Port-au-Prince, Haiti - At first glance, the school of GFC grantee partner Ansable Vwazen Jakè (Jakè Neighborhood Association, or AVJ) looks like a “normal” school in post-earthquake Haiti, if such a thing can be said to exist. Children under tarps, learning in the sweltering heat as best they can. But it’s not a typical school at all. According to Prof. Gregory, a dreadlocked and charismatic teacher and one of the leaders of AVJ, the AVJ school was created to be a model school for Haiti by offering high-quality education, taught in Kreyol; employing popular educational methods to build critical-thinking skills in its students; and not charging any school fees to students.

The AVJ school uses the national curriculum as a base but goes beyond it. The school has four different classes but covers nine grades in the four-year program. Approximately 160 children currently attend the school, which this year graduated its first class of seven students, all of whom passed the exam to qualify for high school. These graduates are currently receiving scholarships from AVJ to attend high school and in exchange come back as tutors for the other students in the school. Read more

Lhomond, Haiti - Today I traveled with Gerry Delaquis, founder of GFC grantee partner Light for All to visit the Toussaint L’Ouverture School in Llomond, in southern Haiti. This school was founded and is managed by the Peasant Movement of Llomond (MPL) and receives funding from an intermediary organization, Light for All. Because of language barriers, oversight requirements, and the physical difficulty in reaching the village of Llomond, GFC channels its grants through Light for All.

What I found was hopeful and encouraging. The school was not physically affected by the earthquake and is functioning well. It is running seven classes, from kindergarten through sixth grade. I visited every class and saw grammar lessons, reading, and literature lessons (see the picture of the schedule of classes). The children are enthusiastic and have clear ideas of what they want to be when they grow up—a doctor, a nurse, a policeman, a lawyer. Read more

Port-au-Prince, Haiti - It’s 9:00 p.m., and after eight hours of site visits, I’ve made it back to my home base for the week—a tent in the yard of the Coalition House, located in the Delmas 33 neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. I’m sitting at a table, working alongside an eclectic assortment of Haitian and foreign activists, NGO workers, and technical specialists. Most people have their laptops out and are alternating between typing, arguing, and soliciting advice. A petition is in the works to protest forced displacement of internally displaced people, photos are being sent from a recent site visit, and a news article is being drafted. There is a letter-writing campaign being planned, Facebook groups are being updated, and a constant stream of “tweets” is being emitted into cyberspace. Food distributions, site visits, and meetings are being organized and set up for the next day.

The Coalition House is run by the Haiti Response Coalition, a network of NGOs that began to form minutes after the January 12 earthquake struck in an effort to mobilize resources and help coordinate the local and international response to the disaster. Read more

Jacmel, Haiti - This morning started with a visit to GFC’s grantee partner Pazapa, the only organization in Jacmel (population 34,000) that works with children with disabilities. When the January earthquake hit, the organization had been swiftly moving forward, making tangible progress with a monitoring plan and collecting data on outcomes, as well as hiring a grantwriter to increase its outreach.

The children had already been let out of school when the building began to shake. Unlike so many other schoolchildren, not one of them was hurt. Still, the entire back of Pazapa’s school collapsed, and the loss of this physical space was a serious blow that shocked everyone. More than three months later, classes have yet to resume. It’s not for lack of effort or desire on the part of teachers, parents, and students, but rather that the challenge of finding a new site for the school, accessing tents, communicating with the students and re-starting classes, all the while attempting to navigate a wildly different landscape, is daunting and time consuming. Tijo, the program manager of Pazapa, is working around the clock to get things up and running. Read more

Port-au-Prince, Haiti - My first view of Port-au-Prince was from hundreds of feet off the ground, flying in at the hottest part of the day, with temperatures in the mid-90s. My first impression was of a landscape that looked as if a bomb had scattered piles of rubble across the city. As we approached the runway, a vast arrangement of blue caught my eye, and I knew it was the first of many tent cities that I would see on my trip.

Upon my arrival, several flights had touched down, flooding the customs and immigration line with passengers. The Port-au-Prince airport was completely destroyed by the earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, and airport personnel were operating out of a temporary space that did not provide much ventilation or organization. The crowd was an intense collection of people of all ages and backgrounds, and after spending three hours with them, I was happy to see the friendly face of Gerry Delaquis from GFC grantee partner Light for All. Read more