At a small school in Leogane, Hands On Disaster Response volunteers clear rubble while the school manages to stay in session.
Jackson Casimir and his wife, Nicole, have led Nicole Kindergarten, a small, private school for three to five-year-olds, for nearly ten years. Until January 12, 2010, it was a two-story concrete building with eight rooms, an average of 75 students, a library, a cafeteria, two computers, and four highly trained and salaried teachers. But when the earthquake struck — after school hours, fortunately, so no children were harmed — the building collapsed to a mountain of rubble mixed with toys, books, twisted rebar, and soggy, forgotten homework.
A dedicated crew of Hands On Disaster Response (HODR) volunteers at Project Leogane labored for three weeks with picks, shovels, sledges and wheelbarrows, hauling that rubble to the street to clear a space for the kindergarten to begin again. In the meantime, the Casimirs have been beside themselves to maintain some semblance of normality for their “small compatriots.” They’ve poured their own resources as well as donations from friends and family into squeezing as many children as possible under a makeshift tarp structure in front of the school — and, impressively, into offering free tuition and a hot meal every day until the end of the school year (August 2010).
“After the earthquake, there were so many children in the street, and so many who were not going to have the possibility of going to school,” says Casimir. “This is not only because the situation had become much more complicated for their parents, but also because of the number of schools that were destroyed” in the event. “I feel fortunate that I am able to offer something. Maybe it’s just a drop of water in the ocean, what we are doing here, but it’s better than nothing!”
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Nicole Kindergarten students get ready for their midday meal. |
For many students at Nicole Kindergarten, their daily lunch of rice and beans is the only complete meal they eat each day, and the school’s meager shelter is far more comfortable than the places that are serving as their temporary homes. In an effort to combat the dearth of operating schools of any kind in Leogane, Casimir hopes to reopen the school in October for first through third graders as well as kindergarteners (finances permitting, of course — and he is not at all sure about that. HODR project coordinators are working with UNICEF to help him acquire a sturdy temporary shelter to use in the near future). Still, Casimir says, he would never have been able to consider reopening the school at all in the long term without HODR’s help.
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HODR volunteers shovel a mountain of rubble that was once the school. |
Volunteers may tire of shoveling rocks in the brutal Haitian sun, but clearing rubble sites like this one is an invaluable service — both to the proprietor and the community at large. An estimated 20 million cubic meters of rubble were created by January’s earthquake, debris that will likely take years to remove, even if every aid organization tripled its pace. And rubble removal from a local’s perspective is, in most cases, prohibitively expensive. Before HODR arrived on the scene, the cost of hiring a crew to clear just enough to hang a tarp and continue classes at Nicole Kindergarten was a whopping 20,000 Haitian gourdes, or about 800 U.S. dollars. (This may explain Casimir’s daily regaling of hungry, sweaty volunteers with mangoes, coconuts, and eager explanations to anyone with French proficiency of his heartfelt thanks.)
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HODR volunteers worked alongside the tent every morning while the school was in session. |
In the end, despite the incredible hardship that the earthquake has posed on his family, school, and country, Casimir remains optimistic. “The lesson that I’ve pulled from this,” he says, his eyes full of hope, his lips in a half-smile, “is that people are really good at heart. You have all left your homes and your families and your countries to help people you don’t even know. That sends a clear message to the Haitians: a message of love, brotherhood, and solidarity.”
Because of this, he insists, “You’re not only helping me” by clearing his school’s rubble. “You’re helping us all.”
Sara Bernard is a HODR volunteer writing on-location in Leogane, Haiti. Photos taken by HODR volunteers Rachel Shaver and Sara Bernard.
After 1,261 schools were destroyed and 2,530 were badly damaged in the 12 January 2010 earthquake, schools in Leogane were unable to operate for three months, depriving children not only of the opportunity for education but also of a sense of normalcy and structured routine. Over the past few months NGOs have worked together to supply tents and tarps for emergency classrooms, but the need still far exceeds current materials and plans.
We were on rubble site called Ferdinand. The home was approx 40′ long by 20′ wide. The earthquake left the house in shambles. It totally collapsed except for one corner where the roof was leaning on a pillar. The roof was approx 9″ thick, reinforced with a web of rebar inside. Our crew took on the challenge of getting the roof down safely so we could remove the rubble off site. Armed with sunscreen, three sledge hammers, three wheelbarrows, and five shovels, fifteen of us busted down a 1500+ square foot roof in less than 7 hours. I had never seen such a display of passion and strength in a group of people. We kept pumping each other up and
challenging one another to work even harder. As each person took turns on the sledge, the bond got stronger. The men and women left it all out there. I have seen a lot in my life but never a better display of character than our team showed that day. 
volunteers on this remote Indonesian community has been immense. PSG came to a close this past Friday. Stay tuned to www.HODR.org for the PSG Final Report and one more photo set, coming soon!
HODR project is based was 90% destroyed. In the face of such overwhelming destruction, progress is being made. In the first two months of the project, more than 100 volunteers have plugged into myriad of clean-up and community recovery programs including rubble removal, supporting local field hospitals, running children’s programs at an Internally Displaced Persons camp, and providing warehousing capacity for other NGOs. We are truly engaged in the community, and with your support we are making a direct difference.
volunteers are using their construction skills to help families in the rebuilding process get back into their homes. In support of our rebuild efforts, the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation, AEGON Insurance and the Cedar Rapids Home Builders Association have provided generous funding for project expenses and rebuilding materials, ensuring that general donations to HODR continue to be focused toward direct disaster response efforts, such as those in Haiti.
APRIL 2010 – Last week HODR launched the Rhode Island Recovery Coordination Center (RI RCC) in response to a request from RI Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster and the RI Emergency Management Agency, following the recent historic flooding. Over the coming weeks we will have a small team running the RI RCC, a central hub for inter-agency coordination statewide, to help connect residents affected by the flooding with assistance. With the strong presence of local volunteers there is not a current need for a HODR volunteer project, but we are pleased to be able to provide coordinative services to help our neighboring state.
During the summer of 2008 HODR set up a project in response to the unprecedented flooding that affected more than 5000 homes in the greater Cedar Rapids, Iowa area. Our work focused on responding to the immediate needs of the community by providing them with teams of volunteers to help clean out flood-affected homes. Throughout the course of the project we coordinated over 2000 volunteers and worked on 400+ homes, benefiting hundreds of families. As the project progressed HODR moved into rebuild activities, helping homeowners navigate the permitting process, installing and finishing drywall, and providing mini-grants to cover shortfalls in rebuilding materials to get families one step closer to returning home.
Project Cedar Rapids – Rebuild is HODR’s first-ever “planned” response, as opposed to an immediate disaster response project. In addition to partnerships with local organizations, we are very grateful to have the support of the