Eben Ezer de la Redemption primary school which objective is to educate the deprived children functions everyday from 7:30 to 12:00. The school is situated in Lintho 1, one of the unhealthy slums of Cite Soleil (a shantytown situated on the north west side of Port-au-Prince with 300000 inhabitants).
Founded in 1978 by late Andre Lindor, this school is confronted today to numerous difficulties: dark and cramped rooms, leaked roof, dilapidated walls and various problems.
The school, divided into 8 classrooms (first to 6th grade) provides an academic formation to the children of the street merchants and the unemployed of Cite Soleil.
According to Sylvine Lindor co-principal and daughter of the founder, the total number of pupils have dropped from 214 in 1999 to 186 in 2001. And this due to economic hardship, she said. Read more ...
Chedeline, Josiette and Lovely are three girls of 11 and 10. They make their living into the street of Cap-Haitien in the north of Haiti at about a hundred kilometers from Ennery their home village.
These girls met at Rue A and are beggars. Insulted by certain passers-by as well as a sign of pity from others, they have to face the daily living and so far they have counted on the providence.
In spite of their young age, they struggle and survive to have the right to the sole thing that matters for them: the daily bread. Read more ...
Nicole Simeon, Journalist, Port-au-Prince.
“My name is Bertha. I was very young when I began my life on the streets. I wandered all over town looking for a better life and freedom. I have had three children in the streets for three different fathers. One is dead, a little girl. The parents of the father of Alain, the eldest child, have taken charge of him since the death of their son. Jean, who is only one month old, lives with me. To live in the streets is difficult, even when you’re alone. With a child it is much harder. Since Jean’s birth, I stopped all my activities. I wait till he turns three months before I return to the streets to continue surviving.”
This is the testimony of a street girl in Cap-Haitien, the second city of Haiti located at 252 kilometers North of the capital.
She is better known by her nickname “Set dwet” (7 fingers) because of a birth handicap, she said. Read more ...