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.