children in royal blue trousers, skirts and matching hair baubles sit row by row on green-painted benches facing two blackboards. A large makeshift tarp overhead provides shade.
This was the scene last Monday during the first day back to class for the school’s 614 primary-level students since the 12 January earthquake. Here in Jacmel, which suffered heavy damage, many of the children still live in fetid tented encampments. UNICEF and its partners estimate there could be up to 250,000 children living in varying conditions in settlements nationwide.
Thirteen year-old twin brothers Jean-Raymond and Jean-Rene Michel were bored and restless at home, wondering when they’d be able to return to school, and yet afraid to come back. Since the earthquake struck, they’ve spent their days outside in the streets and their nights in a tent with their family of eight. Jean-Raymond says he knows the earthquake is over and done with. Still, being inside a building makes him anxious.
“We came today and we saw the tent, and I liked it immediately,” he says. “Our teachers have arranged it nicely for us. They’ve even arranged our benches the way they were before, inside in our classrooms.”
Jean-Rene says the whole family is happy this day has finally come, as their father, mother and grandmother were eager to see their sharp minds engaged. Sitting quietly beside him, brother Jean-Raymond adds, “Our parents had broken hearts for us.”
An estimated 1.26 million children – approximately 700,000 of them school-aged – have been directly affected by the earthquake in Haiti. Significantly, even before the disaster, only about half of Haitian children attended primary school. The vast majority attend privately-run establishments.
Now, together with its partners, UNICEF is supporting Haiti’s Ministry of Education with the development and roll-out of a comprehensive plan to ‘build back better.” The plan includes an official back to school on 1 April in as many areas as possible, as well as the launch of a national curriculum beginning in the fall.
To support schools like Ecole Sainte Therese, which have already resumed classes, UNICEF has put 25 tents, 100 schools-in-a box and 100 Early Childhood Development Kits in the hands of school directors in Jacmel. At the same time, UNICEF partners distributed supplies of life-saving medicines.
According to Noala Skinner, UNICEF’s Haiti’s Acting Chief of Education, education is one of the first lines of response in times of crisis. “We know schools can provide a safe and protective environment for children,” says Ms. Skinner. “And this is particularly true in this emergency, which is a children’s emergency. Schooling is a means of restoring a sense of normalcy to the lives of children and can help them overcome psychological and other forms of distress.”
Two months ago, Ecole Sainte Therese was well-equipped with educative materials and even food provisions donated by the World Food Programme. Then, the earthquake struck, shifting the needs. In addition to the damages the school incurred, staff dispatched all supplies to quake-affected victims.
“We’ve had to start over from almost nothing,” says Soeur Dominique, one of the three Haitian nuns managing the school on behalf of Paris-based congregation St. Joseph de Cluny. “The children are used to having hot meals with us at lunch, but we don’t have the means to provide them just yet. We’ve been missing things – simple things like scribblers and pens. Now with these materials from UNICEF we’ll be able to keep moving forward for the children, one day at a time.”
Despite living a day-to-day existence, the future doesn’t seem so far away for brothers Jean-Raymond and Jean-Rene. “I want to be a MINUSTAH (UN peacekeeping) soldier, so I can keep my parents safe,” says Jean-Rene.
Jean-Raymond adds, “I want to be a priest… to help all the people who are sick, and make them feel better.”
For Haiti’s Director of Basic Learning, there are no two ways about it: not for these twin brothers or for any of Haiti’s young minds.
“The Ministry of Education is committed to the whole of the education system,” says Renold Telfort. “That’s to say, both the private and public systems, so that all children can attend school and take up their place in the country’s development.”
DONATE NOW
Donate to UNICEF Australia’s Haiti Emergency Appeal or phone 1300 884 233
For every dollar donated for the Haiti earthquake, through UNICEF Australia, a minimum of 90 cents will reach children affected.
About UNICEF
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
For more information, please contact:
Martin Thomas, UNICEF Australia
0401 332 399
mthomas@unicef.org.au
Martha Tattersall, UNICEF Australia
0421 570 393
mtattersall@unicef.org.au