Leaving Haiti

 The Pearson Foundation and the International Rescue Committee have completed the on-the-ground information gathering and are now ready to fly home. These past two weeks have been sobering. Wendy flew home to Colombia yesterday, and Jake and I fly to New York on Sunday. These past two days we’ve been attending a Haiti ICT in Education Summit at what was once the premiere hotel in Haiti. The Montana Hotel was where most decision-makers in Haiti met to chat with the ex-pat community and get business done. It was the swankiest place in Port au Prince. Set atop a mountain with stunning views of the port and valley, it offered five-star service in a city crumbling under dire poverty.

When the event started, I saw a new friend Sergey standing in shock by the pool. He used to come to the Montana as a boy and this was his first time back to the hotel since the quake. Right above the pool stood a multi-story hotel that came crashing down in January 2010, killing many visitors from abroad. There was quite a bit of anger during the days immediately following the quake because people felt that too much effort was being placed on finding Americans in the rubble of the Montana at the expense of rescue efforts in the slums. This is something I encounter quite often. We have blinders on. We aren't the only people living on this planet. I'm reminded of an American astronaut who was viewing the earth for the first time in the early '70s (in July). He said, "Ah, Earth looks beautiful in the Summer." Sure, "Summer" for him, but the other half of the planet was experiencing Winter.

Anyway, this conference has been great because Jake and I know almost everyone. Wendy did an amazing job setting up our meetings over the past two weeks because we’ve obviously met with most of the key-players in education and ICT. So, now the assessment document will be created and we’ll see if we can help in any way. More on that when it is complete.

I am actually sad to leave Haiti. I’ve met so many wonderful people. I hope to come back soon and do whatever we can to assist the Haitians as they proudly move their country forward. Specifically, we will really miss our new friend Franklin who started out as our driver for the IRC and ended up a new member of the family. He is so smart and tons of fun. I've been teaching him how Photoshop and InDesign work and he's already mastered both. There are so many "Franklins" on the streets of Port au Prince who have the will and the brains, but just not the opportunity.

For now, I leave you with a photo tour through the countryside and the crazy, wicked, lively city of Port au Prince. Again, Franklin took most of the photos.   By Erik Gregory

Update from Haiti

I’m not even sure how to begin. Emotions on this trip have run the gamut. At the exact moment we start to feel like the situation is too daunting, something wonderful happens and our vim and vigor is restored.

From a town called Petit Goave, we drove over the beautiful mounts to the southern coast of Haiti. We’re in a town called Jacmel. It was founded (and by “founded” I mean taken over by Europeans) in the late 1600s. Builders here ordered wrought iron from Paris for balcony grilles. Visitors from New Orleans saw the work and copied the style in Louisiana.

Today, Jacmel is a beach town with many tourists (but not nearly as many as before the earthquake). The schools are similar to the ones we’ve already seen. Over-crowded, no materials, multi-age classes, extremely poor sanitation, and no food or portable drinking water. But, the kids are, of course, amazing. A few sad faces, but in general there are many smiles to go around.

We’re interviewing students and teachers in small focus groups. They all point to things like lack of material, health, no pay for teachers (yep, no pay) and basic infrastructure issues like lack of electricity and safe buildings. The IRC Healing Classrooms model is perfect for Haiti. We’re also hoping that our teacher training programme will help educators deal with classroom management problems and literacy issues (lack of reading skills for both students and teachers).

I’ve welled up with tears when I see the conditions people have to deal with, and I’ve sung with joy when I hear the dreams of students and know that the Pearson/Nokia/IRC offering will help. More on that when we finalize the assessment.

We drove up into the mountains today to visit a rural school. As I stood in the old fort overlooking the beautiful Jacmel bay and watched the kids using my SLR camera to take photos, I thought, “I’m here! I really get to this. I get to meet these amazing people who live on less than one dollar per day, but have the best outlook on life.” They are proud and want the best for their country. 

By Erik Gregory

My Driving Force ( The story of an ECD teacher)

One of the participants in the Tinga Tinga Tales Early Childhood Development Teacher Training Programme in East Africa shared her story with us:

Jacinta is an early childhood development teacher in Mathare North. Her class consists of middle level children. Teaching was not one of her prime desires but she became an ecd teacher out of necessity.
Being a second born and at the same time a girl-child in a family of seven led her to take up responsibility roles early on in life. It became a normal part of her daily routine to help her mother care for her siblings. They lived in a rural part of Kisumu which is in the Western part of Kenya.

Her dream was to become a police woman to serve her country but circumstances led her to have a great passion for children. The eldest child in the family, who happened to be a son, passed away leaving Jacinta with the obligation of raising his children. The children needed basic care, educational empowerment, and financial help. In the years that followed, some of her cousins also passed away leaving the extended family to care for their children.

Offering basic care and financial support was not easy, but at least she some idea about how to meet these needs. The children’s education, on the other hand, had been a big issue. Childcare centers and schools lacked the resources to offer the all-around commitment to mold the little ones into people with the means to improve their society.

This triggered her to try find a solution to the problem. Jacinta first began by working at a near-by nursery centre as an untrained teacher, but one filled with the desire to help out. This enabled her to save money to attend ECD training. This eventually paid off when she was able to attend a training every school holiday for two years to earn a certificate.

Jacinta is currently taking part time classes for her diploma in early childhood development, which she says will help her pass on her knowledge more effectively. Her greatest desire is to mold children to become better people in society and give them a chance to be able to learn how to read and write.

Tinga Tinga Tales Early Childhood Development Teacher Training

This past week we were in Nairobi, Kenya for Tinga Tinga Tales Early Childhood Development Teacher training for 90 teachers. Each teacher participating in the main training led by Ms. Mariam Elloker, our ECD Specialist, will share new skills with 5 more teachers, impacting around 540 teachers and directly reaching 15000 learners on average.

The training focuses on Literacy skills through the Tinga Tinga Tales book: “Why elephant has a trunk” facilitating best practice through play. Teachers were singing and dancing, dramatizing the story, and making new songs and poems. They learned to make teaching aids by using locally available resources in a creative way. The room was vibrant with energy, and the visiting VIPs found themselves dancing along with the participants within minutes.

Message from Haiti

"The devastation and dire circumstances here are beyond belief. At one of the schools we visited in Petit Goave, the students are piled up, 50 students to a tent. They are without potable water, books, food, and adequate toilets. However, if you look at the photo, you'll understand why Jake, Wendy, and I love our jobs..."  Erik Gregory

Educational Assessment in Haiti

The Pearson Foundation, Nokia, and the International Rescue Committee are conducting a three-week educational assessment in Haiti. Our plan is to offer an information and communications technology (ICT) educational programme in some of the most under-served schools. We’re really here just to listen and let people tell us what challenges they’re facing in education. And challenges they do have. It has been 18 months since the earthquake, and the level of destruction is almost too much to take in. I really can’t put it into words, but the photos tell the story.

Because we’re here to observe and ask questions, I won’t be outlining our programme details because we want to keep an open mind. So many organizations come to Haiti with pre-existing programmes that just don’t work here. Our goal is to localize any solution we work on with the Ministry of Education, so we’ll just shut up for the next two weeks and see how we can best help…where help is needed most.

I really thought I’d seen it all, but Haiti is a singular experience. The level of poverty is like nothing I’ve encountered. Cholera is again raging in the streets, and when you see how basic services are still problematic, it makes sense that disease is sure to follow. Just look at the photos of the women selling food on the streets right next to running rivulets of garbage and sewage. The roads are a mess and getting anywhere is an adventure in patience. But, just look at the faces of the students we visited yesterday. When you’ve lived your entire life in dire circumstances, it is just normal. The kids can laugh and smile because they don’t know any other life.

My colleagues Wendy and Jake from the International Rescue Committee and I are off for another round of meetings with key players in education here in Port au Prince (and beyond). Tomorrow we’ll jump in SUV and head out to the countryside. On a side note, I’m normally on my own for these types of assessments and it is great to have the power and expertise of the IRC behind me this time. I’ve learned so much from Wendy and Jake already. Additionally, the IRC puts a premium on employee safety. We aren’t allowed to take taxis. We can’t walk anywhere. We have to use an IRC driver. We are issued phones and laminated cards with emergency numbers. We have curfew (something I haven’t had since I was 16)!

More from the road. And, even though I’ve been plunked down in the middle of the kind of poverty one will see only once in a lifetime, many of the Haitians I’ve met so far give me hope.

-Erik Gregory