Kate Conradt, Save the Children director, media and communications
Petionville Club Camp
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
April 15, 2010
When the opportunity to move out of one of Port-au-Prince’s largest settlements for displaced families arose, Jean Steve’s parents knew it was time to go.
The family of four, made homeless by the January 12 earthquake, has been living at the Petionville Club, a massive camp of at least 43,000 people located on a 9-hole golf course. The site is overcrowded and perched on the steep hills, and it is threatened by flooding and landslides now that the near-daily downpours of the rainy season have begun.
An emergency evacuation of people living in at-risk areas began April 10, and Jean Steve, his brother, Romario, and his parents, Alexis and Sagine, opted to go to a new camp established north of Port-au-Prince at Corail Cesselesse. The family is pictured at right. (Photo credit: Lee Celano/Getty Images)
They were among the first 20 families to move.
“It was really bad here. We had a lot of problems. The rain came into our tent and we couldn’t sleep,” said Alexis.
“We knew we couldn’t live here anymore,” said Sagine.
The family registered and moved to the new site on April 11. The planned camp has neatly spaced tents on a graveled plain. Save the Children set up a clinic and child-friendly spaces before the new residents arrived. Pictured below are Alexis and Sagine, along with Jean Steve, as they load supplies into their new tent. (Photo credit: Lee Celano/Getty Images)
“This place is better,” said 9-year-old Jean Steve. “There’s no mud here. And my friends are coming.”
A third-grader and fan of the Brazilian national soccer team, Jean Steve was going to school before the earthqake. He has not been back to class since he lost his home. His eyes light up when he hears that schools, too, will come to the camp.
“I like school,” he said.
Save the Children is providing vital services for children like Jean Steve and Romario during the relocation process. Working with the Haitian Scouts, from registration to arrival, our staff will inform and keep families together as they travel.
The agency’s child-friendly spaces (for children and youth) at Corail Cesselesse will provide activities to help Jean Steve, Romario, and hundreds of other children maintain a normal routine, as well as provide informal education activities while schools come on line.
Save the Children also will register children for school, train teachers and provide them with education supplies.
Learn more about our emergency response to the earthquake in Haiti.
Help Us Respond to the Haiti Earthquake Emergency. Please Donate Now.
YOU CAN DONATE $10 TO THE HAITI EARTHQUAKE RELIEF FUND BY TEXTING “SAVE” to 20222 (US Only). Standard message rates apply.
It has been a year since the disaster happened. I am glad to see that the people are slowly picking up the pieces of the aftermath.
Posted by: Ruby at Science Camp | 02/15/2011 at 08:17 AM
please,like to know about corail port . would you send me a phone number or email i can reach this port.
thanks
sandra@caribbeantc.com
Posted by: sandra edouard | 11/03/2010 at 07:55 PM