Never-ending election fallout

I have a bit of cabin-fever.  For the past 5 days, I've not left the block due to political turmoil and street riots.  The election news announced last Tuesday evening brought about huge disgruntlement and anger, to say the least.  Preval's hand-picked candidate, Jude Celestin, is in the top 2 with Mama Manigat.  The Tet Kale (bald head) performer/singer, Mickey Martelly, did not rank to the disappointment of thousands who flooded the streets in opposition to the election council's results.  Its grossly corrupt.  Up until last Tuesday, almost every Haitian I asked agreed that Manigat and Martelly would be the two in the runoff. 

From our apartment we could smell burning tires and hear riotous screaming.  Black soot and glass shards coat nearby streets.  Of course, the whole country was brought to a standstill.  No tap-taps (pick-ups serving as public transport) or motorcycles were on the roads.  Stores, schools, banks, all closed.  Even as the riots calm down, general fear still rears its head as we wait for the election council's next announcement... will Martelly be added to the runoff? Will Celestin be taken off?  How will everyone react?   And then, what will happen on January 16?

Our programs have been closed due to the situation, but hopefully everything will reopen tomorrow.  Just one more week, and then Dharma and I head to the US for some time with family and friends!  Last year at this time, I was trying to fly to Haiti but got blocked due to the huge 2-foot snowfall.  This time, I hope we don't get blocked from flying out of the PAP airport due to any political unrest.  Whatever happens, it will be an adventure.

AMSAI: Kinder & Primary School

Dressed in crisp, orange-checkered uniforms with their names prominently embroidered on the front, the kindergarten children arrive at our 5 sites every morning by 8am.   At our home base, AMSAI is the kindergarten and primary school which has been in existence for the last several years.  Dada Gopal has done a beautiful job transforming the school into a more beautiful space, and we have a vibrant new pedagogical director, Ralph.  2011 is looking up!

Mary Ange is one of our trainers for the kindergarten program.  She used to be a teacher at the AMSAI school, but in the last 6 months she has been serving all of our kindergarten sites as a trainer to support the teachers by modeling lessons and conducting professional development trainings.  She also just gave birth to a precious little baby in May!

The children are active everyday with physical activities, but Fridays are special sports days for the kindergarten children.  They play relay race games, practice yoga, and toss balls. 

We had a wonderful week with the AMSAI children.  Marg, Emily and Sherry have been coming from the US to support the school over the last several years.  They facilitated beautiful lessons with each of the classes.

AMSAI is a warm, loving community school.  I love seeing our team members' children in classes.  It reminds me of Newtown Friends School and George School where everyone feels like one big family.  Dharma and I love our new neighbor family.  Kettlie and Jacque have 7 children and 3 of them go to AMSAI.  Every day I look for Sharina (4), Misterline (6) or Jakline (7) in their classes just to catch a peek of their beautiful smiles.

Children in 3rd grade painted their own illustrations to a book, and 5th graders created wheels about animals' life cycles. 

Upcoming Elections

The tension is palpable in the days leading up to the election. There are 19 official candidates running for president (even 1 woman). Sunday is voting day. Of the 4.7 million Haitians eligible to vote, I wonder how many will actually venture to the polls.

Anecdotal conversations with my team members, people in the camps and the neighborhood point to high level of distrust, anger, resentment toward all the candidates. I have been hard-pressed to find even one person who plans to vote on Sunday. Those who do plan to vote are endorsing Manigat, the only woman candidate, or Martelly, a former musician.

As one of my team members explained, "It's almost becoming a cultural norm to fear the days leading up to and days following the election." Our team leaders discussed and decided that our programs would be closed today and Monday due to potential violence and volatility at each of the camps due to political tensions. Each site coordinator would decide when to re-open based on the local situation.

In the last week, more and more streets are blocked for demonstrations. One of the leading candidate's deputies was shot. Gunfire is regularly heard at night in some areas of the city. One of our team leaders cautioned us to prepare for a lot of unrest next week as the results are being tabulated.

With the increasing rate of cholera cases, several candidates urged authorities to postpone elections, but the move was denied.

Cholera is a huge threat, and people are more aware of the potential severity of the disease over the next year. Some reports project that more than a 500,000 Haitians could contract cholera. Already some family members of my team who live in the provinces have contracted the disease and are barely hanging on. We are sending medicines and oral rehydration salts (ORS) as fast as we can.

We learned last weekend that cholera has reached the Artibonite communes of Sou Chod and Terre Neuve, where AMURT has had a variety of project over the last six years. These two communes are located in the northwest of Haiti. The two local clinics responsible for the whole area were swamped with patients and were distributing ORS and antibiotics, yet already several had died. The elderly and children are still the most vulnerable.

I would say I see a marked difference in our team's overall well being these last couple weeks. With all of the stresses, unknowns and challenges that everyone faces, people are really feeling stretched. I continue to be inspired by the strength and support among our team members. The team has grown steadily over the last 10 months, yet the love and respect for each other is unwavering.

Serendipitous meetings

It was wonderful to meet Tim and Adam last week who showed us the wonderful technology of XO laptops and the Waveplace software.

Laptops, and accessibility to technology in general, are so important to really be successful in this new, fast-paced, global millennium. We look forward to incorporating this program into our after-school enrichment program for children aged 7-12.

This morning we had a wonderful meeting with our kindergarten trainers in how to support our community teachers with the ever constant challenges of teaching in camp-conditions. We did another round of brainstorming about what the "ideal" kinder class should be like: what does it look like? what are the children doing? what is the teacher doing? what are the trainers doing?

Learning opportunities that foster self-guided discovery and exploration are what we are after! Tiny steps toward constructivist, student-centered pedagogy!

Check out www.waveplace.org and www.laptop.org
To see Tim's blog about his visit with us, go to:
http://waveplace.com/news/blog/archive/001019.jsp

School-aged children among most vulnerable to Cholera

The Ministry of Public Health declared that cholera has indeed spread to six departments (or regions) of Haiti, affecting over 11,000 people. More than 700 have died. The reports are showing that school aged children are most vulnerable, with a high mortality rate.

In response to the cholera outbreak, we have stepped up our prevention strategies: informative messaging with flyers and signs, community/family outreach, teacher-training, increased supply of cleaning materials & wash basins, acquisition of rehydration salts, etc.

Cholera & Tomas

After receiving many emails of concern, I am finally getting a chance to write. Fortunately, tropical storm Tomas caused much less damage to Port au Prince than was forecast. Areas outside of the capital did suffer from severe flooding, yet people were on alert and making preparations. Most residents in the camps chose not to evacuate even under extreme pressure from authorities and NGOs. Instead, camp residents felt a strong desire to withstand the weather as to not abandon their new homes.

Cholera is now becoming more of a concern as it has entered Port au Prince. Cases originating in the city, as opposed to the nearby countryside, are starting to pop up. Camp organizers, local community leaders and our childcare providers are learning informative messaging tactics and teaching prevention strategies. Almost daily, we receive text messages on our cellphones from NGOs to remind us to wash hands regularly and drink clean water. Tomorrow we will buy more cleaning materials for all of our sites, put up signs, and spread information to the families.

Kenscoff

AMURT Office Inauguration

Yesterday was a momentous occasion for AMURT-Haiti. We inaugurated our new office in Port au Prince. For the last several years, the majority of AMURT's projects have taken place in the rural northwest. Water, health, road, education, agriculture and women's projects have been going strong. Since the earthquake, however, the AMURT team has strengthened its presence in the capital. The child protection and education projects have employed over 250 local people and served more than 4000. Our new office in Port au Prince is a testimony to the years of hard work, sacrifice, service and dedication of the many people who have built the projects since the very beginning when AMURT started out with a few volunteers and a bicycle.

Here is a link to the newspaper article covering the event:

http://lenouvelliste.com/article.php?PubID=1&ArticleID=84507&PubDate=2010-10-12

Another school year begins

The September rains and winds have been crushing, the heat sweltering, the electricity totally unpredictable, and the overall infrastructural progress crawling along at best. Tens of thousands of children and families are still living in temporary "internally-displaced people" (IDP) camps, despite efforts to change this. This October, however, holds a glimmer a hopeful light at the end of a long summer as schools slowly begin to reopen.

In the community of Silo Bas Pluie Blain, on the outskirts of Port au Prince, there are only 5 primary schools serving a total capacity of not even 600 children whereas the need comes closer to 45,000. The schools are private and, for many families, they are prohibitive due to cost.

AMURT continues to focus on child protection and education as one of its core missions. In the upcoming months, we are transitioning from the immediate disaster response of Child-Friendly Spaces to sustainable programs that will prepare children, youth and mothers to improve their overall well-being. Morning kindergartens, afternoon enrichment activities, youth leadership trainings and women's support groups will be our 4 areas of program.

More regular updates to come! Promise. ;-)

N'ap boule!

Whew, a month has passed since I last wrote and so much has happened! I don't know where to start, so I'll just begin.

On May 1st, International Labor Day, we had an awesome celebration at our new Child-Friendly Space in Cineas. The children sang, danced, and showed off their art. The entire community came together to rejoice in all of the hard work, perseverance, sacrifice and hope of the last several months.

This week we had some high-profile visits to our AMURT/KNH Child-Friendly Spaces. Today we received a delegation of over 30 people-- mostly German diplomats, the Minister of Economic Development and heads of several organizations like Red Cross and Caritas. On Wednesday, a famous soccer player/coach visited with a film crew and played a little game with our children. The visits were very positive, and hopefully it will attract constructive attention and resources.

The sites continue to progress in unexpected and beautiful ways despite the immense challenges. Each community has created its own style of running the CFS. I love working with the CFS central team and the on-site staff. We are becoming a family, and each day that I learn more Kreyol, I am better able to really know them.

I took a short break to the US last week to see family (and grandma!), friends and visit my former schools where I taught (IHS & FSS). It is amazing to reconnect with people as if no time has passed. Catching up with former students was definitely a highlight!

The team here at AMURT is also shifting. We are beginning new projects and re-evaluating current ones. A few more talented volunteers have come and are deciding to stay for several months which is wonderful news. In the midst of lots of work, we are at least beginning to take some time out to play ping-pong on our newly made table. All those games in the basement with my dad served me well!

Please let me know what I should write about next!

Cineas-- Last Site Opens!

Yesterday was an exciting day for many reasons:

We opened our last child-friendly space (Espas Zanmi Timoun-EZT) in a camp called Cineas. The site will have a total capacity for over 1700 children, and yesterday I was filled with so much joy to see the children show up and engage in their first day of activities.

We identified this site more than two months ago, and Dharma has been working with a wonderful construction team to create semi-permanent wooden structures that will be able to transition the EZT into a more functional school. The site also includes a garden where two agronomists are setting up rows of different vegetables such as eggplant, carrots, plantains and cabbage. We are installing 6 composting toilets that within 60-90 days will create enough nourishment for the garden.

Now that the construction is almost complete, we are starting the children's program. It's been a rocky road at this site due to various factors including personality clashes, committee interests, construction delays, but we seem to be turning a page. Yesterday, after the first two days of opening activities, I spoke with the 50 monitors/teachers in Kreyol about how important their work is for the children and how wonderful it is to feel their energy and learn from their creativity! (After a few months here now, I feel comfortable speaking basic ideas with Haitians. It’s one thing to be able to speak, but it’s quite another to understand when they say something back to me.)

This afternoon, I will return to the site to meet with our EZT coordinator, Madame Remy. She is from the community and she will act as the principal of the site. Today we will go over the schedule, monitors’ assignments, materials, logistics and activity plans. Madame Remy is a dynamically strong force, probably in her fifties. She has earned the respect of the community as the leader of the Womens Committee (Comite Fanm), and with her at the helm, I am confident that the site will flourish.

Now that all our sites are set up, we can enter a new phase of this child protection project. We can now consolidate and examine the quality and functionality of the sites and programs. I am constantly reflecting on how well we are meeting our objectives of creating safe, informal education and healing spaces for children. The fluctuating situation in the camps creates a moving target. Some of the children’s families are moving out of the camps, and some children are returning to school. Our enrollment dropped precipitously when schools re-opened a couple weeks ago. However, children were scared to enter the school buildings, and shortly thereafter they returned to our EZTs which are housed in either tents or wooden structures. We had another spike in attendance this week when a radio announcement aired declaring that even Green Houses were not safe. More parents pulled their children out of schools and enrolled them in our EZTs. So, each week the situation changes and with the inconsistencies sure to continue, we must create flexible program that serves the evolving needs of the children.

I have been continuously mulling over two questions the last several days:
• How can we continue to enrich our play-based learning approach?
• How well are we preparing children to start formal school again in September? (Will they even start formal school in September?)

Update on Espas Zanmi Timoun--or Child-Friendly Space

Michelene, a nine-year old girl now living in a displaced-person camp, softly slips her hand into mine and tugs me over to her table where she just finished painting a triangle tessellation. I hold it up to admire and she beams as her monitor—or local teacher—looks on lovingly. Michelene is just one of over 2500 children who attend an education program facilitated by AMURT-Haiti. Her home was completely flattened during the earthquake, and sadly she lost two younger siblings. Michelene’s mother collected a few family treasures from under the rubble, and led her family to the camp four days after the earthquake.

In January the lives of a million people were radically changed by the shattering earthquake in Port au Prince, Haiti. Among those most threatened by the devastation are children like Michelene. Facing a plethora of hardships, from losing family members to living in flimsy shelters, these children have experienced terrible disruption in their lives at a time when security and safety are vital.
In the days immediately following the quake, it became clear to the AMURT-Haiti team that our efforts needed to focus on this most vulnerable population. The team, consisting of new and veteran AMURT members, came together one Sunday afternoon and began to sketch out potential ways to serve children in a long-lasting, transformational manner. Our Child-Friendly Space program was thus born.

“Child-Friendly Space” is a term used in disaster relief settings to describe various types of support provided to children in a time of crisis. The goal is to address educational, psycho-social, emotional and spiritual needs of children who experience overwhelming hardship by providing safety, security and a transition to normalcy. This approach engages the local community in setting up safe, educational wellness centers that incorporate play-based learning into a familiar structure.

For this project AMURT-Haiti has partnered with two organizations—Catholic Relief Services and Kinder Not Hilfe. Both organizations have worked with AMURT in recent years. CRS worked alongside AMURT-Haiti in 2008 in relief efforts after the major hurricanes in Gonaives. KNH and AMURT built a strong partnership working together in Myanmar and Indonesia after the 2005 tsunami. These common projects created a strong foundation for our new work.

The Haitian AMURT team of community organizers, trainers, coaches and monitors are the backbone of this project. The team begins and ends all decision processes by consulting with the local community to gauge its needs, hopes and goals. All CFS staff are carefully drawn from a pool of applicants from the community itself.

Currently, our team is running six CFSs, working mostly in displaced-person camps throughout Port au Prince and are serving over 2500 children between the ages of 4 and 12. By the end of April, we will have opened 8 sites, totaling 4000 children. One of the largest displaced-persons camp was set up in the immediate days following the quake on the grounds of Petionville Country Club. An estimated 40,000 people reside on the muddy slopes of this transformed golf club, posing numerous threats to children’s welfare. Although the scale of the site seemed dauntingly large, we decided to set up three CFSs at Petionville serving 1100 children. Children arrive in different shifts based on age. Each child receives two healthy snacks per session, as one of the most evident needs of the children is nourishment. Friday afternoons are reserved for staff training and planning.

A typical day at our Child Friendly Spaces starts with children gathering in their “home” space for Circle of Love where they start with a guided breathing exercise, learn new songs, and go around to share a news item, greeting or personal thought. The children are in classes of 25 with three monitors. The children then rotate through four activities to gain balanced exposure to various types of learning. The first goal is to provide safety and security which is achieved through team-building games, partner sharing, quiet reflection and open discussion. At the same time the monitors teach literacy and numeracy skills through play activities. For example, children read stories together, then create play-dough characters, and finally perform a skit with the characters to extend the story. A typical numeracy activity allows children to string colorful beads for friendship bracelets to learn about counting and patterns. Each day children also pause from the energetic activities to do some relaxing yoga asanas. Monitors have been trained to teach basic individual and partner poses to stimulate the child’s inner strength. Children finish their day with another round of snacks and group sharing. Often they do not want to leave at the end of the session, pleading to have another round of activity.

An integral component of a successful and transformational program is ongoing professional development. Our team has been providing ample opportunities for professional growth through rigorous training for all monitors and support staff of the Child Friendly Spaces. The program provides time for monitors to work collaboratively to create activity plans for different age groups that involve psychosocial, educational, and creative activities. Monitors receive regular support on-site as trainers circulate throughout the camp sites to model and do side-by-side coaching. They also receive special weekly training on topics such as activity planning, positive discipline, self-care, safe touch, active listening, group norms, and play therapy. Our goal is to infuse the curriculum with loving and healing child-centered and experiential activities.

Hopefully several years from now, the children who participate in the CFSs will look back at these months and remember something positive and full of light despite all the challenging hardships. As one of thousands of children served by the CFS program, Michelene will anxiously return tomorrow for another day of singing, painting, and especially playing with her new friends.

UN Secretary General visits our site

On his second visit to Haiti since the January earthquake, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon visited the displaced-person camp at Petionville Country Club where we have set up child-friendly spaces. The Petionville site, now the temporary home to 45,000 earthquake survivors, is one of dozens of emergency camps built of tarps, tents and crude lumber.

A couple dozen aid workers from a handful of NGOs escorted the top U.N. official through the camp and explained the urgent need for more assistance before the onset of the rainy season. The U.N. has already committed $1.4 billion to Haiti for humanitarian aid and reconstruction. Mr. Ban visited the camp on March 15 after meeting with Haitian President Rene Preval.

Mr. Ban told journalists that the U.N. sees shelter as the most urgent priority. He assured the camp’s coordinators that the world has not forgotten the Haitian people’s plight.

Located on high ground in the suburbs of Port au Prince, the Petionville camp was hastily constructed on the lush grounds of an exclusive country club. With assistance from the U.N., the camp is managed by J/P and Catholic Relief Services and several organizations such as Oxfam and Save the Children (and of course AMURT) work there too.

Ban Ki Moon walked through the top of the camp, just enough to see our site. He asked me if the children go to school to which I replied that unfortunately most schools are not yet reopened.

Check out BBC video: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8567391.stm

Growing fast!

We successfully completed our second week of the IHEC (Integrated Healing and Education Centers) program for children at our base. Monitors are stepping into their own comfortable rhythm with the children and are providing a wide range of educational play activities. The monitors were assisted this week by eight student volunteers from Wesleyan College who offered a range of talents from playing guitar to demonstrating gymnastics. The children are starting to feel the flow of the daily activities while getting to know each other gradually in this safe space. At the end of each session, children implore to stay longer!

The IHEC central staff provides for various levels of coordination and support to the growing program. The central coordination consists of administrative, logistical, educational and community organizers. The administrative coordinators facilitate the organizational flow of the program. The logistical coordinator provides support for materials and supplies, transportation and accounting. At the heart of the program, the education coordinator oversees the staff of trainers, coaches and onsite monitors. The trainers are responsible for providing and modeling exemplary activity plans for the on-site monitors. They will be traveling to each site to make observations and support the monitors’ growth. The trainers are also developing training modules which will be offered at the Center for Neo-Humanist Education (CENEOH) and at the various sites. Modules will include activity planning, positive discipline, self-care, safe touch, active listening, group norms, and play therapy.

While the coaches continued to model student-centered activities at Delmas, the IHEC trainers continued preparations for the opening of three more sites. The engineer is overseeing the construction of several wooden pavilions at Cineas Camp and the installation of large tents at Petionville Club and Bureau de Min. Over 650 children were registered for the opening of programs at Petionville Club and Bureau de Min. The upcoming week will see a flurry of activity as we continue to expand our program and serve the deserving Haitian youth.

Petionville Club Camp

The Petionville Country Club is now going to be the next site for one of our Integrated Healing and Educational Centers (or Child-Friendly Spaces). The country club is now home to more than 50,000 displaced people since the earthquake.

The last photo is at another camp site called Seneas. The construction is underway for the program. The wooden structure will be covered with strong tarps. After completion, we will be able to serve more than 1500 children at this site.

smiles all around

It actually felt like a Friday yesterday. Usually one day of work just blends right into the next day of work, so the concept of weekend disappears. Yesterday, however, I felt our whole base breathe that same collective sigh of relief that teachers exhale on Friday afternoon after having completed a long, but satisfying week of school. This feeling came to me since we had just finished our first week of integrated educational and healing program here in the neighborhood of Delmas. The first site opened this past Monday with all of the anticipation and excitement of any first day of school. Monitors (our term for childcare providers) dressed crisply, children arrived early clasping their parents' hands, and the training team scurried around providing materials to each tent and checking in with monitors. Over the course of just a couple days, the Delmas schoolyard was transformed from a logistics yard full of motorcycles, trucks, boxes and construction materials into a colorful children’s camp full of energy, smiles, love and hope.

Over 430 children arrive in three different shifts based on age. The youngest children, aged 4-6, attend the program 5 mornings per week. Each child receives a light morning breakfast consisting of milk and biscuits and a hot lunch of rice, beans and vegetables. The afternoon program runs Mondays and Wednesdays for 7-9 year olds and Tuesdays and Thursdays for 10-12 year olds. Friday afternoon is reserved for staff training and planning. As many of the monitors are new to teaching but have experience working with children, the purpose of the training is to provide support and enrichment. This week the children practiced karate, breathing exercises, and yoga. They sang folksongs, created playfoam sculptures and finger-painted on leaves. The older children built block structures and the little kids learned how to wash their hands. We were also very fortunate to have a team of specialists join us from the Trauma Center and Project Joy, organizations based in Boston, who provided workshops on psychosocial play activities.

At the end of each session, children didn’t want to leave. Their smiles are contagious, and whenever I start to feel stressed or tired I recall their shining faces, hopeful thumbs-up, ebullient laughter and tight hugs.

Aftershocks

After two nights of unnerving aftershocks measuring 4.7 on the r-scale, we are noticing heightened levels of fear and anxiety about potential future quakes. With the aftershocks and also several recent nights of torrential downpours, it seems we are all sleeping very little and very lightly.

Normally, the Child Protection team meets every morning at 8am to plan and coordinate the day in one of the rooms of our AMURT-Amsai school. Today, however, no one was even remotely considering to to meet indoors, so we held the days' meetings and work sessions outside in the tents. Although this school seems to be structurally sound, the memory of the quake is still very raw and the fear runs deep.

With the ensuing rainy season, I catch myself at moments in thought-paralysis because I can't imagine what is going to happen to everyone living in these very vulnerable camps with little protective shelter.

I am so deeply touched by and thankful for the outpouring of support from all of you. I learned that just last night the youth of Newtown Quaker Meeting held a successful lasagna dinner fundraiser, and over the last weeks Friends Select School has held so many activities and fundraisers to support the work we are doing in Haiti.

These two special communities and the Quaker community at large has given me so much strength, inspiration, and grounding. Much love and peace.

Espas Zanmi Timoun

This has been an action-packed week. We are trying to open several Child Friendly Spaces simultaneously, so every day we are running between camps. Each camp has its unique personality. On Monday, Haitians returned to work from a couple days of mourning and fasting. We are gradually building up our capacity as a team here at AMURT, as we have taken on several new people to meet the growing needs. Our Child Protection team now has a core group of about 12 people.

So, how are we setting up these Child-Friendly Spaces?

First, with our partner organizations (funders) I visit each potential camp and try to locate a space. One of our animators works with the local community leaders or camp committee to reserve the space and explain the intentions of use. Our engineer also evaluates the space and plans the construction. In some camps, we are going to put up 2-4 tents, but in other spaces we are building semi-permanent structures with 2x4s and tarps.

Our next step is identifying childcare "monitors". In effect, we are looking for dynamic, loving teachers but technically they do not have experience as teachers. I went out with our new Protection team members to explain to the committees the type of people that they should choose. From the committees' recommendations, we interviewed potential candidates and invited the selected ones to a training.

Meanwhile, our team speaks to the camp about selecting children for participation in these spaces. The hardest pill to swallow is that some of these sites are so large that we will not be able to serve even a fraction of the children, so selection criteria are formulated by the committee. The most vulnerable children are prioritized. Two of the camps that we are working with, however, are small enough for us to serve everyone in several shifts. On average we will have about 450 children at each site.

Construction of the sites is very satisfying yet unpredictable. One of our partner organizations was supposed to provide tents a while back, and due to unknown reasons we still have not received them. We hire camp residents to clear the land as all of these spaces are unsuitable in their present condition. On Wednesday afternoon, the most serendipitous thing happened when we were all meeting with the Seneas Camp committee about clearing the land of huge tree roots and garbage debris. We estimated Cash for Work for 10 people, 3 days. As we were chatting, a bulldozer rumbles down the hill. Dharma whistles it to stop and speaks with the driver. Two phone calls later, and the bulldozer begins clearing the land turning three days of work into just two hours. We are that much closer to a site! Now, usually things don’t move quite that fast.

As we are working on the sites, the team has also been organizing a two-day training here at our base for all of the “monitors”. We are going over the concept of a Child-Friendly Space (Espas Zanmi Timoun) and also co-creating lesson plans for different age groups that involve educational, creative and psychosocial activities. The goal is to infuse the curriculum with loving and healing child-centered and experiential activities. The training started this morning and over 125 people have come. After the next two days, we will have a better sense of the people to make a final selection for the “monitors.”
Our first site will open on Monday. The speed at which we want to roll these out is getting faster and faster. The balance between speed and quality is ever present in my mind, but at this point the need is so great that we must push hard.

:-) Smiles all around

Days like today make me fall in love all over.

Day of Mourning

Around the city, Haitians have gathered at churches, in camps and on street sides to pray, chant, and dance. For the first time in a month, we are taking some time to remember and reflect.

This last week has been insanely busy. We have started constructing the first of our 10 child-friendly spaces (CFSs), and as of this morning, we are ready to begin 3 more on Monday. We are working closely with the community leaders in each IDP camp to identify appropriate space, assess chidren's needs and find potential childcare providers. The biggest challenge in setting up these CFSs is finding space. The camps are obviously very crowded, so a lot of preparation will be needed to clear a clean, healing space to set up tents.

Each CFS will serve anywhere from 250-500 children, aged 5-12. The CFSs will provide an opportunity for children to restore some normalcy to their lives through educational play. We will sing, dance, paint, do yoga, play sports, etc! The community will lead each CFS with our support. Some figures indicate that there are over 300,000 displaced children, and with the coming rainy season there will be even more. Although 10 CFSs only scratch the surface, I'm hoping to learn and create structures and systems to make the process easily replicable.

This morning I had an inspiring meeting with the local committee leaders in the camp of Bureau de Mines. Three of our AMURT animators (a Haitian term used for Community Organizers) talked with the local committee leaders and together we identified all of the needs to get this project started by Monday. Since I don't speak Creole yet, we communicated in a funky melange of English, French, Spanish and Creole. It worked and now we are on our way.

I think of my FSS and IHS students often when I walk around the camps and see children the same age. One of my advisees gave me a beautiful dragonfly pin the day before I came to Haiti, and it reminds me how interconnected we all are and in uncertain times, we must fly fearlessly.

One Wish for my Birthday

I walked through the Petionville Club today. It was a country club until 3 weeks ago, and now it is the refuge for over 80,000 displaced people. The makeshift homes built out of sticks, tarps and blankets are barely able to withstand strong wind much less the anticipated rains of the upcoming hurricane season. Many organizations are working in this camp, including a strong presence of the US military, yet there are so many severe problems. I am concerned by the lack of coordination between agencies. We are beginning to talk with several communities within these larger camps in and around Delmas and Boudon. They are eager for us to provide the materials needed for child-friendly spaces, and we are gaining so much support with funders. We had an overwhelming turnout of 70 childcare providers here for a training on integrated educational and healing methodologies, and they will in turn train others at these camps. Tarps, ropes, wood, supplies have been ordered and we are ready to start building!

Spending my birthday in Port-au-Prince has been one of the biggest gifts of my life. I am thankful for everything I have learned here from my co-volunteers, Haitians and foreigners, and the spirit of determination and hope radiates ever luminously in a city that is covered in dust and debris. I have one wish for my birthday... of course you can guess what it is!

Long time since I've had internet access.  I am working with a great team of volunteers and professionals at AMURT.  We are concentrating on working on child protection services for children who are the most vulnerable--in the refugee camps.  We are hoping to get a child healing and educational space set up soon!  Working on a proposal for funding.  The big NGOs have lots of money but no contacts on the ground.  AMURT has an amazing and blossoming group of Haitians that are strategizing and envisioning short to long term plans.  In the coming days we are going to form some great partnerships to start implementing our plans.

I would write more, but I can't!  Electricity is in and out and this is taking forever.

Loads of love to you all.

Port au Prince-- getting my bearings?

I feel completely overwhelmed by the enormity of this tragedy. I also feel completely inspired by the way people have rallied to respond and come together in this difficult yet crucial moment. I won't waste time complaining about why it took so long.

First I must say how much better I feel now that I am here. All I could do for the first day was hold everyone so close.

I'm living at one of the Ananda Marga schools in an area called Boudon. The physical building is in good shape, but there is concern for flooding due to its proximity to a stream and lots of broken dams. Most of the Haitians sleep on the ground, away from buildings. Last night we felt some grumbling tremors, totally unnerving since I'm already sleeping very lightly. I'm situated in a tent on the roof where we can get nice breeze.

The other school where we had professional development workshops in the summer has now been converted to a logistics base for AMURT. The schoolyard has become a tented refuge for neighbors that have lost their homes.

Helicopters and airplanes are constantly flying overhead, and we hear that supplies are being delivered in huge quantities. But, there are still so many people without food and water. The large agencies are unable to swiftly distribute the supplies and work with the local community leadership to do it efficiently and sensitively. The doctors that I came with have been seeing as many patients as possible and using the supplies that were donated.

Today I attended two meetings to learn about the scope of educational initiatives and strategies for the short and long term. The first meeting was at UNESCO, and the Ministry of Education came together with several large organizations to begin a conversation about what small on-the-ground NGOs can do. Save the Children and UNICEF have a wealth of resources and are looking to partner with the NGOs that have experience working in Haiti. AMURT has a key role in this since it has a long history of partnering with Haitian communities and developing grassroots projects.

The second meeting was at the United Nations compound for Child Psychosocial Services. We will be receiving coordinated information from several cluster meetings (Education, Child Protection, and Health) to learn how we might write proposals for funding to create nurturing, holistic educational opportunities for children who have lost their homes and families.

Lots of learning going on here.

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Chester Bowles, the former US ambassador to India, told a cohort of Peace Corps volunteers during their orientation that they should strive for three things. First and foremost, they should learn a lot from their experience in India--about culture, language, politics, and much more. Second, they should expect to foster greater understanding between peoples of different cultures by exchanging openly and respectfully. After spending two years in India, how could any Peace Corps volunteer not learn and build relationships. Bowles continued with the third possible outcome of a PCV's experience--they might also contribute to the good of humanity. This would be the most challenging.

I am about to return to Haiti, and although I may have grand hopes and plans of meaningfully helping and serving in some small way, I am also keenly aware that I will most likely learn more than I could ever possibly contribute.

I anxiously await touching down on the island, albeit first landing in Dominican Republic, to feel one step closer to Haiti. I can't wait to wrap my arms around my dearest partner, Dharma, and hold my new friends close. I stand in awe and respect of the strength, courage and determination of the people of Haiti and this current test is an opportunity for hopefully a brighter future.

In about 20 minutes, I will land in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where I will meet up with a group of AMURT board members/doctors. Once everyone arrives, we will most likely be taking a 10-hour drive on a truck to the border of Haiti. We will camp the night and get a couple of hours of rest until the border patrol opens at 7am Sunday morning. A tap-tap (the quintessential Haitian mode of transportation) will then transport us and all of our luggage to Port au Prince. (How many people can fit in a tap-tap? "One more!" --Haitian joke) We are all bringing heavy suitcases full of medical supplies, tents, tarps and other equipment to contribute to necessary relief efforts. I must thank the Friends Select School community for donating so many supplies! If all goes well, we will enter Port au Prince by Sunday midday.

Getting Ready

Last Tuesday, a wicked 7.0 earthquake shook Haiti, causing unimaginable loss of life and massive destruction in and around Port au Prince.

I had just returned from a two-week trip to Haiti on January 2nd feeling inspired by, in love of and indebted to a people and land of immense beauty, strength, warmth and diversity.

I first visited Haiti to work on an education project. Last year, a colleague approached me while I was begrudgingly grading Regents exams at International High School (Queens, NY). She had just visited Haiti and wanted to develop a professional training partnership with Haitian teachers. Immediately, I asked, "Can I join you?" The rest is history...

Tonight, after a long week of waiting, worrying, and working, I finally have definitive plans to travel back to Haiti on Saturday. I am starting to prepare myself intellectually, spiritually and physically for this upcoming journey.

I look forward to sharing my experiences, photos and video with you in the coming weeks...