"We will never forget you"

On a white sheet children wrote their thoughts into three columns: one for 12 January 2010, one for 12 January 2011 and one for 12 january 2020. "Everyone was affected" reads the first column, or "We will never forget all those who died". One boy vented his anger about what happened with words that could be translated as "Doomsday for Haiti". One boy recalls, that he missed out on his date for the earthquake. The "today"-column is filled with aspiration and plans, it says things like: "We are working hard today, but we'll be working even harder tomorrow", "We have to unite our forces to make Haiti move on", "We need to get our people out of the tents".

This poster with the handprints of the children reads "Together we are strong!" - Photo: Sophie Preisch

A moment of remembrance

In the morning, schoolchildren from the SOS Hermann Gmeiner School get together to celebrate mass, remembering all those who lost their lives in the earthquake. Hundreds of children sit on wooden benches or plastic chairs in the schoolyard. They are singing, praying and listening. Many of them lost their homes a year ago, many even lost their parents, siblings or other loved ones. The earthquake and all its consequences has become Haiti's reality - but still it seems so far away.

Holy mass was celebrated in remembrance of those whose lives were taken by the earthquake - Photo: Sophie Preisch

After mass and a short performance by the choir of children and youngsters from the children's village, a letter from Helmut Kutin, the President of SOS Children‘s Villages, is read out loud by the interim national director Dionisio Pereira. To co-workers and especially mothers this is an important moment: he sends his appreciation for their commitment and the strength they showed over the past year. The earthquake - as one of the children also wrote on the poster - has affected everyone in Haiti. Those who survived and who were here right after the quake to help others have also had traumatic experiences and had to cope with it.

The SOS mothers had to adapt to an overwhelming situation in very little time - Photo: Sophie Preisch

Hope unites the people

Prior to the celebrations the children had written their wishes and sorrows on little pieces of paper, and a bonfire is lit to transform these messages and help them ascend to heaven to be heard by higher powers. A long line of students walks solemnly past the fire, throwing in their wishes one by one. Some children are clearly enjoying the special event, others seem more pensive and quiet.

While may children clearly enjoyed sending their hopes and fears skywards via bonfire...

In the afternoon, when the children have gone, the village grows quiet once more. Everyone is reflecting on what happened and how to go on. Sometimes it's hard to understand why people are still forced to live in tents and why there are still so many ruins. What is it that makes everything so slow here? What have we learned, what has Haiti learned? What will it take for this country to rediscover its own strength?



Others seemed a bit more quiet and lost in thought - Photos: Sophie Preisch

For many children this date might be an unpleasant memory, but it's probably even harder to really reflect on what happened. The event has brought them together, has given them a moment to remember. And - after all - it's hope that unifies Haiti. As though to illustrate just that point, the 2020-column of the poster says things like: "Children in the future will be born into a better Haiti", "We won't give up". The boy who missed his chance at a date with a special girl last year simply writes "In 2020, my dates will work out".

New things to come

Over the last days of 2010 more than 100 children of the SOS Children’s Village in Santo moved into their new homes. The temporary shelters,built on the children’s village grounds, help reduce the number of children in the family houses and provide a temporary home for many. All these children came here after the earthquake. The majority of them will be reunited with their biological families in 2011.

SOS Aunties gather and choose bedsheets for their new homes in the temporary shelters in Santo - Photo: Sophie Preisch

A group of SOS aunties is gathering at the back of a truck and choosing bedsheets for their new homes. "Everything here is new. We are making 20 houses ready for the children to move in. We bought beds, mattresses, fans... everything", says Jules Richard, director of the temporary shelters in Santo. These prefabricated houses were donated as part of the emergency relief programme after the earthquake in January 2010. Some of them have been in use since June, others will be in use from now on.


"The process of moving is quite complicated, it needs a lot of thought and cooperation from everyone involved", says Jules Richard. Each house is a home to five children and one SOS auntie. One block consists of four houses and functions as a community in household questions and cooking.

Jules Richard, director of the temporary shelters, knows the difficulties but has ideas to overcome them - Photo: Sophie Preisch

It is important to organise certain things in order to still provide a loving and secure home to the children: "We don’t want to separate siblings. Those families where children under five years of age came here with their brothers or sisters stay in the SOS Children’s Village. Even though the shelters are a good alternative to proper housing they still don't provide all the facilities necessary to babies, for instance. Most of the infrastructure - like a bigger kitchen and a community house for leisure activities - are still in the process of being built".




A new community kitchen is being built for the SOS families, who live in the temporary shelters in Santo - Photo: Sophie Preisch


"It's cold at night and hot during the day. It will take some time until everything is working and we get used to our new homes", says an auntie who just moved here with five children. The fan has not yet been installed in her house, that’s one of the things that are being fixed these days.

Nevertheless, the children make do with what they have: A group of children is playing with a wheelbarrow, another group is standing in the grass flying kites fashioned from sticks and plastic bags. Ten year old James says he’s doing fine here. He still visits his SOS mother and his SOS siblings in the children’s village, but most of the day he spends in his new home.




Boys living in the temporary shelters in CV Santo flying their self-made kites - Photo: Sophie Preisch


He is one of over 100 children that will be reunited with their biological families during 2011. After the earthquake thousands of families lost their homes and weren't able to provide for their children anymore. It took months to find out which children can be reunited with their families and when they would be capable to care for them again. The temporary shelters now accommodate those children until they move back with their families. But they also accommodate children who lost all their family members and who will move into the new SOS Children’s Village that is being built. "There are still a lot of difficult cases to be handled, but we just needed to act quickly. It will take some time until we have enough trees providing shade and spaces for leisure activities. But at least we are already providing the basics", says Jules Richards. He and his team are also moving their offices into the plastic prefab houses.

As the new year steps in, a new temporary village is being born.

A moment of peace and joy

"Everyone is waiting on this special evening. Waiting for Santa Claus and for good things to come. And it is necessary to spend some time together in peace, joy and love... because even if Santa does not bring any gifts, often it is enough to have one such precious moment", says SOS co-worker Samy, who hosted a Christmas party for the children of the SOS Children’s Village in Santo on Christmas Eve.

Two girls at the christmas celebration in the SOS Children's Village Santo - Photo: Sophie Preisch

The community house was beautifully decorated, Samy was doing stand-up comedy, playing games and singing songs with the children. Boys and girls competed in dance contests, and the ones who were not chosen to dance on the stage just danced in the audience. For a few hours the kids were sharing a joyful time, older children looking after their younger siblings, former SOS-Children who already live by their own dropping by to say hello. "I always remember what Christmas meant to me as a child. I believed in Santa Claus and I still keep this picture in my mind. Having a good time at Christmas means a lot, especially this year. After a year full of crises, of the earthquake, of loss and destruction, of cholera and misery we need to get together in peace to prepare ourselves for a new year - one that will be better", says Samy looking back. He says his christmas wish was fulfilled: having a good time with the children.

Samy on stage celebrating with the children of the SOS Children’s Village in Santo with games, songs and dance competitions - Photo: Sophie Preisch

Just one day prior to that, Samy’s children’s choir "Image d’amour" was performing at a hospital, bringing joy and peace to some of those who had to spend Christmas in poor health. "I know we all had a tough year and I know that some of you are living in tents, but that won’t keep us from celebrating Christmas with a lot of faith", said 15-year old Rose Andre in her opening words for the show. 16 children of the SOS Children’s Village in Santo were singing and dancing and doing exactly what Samy referred to as the most important thing at christmas: offering a moment of joy.

"Image d'amour", the choir of SOS CV Santo, singing and dancing at a hospital in Port-au-Prince - Photo: Sophie Preisch

Some people clapped their hands as the group danced, others smiled. As the choir sang a slower song at the end of their show many patients could be seen crying. In their hands they held Christmas cards the children had made over the last months. Each card is unique, as SOS co-worker Bettina gave the children a space to do the crafts as well as paper, scissors and crayons - but left them the freedom of creating the cards after their own designs. The audience in the hospital appreciates the show says good-bye with a hearty applause and a big “Merci!”.



During the show of the choir many found a moment to reflect on this past year - Photo: Sophie Preisch

Behind the scenes, it had been quite an effort to bring this peaceful moment to the people in the hospital. The children sang and danced for months rehearsing for this show, they nervously waited in the SOS Children’s Village Santo in the morning until the right cars, the right keys and the right drivers were available at the same time, then rode for about two hours through the hot and dusty city, then waited patiently again when the car broke down half-way, and then again when the police stopped us a few minutes later... and they arrived at the hospital in a good mood, bringing joy to the people and then getting back on the car for another two-hour ride to return. I imagine Santa Claus to be somewhat like that: He also must suffer long, exhausting journeys and still arrives filled with joy and love for everyone.

A loving home

At the moment we don’t have water since the water pump broke again. Every day I establish new records in using minimum amounts of water to shower. When I wash I try to collect used water by means of a little bucket which I use to flush my toilet. Those are the things I think about before my workday begins. Next, we need to find a driver to bring us to a supermarket that accepts cards. It is complicated and risky to withdraw cash, so I only have 35 Gourdes (less than a US Dollar) with me. We want get some shopping done while the situation is still calm. This week, most of our international colleagues will be leaving for christmas. Election results of the second vote count are being announced and protests and riots are likely to resume once more.


Small businesses pop up everywhere among the ruins. Photo: Sophie Preisch

 Right now things are calm on the streets of Haiti’s capital. Everything seems peaceful. On every corner people are selling goods: fruits, phone credits, sugar cane, snacks, chicken, plants, vintage clothes and shoes, scrap metal, wheels and even medicine. On a dusty road with enough potholes to force us down to 12km/h, we pass a house where wedding dresses are sold. Two dresses hang in protective plastic covers beside the door, inside someone is sewing another one. Everything is makeshift. Soft kompa-sounds, palm trees and bright hibiscus blossoms contrast starkly with dust, stones and the chaotic traffic. Christian slogans are written on taptaps (colourful pic-ups used as public transport), walls and signs. Industrious small businesses indicate that not everything was destroyed in the earthquake while huge tent cities and sweating people repairing ruins by hand, one stone at a time, show how much was.

Transportation, or rather the lack thereof, is a constant issue marked by chaos, roadblocks and fuel shortages. Photo: Sophie Preisch

We pass a police car with its emergency lights on to the right and then a taptap to the left. On the next corner four boys run up to our car and start cleaning the windscreen. The supermarket in Delmas, quite a big area of Port-au-Prince, is about an hour away. Our driver tells us that he lives near by, but that it still takes him about two hours every morning to get to work and then about three hours every evening to get back. The public transport system is complicated and often it is entirely blocked by demonstrations or turmoils.

When we get to the supermarket, we buy some crayons and craft supplies for the children with donations from friends and family. It is a small christmas gift we want to give every one of them at the end of this eventful year.



While the children in the SOS Children's Village are safe, many families have to protect their scarce posessions from looters. Photo: Sophie Preisch

 Once we're done with our shopping we drive back to the SOS Children’s Village Santo. The 19 family houses were constructed in 1985 for a total of 190 children. This year 327 children are spending christmas here, and 73 more in the temporary shelters. For our SOS Mothers it is an incredible effort to care for more than 20 instead of 10 children. One mother says, "when you only have 10 children everything is easy. Food is always enough and when you clean the house it actually is clean afterwards. But with almost 30 you clean and it gets dirty again in the same instant. This was a hard year for us, but it was for everyone in our country".

At this point we want to express our deep appreciation for those women - SOS mothers and SOS aunties - for giving a loving home to our children, regardless of continuing difficult circumstances and an unpredictable situation in the country.

Christmas cookies under palm trees

"I'm wishing for peace", says Delva. "And a good president", adds Clorene, while Antoinette carefully braids her hair. "I just hope the city will be safe again. That you can leave the house without having to worry", answers Julianne. The SOS Aunties do not desire any material things for christmas. What they want is that life in Haiti improves. For all of them it is the first christmas they spend inside the SOS Children’s Village. They care for children in the temporary shelters that were set up on the grounds of the SOS Children’s Village Santo after the earthquake. "We will decorate our houses and the whole area, then we will cook and eat together", says Clorene. "I hope we can get some gifts for the children. They like toys and educational games. It is their first christmas in SOS Children’s Villages, all of the kids in the shelters came here after the earthquake".

SOS aunties from the temporary shelters discuss Christmas plans and Haitian politics - Photo: Sophie Preisch

The international team of SOS co-workers is also preparing for christmas. For many this means packing their suitcases and heading home to their families and friends. For others it just means to find a way to participate in Haitian christmas: exchanging stories and traditions, learning and teaching. And: baking cookies. First, we managed to get to the supermarket, which was difficult enough after last week’s turmoils on the streets. We bought ingredients very much like what we would put into cookies at home. Then we started preparing the cookies. At nine o'clock there was a blackout - usually we have electricity until ten o'clock in the evening. For the next three hours we were cooking in the lights of candles and mobile phones. It was raining cats and dogs while we mixed salted nuts with butter, eggs, flour, sugar and cinnamon. The result is delicious, you top it with peanut butter and chocolate. And on Christmas eve we will hopefully find out what traditional Haitian sweets are.


SOS mother Louianne with nine of her 20(!) children. This Christmas also marks her first year as an SOS mother - Photo: Sophie Preisch


Eating is an important part of christmas celebrations all over the world, and the SOS Children’s Village Santo is no exception. "Each group of houses will celebrate together. Everyone will prepare and then share their food. The children will dance and sing... and we will celebrate all day long, both on the 24th and 25th of December", says Louianne, SOS Mother in Santo. This christmas is also her fist anniversary as an SOS Mother. Looking back at this year she says: "In December of last year the former mother of this SOS house retired. I lived here with eight children. The peace of christmas lasted exactly until 11 January", she says with a sad laugh. Louianne still keeps her humour in spite everything that happened after the earthquake. "At one point we had 29 children living in this house. But that was not all: some SOS youth community houses were destroyed as well, so four of the teenagers also came back to live here. And then it was three SOS Aunties and me", she says laughing. Now Louianne lives with 20 children in the house. Her wishes for the upcoming year: "That my children stay healthy and that we can go on living here."

The rule, the exceptions and the normality of unrest

Normally, the flag is raised at seven in the morning, followed by the singing of the national anthem. But today is different. Children run to and fro across the schoolyard of the SOS Hermann Gmeiner School, the classrooms are empty and there is not a teacher in sight. There is also no sign of the students who don't live inside the SOS Children's Village in Santo, Port-au-Prince. "It's because of the elections", says 14 year-old James, "there's no school today".


As the riots spread all over the capital, children return home from the closed schools. Photo: Hilary Atkins

The students from the SOS Children's Village next door are officially sent home shortly after this; lessons are canceled for security reasons and offices will remain closed as well, since the way here is much too risky today. In this respect at least, the presidential elections have produced the result everyone expected: it caused riots and violent clashes. The key to survival here is to react to new situations every day and make decisions quickly. "Nobody should go out on the street today", says the guardian at the gate in the morning. "People are burning tires in the street and setting everything on fire. The protest aren't taking place anywhere near just yet, but we expect things to get worse throughout the day".

And sure enough, as the day goes on, the scenes of civil unrest are spreading. There are demonstrations against corruption and fraud, the television cameras show pictures of angry young men running through the streets of Port-au-Prince, the stench of burning tires wafts across the village grounds every now and again. The schools and other public facilities remain closed the whole day. Those who don't absolutely have to go out stay home. Both public and private transportation has become impossible due to the ubiquitous road blocks. Air travel has been canceled as well, only the helicopters are doing their rounds above the city. Haitian co-workers in the village say that while there have always been numerous demonstrations in Haiti, they can't recall the level of violence ever having been this high. The people of Haiti feel betrayed and nobody knows how the situation will develop. Meanwhile, the children react to the situation much the same as children all over the world would: they're happy they get a day off school.


In the long run, class sizes will have to be reduced to better focus on the individual child. Photo: Hilary Atkins


On a normal schoolday, 921 students are taught at the SOS Hermann Gmeiner School, double as many as before the earthquake. Some lessons are being held in the old school building which suffered no damage in the tremor, some take place in tents iset up in the school yard. The emergency relief programme is to be transformed into long-term solutions. This also implies a reduction of class size to allow better education for each individual child as well as additional training for the faculty. New solutions are to encourage long-term stability rather than immediate help.

Everyone hopes that the protests will ultimately lead to stability. As one protester puts it, the protests are like seeds and will continue until they have ripened into fruit. Taking that into account, it is safe to assume that this will not be the last day the schools stay closed. And while many adults gradually despair at the situation in Haiti, the children rejoice that they have the whole day to play as much as they like.

A man of few words

My co-worker and I are sitting on the terrace in the pale blue glow of our computer screens when all of a sudden a little figure emerges from the dark and runs towards us. Marc gives us each a hug and then stands behind us to watch us working. The 9-year old boy does not need many words to say a lot. Usually his reply to any question is a single word followed by a bright smile. He exudes calm and, as my colleague said, "he appears wise". Marc's presence made me wonder what his story was.

Marc is a man of few words, but he always has a cordial smile to give. Photo: Sophie Preisch

I got to know Marc by the name of "Chiquito" (spanish: small). He is the youngest of a group of children that rehearses a choreography on Saturdays. At one show a few weeks ago he was apparently the only child dancing in a group of SOS youth, all significantly older than him. Marc likes dancing - everyone can see that. To the question whether he would like to be a professional dancer he replies with a simple "yes". Asked for his career aspiration, though, he says "doctor".


Nine years ago Marc was brought to the SOS Children’s Village in Santo as a baby, barely a month old. He grew up in one of the 19 family houses with his SOS mother Wilna amongst his SOS brothers and sisters. Wilna is retired by now but she still visits the family and keeps in touch with her former SOS children - just as any part of the family would. Today, Marc shares his house with eight other boys, seven girls, two SOS aunties and his SOS mother Lannecie. Before the earthquake he lived here with seven siblings. Then, the house filled with 28 children and now, after some children could be reunited with their biological families, Marc is one of 16 kids in the SOS family house. He likes being here, and he especially likes playing soccer with the other children. Marc shoots all of this at me in characteristic one-word answers to my questions. He is striker, he adds.


Four of the children who came to live in his house after the earthquake on 12 January 2010, are now living in the temporary shelters that have been set up on the premises of the SOS Children’s Village in Santo. Each of the prefabricated houses is a home to five children and one SOS auntie, four houses make a unit and share housework tasks like cooking and cleaning. Mum Lannecie tells us that those children still come to visit her and the other children.


As she describes her SOS child Marc, she smiles: "Well, he’s very intelligent. He likes studying, he’s good at school. He writes poems. Marc is a good boy, he will be successful".


The first paragraph of this blog was written in a corner of the SOS Hermann Gmeiner School, where I temporarily use a desk as my working place. I was interrupted by a visitor: Marc came to me, bringing me his smile again. I did a short word-by-word interview with him: "Don’t you have classes?". Marc: "Yes", smile. "Where is your classroom?" Marc points at one of the tents in front of the school building: "there", smile. "And what will you do in the afternoon?" - Marc: "Work", smile. "What kind of work?" - Marc: "Homework", smile. "I am also working." - Marc "Yes". He keeps smiling at me for a few moments before he says goodbye and runs back to his class.