Case Study: Haitian Student Thankful for New School
10 January 2012
Sandiana at Lycee Dumay school
It was on this day that a devastating earthquake struck Haiti. Sandiana recalls “it was break time during the second shift of school. I was playing with my friend Cathy, we were jumping and skipping. Suddenly the building started to shake. We quickly run out. Most of the children were outside so fortunately no one was hurt. We were lucky as all the school collapsed”
Sandiana and 900 other students had lost their school building. Some of them continued to their classes, which were now held in tents on the roadside. “I didn’t like the tents, it was miserable; it was too hot in the tents and we were near the road so we had too many distractions. I was not able to focus and concentrate at all.”
Sandiana knew that she was lucky she was alive but having lost her school and her books she wasn’t sure what the future held for her. Was this the end of her dreams? Would her school ever be rebuilt? These were her questions her teachers were not able to provide answers for.
Instead her teachers encouraged the children to continue attending the classes held in the tents and not to give up on their education. “Our teachers told us the earthquake was a natural disaster and we need to focus on the future now” remembers Sandiana.
Initially, Islamic Relief provided the school with tarpaulin, metal sheets and other material so the school could construct temporary shelters. This helped to improve the conditions as the tents were too hot to study in. Islamic Relief later returned to clear the area of all the rubble and rebuild Lysee Dumay School with additional classrooms and better facilities.
“I don’t know how to thank Islamic Relief for giving us our school. We have classrooms, a kitchen and a basket ball court. It is better and bigger than our previous school. The previous playground was muddy when it rained but this one is clean” adds Sandiana.
10 January 2012 12 January 2011 12 January 2011 12 January 2011 12 January 2011 11 January 2011 03 December 2010 11 July 2010 04 May 2010 16 March 2010 05 February 2010 04 February 2010 25 January 2010 25 January 2010 20 January 2010 20 January 2010 19 January 2010 12 January 2010 12 January 2010
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