07.26.2010 - Though the great majority of areas affected by the earthquake of 12 January 2010 are still buried under the debris and although clearing operations are progressing very slowly, daily life has begun again.

In Bel Air, a poor neighbourhood in Port-au-Prince, where Enfants du Monde is funding a kindergarten and a training centre for young people, the inhabitants do not give in to hopelessness. Two thirds of families hit who had found refuge in the courtyard of the kindergarten – up to 300 persons – moved into makeshift shelters set up where their destroyed houses were located, at relatives’ homes or in the provinces.

“Shortly after the earthquake and until the month of June, we took them in at our place, we gave them hot meals and medical care from time to time,” explains Elifaite Saint-Pierre, Coordinator of SAJ Veye Yo, the local partner of Enfants du Monde.

Thanks to funding from the Chaîne du Bonheur, support from Enfants du Monde donors and different initiatives for Haiti, Enfants du Monde was able to assist SAJ Veye Yo in providing food to the families housed in the kindergarten. Similarly, Enfants du Monde contributed to relaunching the activities at the kindergarten. Since April, 65 children go to the kindergarten and have an afternoon snack there as well as their lunch.