A safe space for children in Jacmel
Posted by Plan CEO Nigel Chapman
11 March 2010: My last full day in Haiti is spent in Jacmel, one of the towns hardest hit by the quake. The road takes us through Port-au-Prince and the chaos of the street markets, past the flattened Presidential Palace (which, Plan Haiti staff tell me, is now a symbol of a destroyed country) and along narrow roads where even the smallest houses betray the impact of 12 January.
This landscape is almost impossible to describe, with rubble everywhere and houses at cockeyed angles. Tented villages spring up at random, some with strong canopies, others with flimsy sheets. The road is just about winning its battle against daily landslides - but what will happen when the rains come?
We visit the Jacmel staff in their small tent, squatting in the yard of our fellow non-governmental organisation, Caritas. Plan’s office is a write-off.
New classrooms
Then off to see more cash for work schemes and the 10 new temporary classrooms which Plan is erecting in the grounds of the secondary school. The original building looks fine to the naked eye but is riven with structural faults and will have to be totally rebuilt, according to the engineer from England who has been hired to help us.
It is easier to work in Jacmel than Port-au-Prince, he says. No-one there has yet agreed which land can be used to build the temporary classrooms. The authorities are saying they want all the schools open in early April but no one is sure whether this is possible.
The school looks over Jacmel harbour with its newly built wharf, courtesy of the Canadian armed forces. There are no ships in sight but later this month 3 large barges, full of materials to erect sturdy interim homes and other buildings, are expected to dock.
Everyone we talk to is pinning a lot on the arrival of the 3 barges. Sourcing the material to build temporary structures capable of withstanding the level of expected wind and rain is, we are advised, impossible from within Haiti.
Child-friendly space
A child-friendly space in Jacmel
Finally, before we set off for home we visit a very lively safe space for children. Built by Plan and its partners in a small field just off an improvised camp, it has a rich variety of activities underway: drawing, music classes, football, and board games. There is a lot of noise and laughter. It reminds me how resilient children can be. There are also health facilities on site, with lines of women and children waiting patiently for inoculations, and space for one-to-one counselling.
As we get ready to leave I meet a 5-year-old girl who is here with her brother. She is a lovely little girl, quite serious at first but softens as she gets more confidence speaking to strangers. She offers to sing a little song and breaks out into a little dance just for us. It is a tiny moment of charm in a landscape which is especially harsh and unforgiving after the earthquake. And a reminder of why Plan does what it does.
