Haiti Quake Updates

Katty Rebecca Matin, 13, spends several hours each day studying the school books she brought with her in a pillowcase. Photo: Coco McCabe / Oxfam America

For kids not affected by the devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti in January, schools re-opened the first of this month. But few students in the North-West and South departments have shown up--not a promising sign for the government's intention to open the rest of the country's schools by March 1.

Around Port-au-Prince, the temblor reduced many of them to rubble, making it hard for kids to shake the nightmarish possibility of what that could have meant for them had the quake hit earlier in the afternoon when they were seated at their desks.

It struck just before 5 p.m. Kids had left for the day. Thankfully.

I heard that whisper of relief voiced over and over again on the dusty streets of the capital as we drove past schools with pancaked floors and collapsed walls. Countless lives saved by chance. Thankfully.

But what's been interrupted now is the certainty, order, and measure of opportunity that the school day brought to the lives of Haitian kids who had managed to secure themselves a place in a classroom--even if that classroom lacked both amenities and rigor.

Many in Haiti don't get the chance to have much schooling. According to one report, only two-thirds of Haitian children complete primary school. And the learning they get is hardly uniform, given that almost 80 percent of primary teachers are not certified. The report, compiled for the Partnership for Educational Revitalization in the Americas, pointed out that most students in Haiti--about 80 percent of those enrolled--attend private schools, but that three-quarters of those schools have neither certification nor license from the ministry of education.

The government wants to see all schools reopened in less than three weeks. But where? With what resources? A recent story in the New York Times described an orphanage that promised to educate the children within its walls, but a reporter who visited saw no signs of books, papers, or pencils anywhere.

Last week, three experts testified before a subcommittee of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on how to help Haiti recover from the incredible destruction left by the quake, and each one of them emphasized the importance a sound educational system will play in rebuilding the country.
And perhaps, no one wants that as much as some of the kids who've lost every semblance of comfort and security they ever knew--including their schools.

In a spontaneous camp of tarps and bed sheets at Delmas 62, Katty Rebecca Matin, 13, sat bouncing a neighbor's baby on her lap. She's good with kids, but where her heart really lies is with her books. And it was that love that prompted her to drag her school books--a pillow case stuffed with them--from her family's damaged home to the camp where they sit carefully stacked, and easily accessible, with a few other salvaged household belongings.

"I love school," said Katty, digging into the pillow case and pulling out a workbook. "Side by Side," it was called, a language book for those studying English. She flipped it open to chapter six--a section on families--and with hordes of them teeming around her, she ticked off the words for sister and brother, aunt and uncle, mother and father in near perfect English.

"I like doing homework," added Katty.

That's a challenge in a camp where there's not a quiet corner to be had or hardly a comfortable place to sit. But Katty has found a way to carve out some mental space for herself. Together with two friends, she has formed a study group and for two or three hours each day they focus on their school work. To give the sessions some structure, Katty's mother asked an older student in the camp to help tutor the younger ones as they plow through lessons in math, social science, English, and Spanish.

The informal sessions help pass the time at Delmas 62. But what Katty said she would really like is for school to start again--so her dream of attending university and studying science can come true.

Save the Children and AmeriCares have partnered to bring medical aid to more than 85,000 Haitians affected by the earthquake.

Westport,-based Save the Children's emergency response team in Haiti has distributed more than 16.5 tons of medical supplies in the town of Leogane and at the general hospital in Port-au-Prince – supplies donated by AmeriCares, the global health and disaster relief organization based in Stamford, Conn.

 "The situation is still dire and children remain the most vulnerable part of the population during emergencies of this magnitude," said Carolyn Miles, Chief Operating Officer of Save the Children. "But with the help of our long-time partner, AmeriCares, our health team is getting medical treatment to thousands of children and their families."

"Haitian hospitals had little to begin with, but now they have nothing – no pain medicines for patients with trauma injuries and no anesthesia for patients who need surgery," said Elizabeth Furst Frank, Senior Vice President of Global Programs for AmeriCares. "AmeriCares is proud to deliver lifesaving medicines and supplies to our health care partner, Save the Children. Our work together will benefit earthquake survivors in the days, weeks and months ahead."

SECRETARY CLINTON:  The outpouring of support and assistance from around the world has been extraordinary, and I’ve been very proud to see generous Americans from every corner of our country open their hearts in solidarity with the Haitian people. These are the times when we remember our common humanity, when we pull together across cultures and borders to help those suffering and in need.

Now, in these difficult first days, we’ve seen miracles: children pulled alive from the rubble, separated family members finding one another, walls that did not crumble, and foundations that did not crack. But unfortunately, those miracles have been too few. Seeing the human suffering and dislocation of daily life in Port-au-Prince, a place I have come to know over the past three decades, reminds us of the magnitude of the task at hand – all of the lives that are lost, all of the terrible injuries, the families that have been broken, the homes in ruin, and a country that was on the cusp of progress dealt another cruel and unimaginable blow.

Yet there are reasons to believe that the days and months ahead can and will be better. Over the years, I have come to know the resilience and determination of the Haitian people. They may have seen more than their share of sorrow. They may have known more struggle and pain and nature’s fickle wrath than many of the rest of us. Yet they come through these storms, they are carried forward by their faith and their hard work, and I am confident that even in this darkest of hours, they will once again persevere.

President Preval and I have been working closely during this past year on plans for the future – for sustainable growth, for new opportunities. These plans, which are a very solid foundation, will, of course, be revised and rethought, but they will not be abandoned. Haiti will need not only the talent and grit of her people, including the Haitian diaspora, but it will need all of us, partners and friends who are committed not just in the immediate aftermath of this terrible earthquake but for the duration.

So let me reaffirm what President Obama said so forcefully in recent days: The people of the United States will stand with Haiti every step of the way. This is a partnership with a neighbor for the long term.

With in Reach
Survivors gesture for water being handed out by US troops. "We're still running out of water faster then we can deliver it," Marine Maj. Will Klumpp said.

Support Oxfam's work to bring water to the people of Haiti:
http://bit.ly/oihaiti