HAITI: The project and partnership

We are collaborating with Terre des Hommes (TDH), a Swiss-based international aid organization providing health, nutrition, sanitation and child protection services.  They have been based in Haiti for over 20 years. After the earthquake, so many NGOs descended on Port au Prince that TDH decided to focus their relief efforts in more remote areas where fewer services were available to the population.

Monday, September 6, we have a meeting with the director of psychosocial protection services who gives us the lowdown on the current situation, what is needed and with whom we will be working.

TDH is spearheading a project to offer protection and psychosocial support to children coping with the aftermath of the earthquake.  The disaster completely disrupted the natural system of caretaking in the community.  Families have been displaced and have lost their traditional support network.  Children were lost and separated, or orphaned.   Some of the children have been taken care of by random adults who picked them up along the road, but who do not really have the capacity to care for them.  Others have been placed in orphanages.  There is a higher risk for abuse and violence; many are at risk of trafficking.

Adults all over Haiti need to focus pointedly on rebuilding their homes and lives. They need to be able to go out and look for help or work elsewhere.  There is a compelling need for child-safe spaces where the children can be away from danger, chaos, and tension.  They especially need a space where they can feel free to play and express themselves with supportive adults who listen to them.  To this end, TDH has created several Child Centers in the tent camps and other areas.  Each is staffed with a team of 'animateurs' (activity leaders) recruited from the community to provide structured play and other supportive activities for the children.  

We have been invited to provide training to the adult 'animateurs' in clown play, basic circus arts and acrobatics, which they can then apply in their ongoing psychosocial support work with the children.
An immediate goal is to offer fun and carefree play to the children (and, as importantly, to the adults!)  to relieve them for a moment from the daily confrontation with the hardships of their circumstances.  Our longer-term aim – the lasting beneficial impact we want to have – is to leave them with the inspiration and capacity to institute an effective program on their own, providing creative activities to the children on an ongoing basis after we are gone.  We are also putting a strong emphasis on cultural exchange -- we bring what we know and they share what they already do, and who they are, for a mutual learning experience!