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Haiti: Re-building Coupeau's school
Three months after the deadly earthquake that razed over Haiti on January 12th, which killed over 220,000 people, Kindernothilfe has completed the first stage of emergency relief, and KNH-Haití is now committed head on with the reconstruction of schools and community spaces leveled by the earthquake. The first one of these reconstruction projects is the community school at Coupeau. Below, the Chilean journalist Nélida Pohl, who was part of this adventure together with the Chilean-Colombian team of architects composed by Álvaro Arriagada y Alejandro Álvarez, both members of KNH´s partner HABITERRA, describes the beginning of the reconstruction work in the mountains, helping us understand the conditions under which this process is beginning.
Picture: Nely Pohl We shared the route with many people who regularly use the road to move between villages, and to get to the capital. Among the walkers were plenty who carried materials for Coupeau's school, and who, in just 3 days, made 80 individual trips, hauling on their backs over 150 iron bars (rebar), and, with the help of beasts of burden, 134 94 lb cement bags.
Upon our arrival to Coupeau, the children excitedly interrupted school time to welcome us. Since loosing their school to January's deadly earthquake, a makeshift tent houses approximately 40 children of all ages, under the tutelage of a single teacher.
After inventorying the materials that had already arrived, construction started right away with the measuring, outlining and marking of the future axes along which the excavations will take place. The concrete base over which the previous school stood is intact and will serve as a starting point for the construction of the new building.
Before planning the layout of the axes, some members of the community shoveled dirt to level the terrain, while others sawed wooden stakes to build frames. These frames are indispensable during the first construction stages because they firmly secure the lines that trace the future axes. Even the children, still excited by the construction work they witnessed all through the day, run to help the adults after school time was over, carting away the debris and rubble left by the collapsed school. An estimate of 40 villagers will participate in the re-building of Coupeau's school.
If the difficulties intrinsic to the transport of materials to such a remote locale did not speak loud enough, during the first afternoon hours it was made definitively clear that the building process was not going to be easy. A violent storm shook Coupeau and neighboring hills, threatening with blowing away lighter tools and irreparably damaging materials such as cement and rebar. Only a quick and collective response prevented these losses. After the heavy downpour was over, several kids returned to their dismantled tent-school, left in complete disarray by the storm, raised the sticks that held the plastic tarp that functioned as a roof, and picked up the blackboard tipped over by the strong winds.
The new school will be able to provide space for up to 80 children in two classrooms, which could be joined by removing a central wall of plywood, in order to create a big community multiuse room. The construction of the new school in Coupeau should conclude around the second week of June.
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