S
ix months after a major earthquake struck Haiti, eight-year-old Christelle still calls a tent city in a slum outside of Port-au-Prince home. The improvised shelter, a few tarps strapped over some wood on a crowded old hotel patio where she lives with her mother, sits inches from their neighbors.
Like 1.2 million other Haitians, including hundreds of thousands of children, Christelle sought refuge in a camp in Martissant that was quickly overwhelmed by a massive influx of displaced men, women and children in need of shelter.
In response to the challenges facing Martissant and many similar communities throughout Haiti, NPI partner World Hope International-Haiti (WHI) shifted its priorities from mobilizing comprehensive community- and faith-based responses to HIV/AIDS to providing educational, health and psychological support to women and vulnerable children. By establishing day camps within tent cities in the Port-au-Prince area, WHI set up one of the few safe spaces for children to go in the absence of schools and churches, many of which were destroyed. Children begin arriving at the camps, called Soley Leve (meaning Sunrise), at 8:00 AM. There, every child is served a healthy breakfast and lunch, has access to clean drinking water and sanitary bathrooms and receives medical treatment as needed.
Unlike organizations that offer only basic health and nutrition services, WHI has taken its work to another level. In addition to providing the basics, the Soley Leve camps’ holistic approach addresses children’s educational and mental health needs. The campers participate in age-appropriate educational activities and meet with counselors who provide psychological support to help them cope with trauma and loss. In addition, the children play games, sing songs and have the chance to be kids again.
For Christelle, the camp has truly made a difference. In the weeks following the earthquake, she became uncharacteristically shy and withdrawn; but her demeanor and outlook brightened through interactions with other children and trained counselors at the WHI camp. World Vision International and UNICEF have recognized the difference that WHI’s camps are making and are replicating WHI’s model throughout Haiti. As a result, thousands of children are healing, learning and regaining their childhood.
