The January 12th quake destroyed this 150 student K to 6th grade private school less than half an hour from the epicentre. The school director, Yolande Caristyl, also lost her house on the same site, which acted as the kindergarten classrooms, and her family’s investment in building this school on donated land in 2000. Children have graduated from the school every year since 2001, paying less than $26 US /year each, a solid achievement in Haiti which lacks school facilities for 1/3 of all children, especially in rural areas. Frequently Yolande and her 12 staff have gone unpaid, subsisting on the government-provided rice and beans that make the children’s school lunch, and help from overseas and city relatives, and churches. Yolande had chosen to found the school at the age of 23, on finishing teacher-training, to bring back what she could to her village and people.
In September she got married, in the ruins of her school. Living in a tent that was a wedding present (the type used to cover a spare car in your driveway) – she and eight other local teachers, (unpaid last year in spite of government promises to cover salaries) restarted the school beneath the same torn tarpaulins supported by sticks where they finished the last schoolyear. The remains of the school, one room (the office) with a concrete roof that no-one will enter at night for fear of it crushing them in an aftershock, and the front and side walls with a tin temporary roof on 2 more classrooms, are now used as storage, cooking space, and shelter from heavy rain.
In August 2010 Mandy met with a builder, an engineer, and the teachers to discuss a temporary plywood and tin 6 room school – built with community labour, and locally sourced building materials, it was erected in a week in October 2010 – for the astonishingly small sum of $7500. This is only $50 per child – for a school better than many in the country, that will last several years, probably more – enabling a permanent school to be slowly reconstructed without the loss of years of these children’s education. The school also provides adult and teen classes, acts as a community center, and is used by local organisations and churches.
Report from February / March 2011
Mandy made a second visit to see what has been achieved, plan the beginning of the first permanent classroom to be rebuilt, and help paint and decorate the school. It was great to see the current students, 162 children aged 3 to 17, under a sound roof, in their smart gingham uniforms, avidly absorbing the lessons. We’re now funding teacher salaries, school lunches, latrines, a water tank and handwashing facilities, and levelling the ruins to begin building. Mandy also took donated equipment, pencils and erasers, wall posters, soprano recorders and music books, DVD player and English courses for afterschool use, and 2 huge First Aid kits, and taught lessons while painting the school and finding out more about community needs. A picasaweb slideshow of the trip can be seen at:
HaitiFebMar2011MandySTripToIMECTSchool | mandy.thody
An important new contribution we are making to the school and to community development is to specifically support GIRLS in staying in school. IMECT is woman-led and seeks to employ mainly women, to overcome the obstacles placed in the way of female education – girls in rural Haiti often stay home to care for the house, younger siblings, and perform chores such as carrying water and firewood for many hours a day. They are also often unable to stay at school during their menstrual periods due to lack of latrines and money for underwear and sanitary pads. This causes them to fall behind by a week each month, and is often the last straw in keeping a school place and getting good grades. With $100 a year we can supply all 19 girls who fall into this age group with adequate new underwear (simple cotton panties) and another $25 per month will buy a wholesale-size box of locally sourced sanitary towels – 20 per month per girl. So this plan will cost around $400 per year.
We are beginning many other small initiatives to make sure these kids stay in school, at least through 6th grade – and later we hope that all those capable of continuing education can then go on to secondary school nearby with a new uniform, fees paid and a scholarship towards books and transport. Each $100 in extra support will make this possible for another 2 graduates from IMECT.
