Two weeks without fear and violence - what sounds natural to us is the exception for people in Haiti. To the north-west of the capital Port-au-Prince, Kindernothilfe Haiti therefore organised a "Holiday Camp of Smiles" for the children - with our help, among others.
left: Laughing without fear: The camp was a break from poverty and violence. right: Some teaching was part of the programme
We have been supporting the "Protective School" children's aid project in a small village north-west of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince for years. The "Camp du Sourire", known as the "Holiday Camp of Smiles", has now taken place for the first time as part of this project. It offered over 200 children and young people a two-week break from their everyday lives, which are characterised by poverty, fear and violence. Donations from REWE Group and its employees made a significant contribution to the realisation of Camp du Sourire, with Kindernothilfe Haiti as the local partner. Its director, Hugue Augustin, described the holiday camp to one:
Discover your own creativity: Most of the children had never crocheted, made or crafted before
"We deliberately named the camp 'Holiday Camp of Smiles' because we wanted to use the friendly name and the specially printed sunny yellow T-shirts to send out a positive signal against the daily violence that the children are exposed to in their environment. It is important to note that Haiti's population, and the children in particular, are currently being severely traumatised by several major crises, including everyday life dominated by violence and fear and the sharp rise in prices due to inflation, which is making food almost unaffordable.
The aim of the summer camp was to relieve the children of this fear, which is omnipresent in Lévèque, for a while. The activities at the camp were intended to promote the children's community and co-operation, as well as to reduce stress and anxiety and support their personal development. On the one hand, the children, who have never been on holiday before in their lives, should have fun and a unique holiday experience while learning useful things for their lives. On the other hand, our activities should stabilise the children mentally and make them feel valued. To this end, we have developed educational activities, sports and exercise programmes as well as art and craft workshops.
Children and their companions hand out flyers on child protection.
The educational activities were aimed at consolidating the children's school knowledge through play. The summer holidays in Haiti are long and the pupils forget some of what they have learnt, which in turn requires the teachers to spend a lot of time repeating the old material in the new school year. The summer camp therefore refreshed and deepened maths, writing and reading skills. Leisure activities included sports, exercise and activities ranging from painting and singing to watering the plants, which is necessary in this dry area, beautifying the schoolyard and excursions to the neighbourhood, where the children and young people distributed leaflets they had written themselves about children's legal rights. Of all the sports facilities, the specially built pool was the biggest attraction, and the children really enjoyed jumping in and frolicking in the water. They had never seen anything like it before.
Just be a kid at the "Holiday Camp of Smiles"
The camp ended in September after two weeks of adventure. The children thoroughly enjoyed it, as did Mérilia. She is a schoolgirl, 16, and lives as a domestic servant in a kind of domestic slavery. She was so happy about her time at the holiday camp because it saved her for a fortnight from chastisements and household chores that she had to do all day without food. Mérilia believes that the camp changed her life because she learnt many new things and acquired new skills, such as crocheting and painting. Before the camp, she couldn't do any of these things, but now she can make sandals from macramé, crocheted hats and picture frames from banana leaves, for example. Mérilia dreams of developing her craft skills further in order to earn a living. And to take control of her life and change it.
... offered 226 boys and girls aged between four and 16 from the Lévèque region two weeks of holidays, adventure and variety. The food was good and, above all, plentiful, the carers were caring and engaged in dialogue with the children. All of this was very good for them. The situation at the school, in the families and in the village is currently very tense due to the ongoing crisis in Haiti and the associated violence. The extreme violence in the capital Port-au-Prince has also spilled over into the province since last year. The local school closed for several weeks. The children's trauma was exacerbated by their frightened and helpless parents, as well as a lack of food, access to clean water, sanitation, education, health, shelter and information. The people affected have barely been able to recover from the natural disasters of recent years, from the huge earthquake in 2010, the devastating cyclone in 2016 and the further earthquake in summer 2021. The unprecedented wave of violence that gripped the country afterwards and the quasi-legal vacuum have made living conditions even worse. Never before have the children and young people living in Lévèque been exposed to such a traumatising situation as they are today.
More on the topic:
https://one.rewe-group.com/magazin/magazin-artikel/item/Article/showMag/college-verena-mutwillig-zerstoert-kinder-blieben-unverletzt
... in Lévèque in the municipality of Cabaret, a region severely affected by the 2010 earthquake, has three main tasks: It aims to teach children how to protect themselves from further forces of nature. It focuses on environmental protection and a tree planting project in view of the massive deforestation in the region due to the need for firewood. And above all, she informs and advises parents on the omnipresent issue of violence against children.
More about the Protective School:
https://one.rewe-group.com/magazin/magazin-artikel/item/Article/showMag/baeume-pflanzen-ist-kindesschutz
