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.