Workcamps 2011

Two workcamps are to take place this summer in Haiti. They are both outside of the areas worst hit by the earthquake, and a group of young people is organising them who, for the main part, will venture into this kind of work for the first time.

The workcamps will be at:

Ècole de Torbeck in Les Cayes, right in the Southwest of Haiti and

the Ècole Hellweg in Marouge, by the town of Saint-Marc on the West coast north of Port-au-Prince.

Look at our Blog for the workcamps happening at the moment to follow our progress.

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Introduction

In January 2010, the island of Haiti experienced an earthquake of devastating proportions, which destroyed its capital, Port-au-Prince, and other cities like Leogane, where the quake was at its most powerful.

The infra-structure of this little republic, already inadequate before the disaster, collapsed. Haiti counted as one of the poorest and also most corrupt countries, with little relief for its population. Now the water and electricity supplies failed and the sanitation system presents a constant health hazard.

A great part of the population lives in tents, either in large ghettos or near their own houses which are structurally too damaged to live in. Thousands of children live on the streets and feeding them is a problem for most families. Quite apart from the trauma and loss, vision and initiative for the future are largely absent, with all hopes fixed on the various relief organisations and charity of the rest of the world.

Trauma Education

The Friends of Waldorf Education run programs for situations following a disaster, which is currently called “emergency education” (Notfallpädagogik) and is directed towards the affected children. Games, exercises, art and so on are used to reawaken joy and social participation in the children, and enable them to take hold of their lives and continue their education. These methods created relationships not just with the children, but particularly with the teachers and animators that worked with the children. Most of these are still young and have no qualification beyond their basic schooling. And their chance of further education is at present very slim.

However, they have engaged themselves with great devotion to the children in their care, and many are now taking on the role of teachers as formal schooling is being re-established. The wish to include the methods of Waldorf Education is present in a number of projects.

The Future

Every young Haitian today constantly cofronts the question how life is to evolve for him or her in the next years. Their entire society needs to be reconstructed. There is little agriculture and no natural resources. In a country that relies largely on charcoal for cooking, the bulk of the landscape is denuded of trees. And the building standards and methods for the future should actually take account of their stability in case of an earthquake and of the recurring hurricanes.

But how to learn these skills, how to become educators for the next generation, as well as for themselves and their contemporaries? The existing institutions are not even remotely adequate.

This is where we should like to target this conference – on the development of peer-to-peer learning skills, communication skills and self-directed research skills. In addition, on the creation of an international network of young people together with Haitian youth who want to work on these questions together.

The process should begin by an active engagement in building work – the hands-on reconstruction of local projects and initiatives by groups of local and international volunteers in the 3-week workcamps. Thereafter, in the course of a week, coming together at a conference where each can learn from the other what they have to offer, and reflect on the learning process involved and how it is to continue.