“All I could think of was getting to the remaining children,” related Charles, a teacher at the Petionville school.

“School had finished for the day, and I was playing basketball in the school courtyard with some older children when the earthquake hit. But there were about 20 children in the school doing homework.

Charles, a teacher at the Petionville school in Haiti, revisits the site where he rescued two children from the rubble by crawling through this small opening.

“I got hold of nine children near the school entrance, but the whole building was shaking violently. It came down like a pancake in front of me: from upright to totally collapsed within 30 seconds.

"Dust and debris were everywhere, and people were screaming. I broke through debris to rescue two trapped children, and then heard cries from the other side of the building. But it was getting dark; there was an aftershock and no one there to help me. A large concrete slab stopped me from getting to the children, but I got near to where they were crying and tried to calm them, saying, ‘I will get you out as soon as possible,’ explaining I couldn’t do anything without help.

“The children cried, saying ’don’t leave me!’ It was hard to leave, but there was nothing else I could do. I returned home to find my own house demolished, my family worried about my whereabouts, and my sister injured.

“At first light the following morning, I returned to the school with another parent who wanted to help. It took several hours, but I was finally able to crawl through a very small opening in the concrete, smash through a concrete block, and managed to drag out two children alive. I found four more children who had died among the debris and removed their bodies. I couldn’t reach 2-3 other children buried under the school.

“In spite of this tragedy, my hope is that the school can be rebuilt, so that I can get back to doing what I love – teaching children. Many children are too frightened yet to come back, but I am holding classes on benches under a tarpaulin in the schoolyard. At present, we are playing games, talking and singing songs – gradually working up to academic study. More are coming back each week.”
 

From Matthew Bolton, Haiti Emergency Coordinator for Outreach International

It’s true that a lot of Haitian children are traumatized, and there are many psychological scars that need to be addressed. There is help available – we are trying to access that aid so that children will return to school.

Many schools in the earthquake-affected areas are back up and running, often under tarpaulins, with about 50% of the students previously enrolled returning. This is due to lack of jobs, housing and funds for tuition.

As a result of one of our proposals, we received an initial 7 boxes of school supplies from UNICEF, which will be distributed by the Haiti school director. It contains pens, pencils, chalk, rulers, erasers, pencil sharpeners, ruled exercise books, and re-sealable plastic carrier bags.

We are also leveraging assistance from other agencies, such as U.N. humanitarian flights, $30,000 in technical assistance, and are concentrating on getting tarpaulins to provide other temporary school shelters. A full accounting of that aid will be in the next update. Be sure to check the Outreach International website as well!  

Please see outreach-international.org/rebuildinghaiti for more updates on the work being done with your help. – Matthew Bolton

How you can help:

Donate Now to help the schoolchildren and their families in Haiti and around the world for the long haul.