Haiti

Members of the Edeyo team have conducted two field service trips since the earthquake. The first, in early March, brought much needed relief supplies to our students and their families and focused on providing them with medical care. Our recent trip in late October delivered school supplies to our temporary school, investigated the housing conditions of our students and teachers and assessed longer term needs as we begin our rebuilding process. Here are some excerpts from our October Field Report.

Port-au-Prince: A city in crisis

Nearly ten months after the major earthquake that crushed Port-au-Prince, this city of approximately 3.5 million has made only scant progress toward recovery. Over 80% are unemployed; urban sanitation is absolutely minimal, and clean water availability is uncertain. Many are dependent on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for the little food and healthcare to which they have access. The roads are open, though many are badly in need of repair. Perhaps a majority of the city’s population still live in “temporary” shelters given to them or cobbled together shortly after the quake. This has resulted in massive tent and tarp cities in every available open space in the city, including former parks, plazas, the golf course, and the grounds of companies and government buildings. In addition, there are many encampments along city streets, even along the sidewalk surrounding the former capital building. These temporary shelters look ragged and insubstantial after ten months in Haiti’s heat and rain. On the other hand, sticks and corrugated tin panels have been incorporated into many of these shelters, leading to a sense that these are becoming “permanent” encampments. Some camps have portable toilets and large water containers; others, like those in the “red-zoned” Bel-Air neighborhood, have neither of these necessities. There is rubble, some of which is swept into piles, everywhere; even more problematically from a disease transmission standpoint there is trash everywhere as well. Many people who are not living in tents are living in the ruins of their former homes, even though these may be quite unstable and subject to collapse should Haiti again experience tremors or a second period of earthquake. In addition, some people are rebuilding with the same shoddy cement blocks that were a direct cause of the high earthquake casualty rates (upwards of 230,000) experienced last January. It is quite apparent that wealth differences played a huge role in determining which buildings collapsed and which did not. Most of the buildings that serve corporations and high-end travelers and many homes of the well-to-do survived the earthquake, no doubt due to the seismic-sensitive architectural standards by which they were designed and built.

Bel-Air

The neighborhood of Bel-Air, in which the school is located, lies on a hill overlooking the city and port, located close to downtown and the presidential palace. It is densely populated and overbuilt, with almost no trees remaining and few empty lots. Like many neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, it has poor-quality cement block housing, much of it currently lying in ruins or unfinished raw construction. There are almost no finished and painted buildings in the entire neighborhood (one notable exception being the Edeyo rented school). The few undamaged wall surfaces that remain are covered with graffiti. Residents live among the ruins, cobbling their homes from remaining building structures, augmented by tarps and corrugated tin sheets. There are no streetlights in the vicinity of the school and piles of rubble and trash everywhere. Some residents, particularly young men, loiter on the street, having little to do with their time.

It is easy to view this neighborhood as unsafe; it is a UN-designated “red-zone” in which international NGOs are forbidden to go because of security concerns. However, it has an illustrious past as a center for Haiti’s intellectual and artistic life: it was here that the great poet and playwright Frankétienne was brought up. It is also a neighborhood with a vibrant political history. Most importantly, Bel-Air is filled with children living in desperate conditions. For those lucky enough to attend, the Edeyo school is a respite from the chaos that surrounds them. Our students are hardworking and enthusiastic. We believe they are deserving of a first-rate education and aim to provide one for them.

We are looking for a suitable large lot and are looking for financial assistance so we can purchase land and rebuild. Please help us by clicking on the donation page.