The following was written by Madame Rebecca, who visited CAP February 2017 and November 2017 for a total of seven school days. An educator from NH, Mdm. Rebecca wrote these pages of reflection after her return to the U.S.
Part I
Christian
Academy of Petit Goave, Haiti
Mission Statement
Christian Academy of
Petit Goave seeks the Lord's guidance to educate impoverished children in
Biblical knowledge, life skills, and relationship building to create a rich
school environment, supportive families, and unified community.
Physical
features of the building:
The National Road which connects
Port-au-Prince with the western portion of the island passes in front of the
building. There is just enough space to
pull in the vehicle from the house to park close to the metal gate manned by
the hired guard. (Unlike many places in
Haiti, he is not armed with an automatic weapon. Tall cement walls, topped with barbed wire
and broken glass encircle the building.
The gate opens onto a small dirt floored courtyard, littered with
building materials on the side. There is
just enough space for the six classes to line up side by side facing the
building. An exterior staircase ascends
to a portion of the second story which is rented by a training clinic for
nurses. The children gather in the
courtyard and wait for the teachers to be ready to sing and pledge to the flag
and begin the day.
As they step
over the high threshold, children proceed into the concrete building to their
classrooms. A bench sits along the left
wall and it is here that children gather for triage, or if they have been
pulled out of line for disciplinary action.
Along the left side of the corridor are four rooms. The first two, grade one and kindergarten
have been painted and contained louvered cement block windows. Banana trees grow right up to the building
and block most of the light. The
building has no electricity. First
graders have desks and benches which seat three to four students each, and
kindergarten has long tables and individual low chairs. Each room has a chalkboard, a bookshelf, a
small table on which rests the water supply, and a table and chair for the
teacher. Each room has two doorways,
with no doors. The second two rooms are
for grade three and recreation and were not painted until this January. The recreation/assembly room is empty
except for one small bench.
On the right
side are two rooms for the three and four year olds. Each has a plywood door which can close. The furniture is the same as for
kindergarten. The rooms are smaller, but
brighter because of the natural light.
In the three year old room there is a basket with a few toys. A small office, with a private toilet for
staff, has a door which locks. Records,
medical supplies, and extra consumable supplies are in this room. It is used for medical treatment, and
discipline. Following down to the end of
the dark corridor is a two stall bathroom for students. Outside is a table with room temperature water
for hand washing, and strong soap. There
is no way to dry hands. A large barrel
of water sits at the bottom of the indoor staircase. Jonas, the day custodian periodically uses
the bucket from under the hand washing station to force flush the toilets, then
refills the washing bucket.
Going up the
cement stairs, which turn once, you ascend to the portion of the second floor
which the school also rents. Here is a
small kitchen, with a counter for the two tubs of water for washing and rinsing
the tin plates and spoons. A table is
for the pots of rice and beans which are cooked at the house and then
transported to the school to begin serving at 10:00 am. Earlier in the morning Jonas prepares peanut
butter crackers and takes a plate to each class for a snack. Another large barrel is used for filling the
wash basins. Detergent goes in the wash
water and bleach is added to the rinse water.
The second
grade classroom is located on this floor and though the furnishings are the
same as first and second grade, this room receives more light and in addition
to paint on the walls, they have also been stenciled in a bright design. One small locked room contains shelves of
donated books and some resources for teaching which are not yet in use.
Everything
is constructed from concrete and there is nothing to absorb the sound. Only the three and four year old classrooms
have doors. The Haitian style of
teaching is rote repetition in loud
voices. The noise is relentless and
inescapable. The room used for
recreation allows each class to come in for some physical activity while they
practice academics and English. Here is
the only time the children get to run around (a dark concrete room), and the
noise level is commensurate. Additionally
is the constant noise from the flow of traffic and pedestrians outside the
gate.
There is
only natural illumination, and recently a couple of rechargeable battery
operated lanterns for the darkest rooms (kindergarten and third) to augment the
limited light. The property next door is
owned by someone else so the landlord cannot cut down the vegetation blocking
the light. The green chalkboards are
almost impossible to read from the back of the classroom. The children write with pencil on tiny lined
notebooks that absorb the humidity, and even the graphite is hard to
decipher. Obviously, there are no
technological devices of any kind.
If you stand
in the hall you may be fortunate enough to catch a breeze coming from the
courtyard, but there is no ventilation anywhere else. Even in November, it is hot and humid. Many bodies in small spaces raise the
temperature. Here is one reason to be
thankful for the concrete. School begins
at 8:30 a.m. Three, four, and five year
olds are dismissed at one and the older students at two. By the afternoon everyone is wilting in the
heat.
As the day
progresses the stench from the bathrooms (two toilets for 145 students) becomes
unbearable. It is necessary to hold your
breath when you go up the stairs. By
9:30 the floor is soaked with water from hand washing and force flushing. The
children and staff walk through it all day, adding mud to the concrete floors. A night custodian comes daily to clean.
Many schools
in Haiti are simple roofed structures with open wall, which is why school is
cancelled nearly every time it rains.
Nicer, expensive private schools have more amenities. Most schools require uniforms and books,
which parents must pay for.
Health:
Children
receive peanut butter crackers in the morning and fortified rice and beans
(Manna packs from Feed My Starving Children) for lunch. (Extra nutrients have been added, and
occasionally the person cooking adds a few canned vegetables.) Children and are given oral vitamins with
iron daily. Children and staff are given
worm medicine every six months. Some
children do eat something at home before they come, many do not. Some bring pre-packaged snacks from the
vendors which line the streets, most do not.
In each
classroom is a double bucket with lid. Water
is poured into the top bucket which contains a charcoal filter. Water flows into the bottom bucket with a
spigot for filling water bottles. Each
child has been given a water bottle, but a supply of pre-used juice bottles is
kept in the office when they need a replacement. The children are encouraged to drink water
frequently, as their supply at home may not be as sanitary and it is a hot
climate where much body fluid is lost through perspiration.
The vast
majority of the children come to school scrubbed clean. They wear their uniforms Monday through
Thursday, and are allowed to wear other clothing on Friday. The uniforms may or may not get washed during
the week. The school ensures that
children are provided with clean socks and shoes if they do not have them. In a culture where almost everything is
outside of one’s control, they take pride in their personal appearance. (I was astonished to see little girls coming on
Friday in spotless frilly dresses. (Lye soap and sunshine is the key.) Of course some children come disheveled, and uncared
for, but the majority is more than presentable.
In the
morning when the children enter school, any who are sick wait on the bench to
be summoned to the office. This may
involve a teaspoon of cold medicine, a dose of acetaminophen, cream for head
fungus or ring worm, or wound care.
Serious illnesses are taken by the director to the local hospital, where
you pay up front before any treatment is given.
When I
visited in February, many children were suffering from grippe(cold symptoms). I was
given a bottle of cold medicine and a handful of metal spoons. Depending on the age and weight of the child
I dispensed liquid accordingly. When
finished each child took the used spoon to the kitchen to be washed in bleach
water. During the November trip I was
much busier with medical concerns. Many
of the little boys suffer from head fungus.
They wear their hair very short, or completely shaved. The boys line up and with one gloved hand for
all of them, ointment is applied to each spot.
One child had a severe case and was taken to the hospital. Infection was discovered and he was given an
antibiotic. Unfortunately he took it at
home on an empty stomach the next day and vomited it all over the floor of the
office at school. (The good thing about
it was that the office is the only room with a tile floor which makes cleaning
much easier.) The several cases of ring
worm were treated with the same topical ointment.
On different
days I had little girls coming to school with very high temperatures. (102 and 103)
These I treated with acetaminophen, and sent back to class. One girl, who was too ill to return to her
studies, stayed in the office, lying on the hard wooden bench. I sponged her down with water, and she
eventually went to the hospital because we learned from her mother, who is on
staff, that she had not been eating.
Any child
taken to the hospital is tested for parasites (requiring a stool sample),
anemia (because they have virtually no iron in their diet) and are given
vitamin C. After those things are
checked, they look at the symptoms. The
child with the fever and the boy with the severe head fungus were both found to
have intestinal parasites, though everyone was dosed with worm medicine in
October. The little girl who had not
been eating was prescribed vitamin C and an appetite stimulant. None of the three students were anemic enough
to warrant attention.
Wound care
is another ongoing task. The normal
bumps and bruises of children are virtually ignored in Haiti; they are simply
not serious enough to deserve notice.
More serious wounds from cuts, scrapes, or burns are tended to. (Because most of the children live in hazardous
environments, and because many of them travel to school on motos, (motorcycles with long seats that carry a driver and up to
five students) and because everyone cooks over charcoal fires, wounds are
common. One boy had a partially healed
burn on his leg which I washed, treated and bandaged. The wound had begun to close without getting
rid of the inner infection, it had not been stitched and the scar will be
significant. He was taken to the
hospital and the director was at first told that he would receive a surgical
procedure. Though the wound should have
been opened and drained, it was just washed and covered with a single band-aid. His treatment at school was better. This child barely flinched while I was
treating his leg; many children in Haiti have learned to tolerate pain because
so little medical attention is available.
Another boy, however, reacted as most seven year olds would. His wound had scabbed over and then was
scraped off. I cleaned and bandaged it,
while he cried, but the second day it was full of green pus. He was afraid to have me treat it again, but
the director chided him for his understandable reaction. The children have to learn to be tough! Fortunately on my last day there, the leg was
looking better.
I visited a
local pharmacy while there. It is a
typical, tiny store. You step in and
immediately in front of you is a long counter, glassed in, with a window to
pass things through. On display behind
glass is over the counter remedies, and the pharmacist hands everything from
the inventory in the back. I don’t know
what happens if the medicine is not in stock.
One day we went to fill prescriptions for a sick baby we had
visited. The mother had taken the baby
to the hospital where it was evaluated, but the family did not have money to
pay for medicine. The doctor wanted it
treated with acetaminophen for fever.
The house and the school have a donated quantity of this, but not the
infant dose, so we purchased this. The
hospital recommended pedialyte for the dehydration and diarrhea, but this
electrolyte isn’t available in the town.
It can be purchased in Port-au-Prince, but it is very expensive. We bought Gatorade to give to the baby. We did fill a prescription for an antibiotic.
 |
| Mdm Rebecca with one of the triplets |
 |
| Recording height and weight of four year old students |
Another
family we visited has one month old triplets!
The previous week the family asked for assistance because the babies
were losing weight. Through connections
the director was able to procure cases of free formula to supplement the
mother’s breast milk. Another connection
in a close town will be providing care and supplemental food and nutrition for
the mother and the babies every other week.
The director will pick them up and transport them.
Students at
the school each have enrollment information, a copy of their birth certificate,
and any medical history available.
Copies of height and weight growth curves are also in their files. While at the school, my husband and I weighed
and measured each child and I recorded and plotted this in their chart. The three year olds did not know what to make
of the process, and needed lots of help and encouragement to complete these
‘scary’ requirements. Most of the rest
of the children have experienced this before and I was happy to see that only
gains had been made. One little six year
old who has a history of severe malnutrition, has now made it onto the
curve! This was a reason to rejoice. Tracking height and weight are not common in
Haitian schools. Hearing and vision checks
are unknown.
As
previously noted, there are two toilets to service 145 students. Many of the children have never used a toilet
before entering school, and need to be taught how. There are two stalls, and a privacy wall, but
no doors. Toilet paper is kept in the
office, and children must stop by and help themselves to a few sheets when
needed. Afterward they wash from the
room temperature water and use the round, rough soap. Hands are air dried or wiped on their
uniform. The office toilet paper is also
used for runny noses. Extra rolls are
locked in the supply cabinet in the office.
To my knowledge there is only one student who is not ‘potty
trained’. She is not yet two years old
who is there because her mother is a teacher.
Despite the lack of sanitation facilities in the home, or perhaps
because of this, children seem to learn to take care of this bodily function
very early.
Tin plates
and spoons are used and washed and reused several times to service all the
children for lunch. All children are
required to take a small serving of rice and beans, even if they have brought
something from home. Some children
request a large portion, because they are very hungry and may not eat again
until the next day. Weekends, and other
days off from school are very chancy.
There are no government services to help. Extended families and neighbors care for each
other as best they can. In extreme
cases, families go to visit the Pastor’s house to request food, or express
other needs.
Each class
spends a half an hour in ‘recreation’ moving around, and practicing academics
in the one open room in the school. This
is another unknown for Haiti. Children
sit or stand in silence and follow the directions of the adult, or they are
disciplined. Continuance discipline problems
result in permanent expulsion. Though
the school doesn’t have any place for children to run around or play outside,
they know that physical activity is important, and under the influence of the
American staff, have worked this into their day. The guard doubles as physical education
teacher for the three year olds, (also known as herding cats). A young university student comes four days a
week to do recreation for the other grades.
The day he doesn’t come, the guard covers all the classes.
Recreation
is held in the unfinished concrete room.
This room is also used for assemblies.
It is a small, dark, echoing space, and falls result in bumps and
scrapes, but this is a small price to pay for the opportunity to act like
children! The school is grateful for
this space and utilizes it to capacity.
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