Education

In 2006, the Governor General of Canada Michaëlle Jean visited the Save the Children Canada project at the L'Ecole de Musique in Jacmel, which uses after-school musical education successfully to build confidence and encourage independence in more than 750 children.

September, 2007;  Save the Children is one year into its new educational programs in Haiti that are part of our Rewrite the Future Campaign (For more information on the campaign please click here). The focus is to:

• help children stay in school
• reintegration of children who have been forced to leave school
• run extra-curricular activities in music and child rights groups
• construct and/or rehabilitate schools
• distribute school materials

Rights Of The Child

Save the Children Canada has worked diligently to ensure that Haiti's 3.9 million children know their rights. Our support has led to the formation of FETJABEN, a federation of seven associations of street children.This federation will broaden the ability of marginalized children to participate in their own lives and future.This initiative is lead by CAFA, a centre that offers street girls' skills training, health education and other nonformal education options.

Together with the Haitian Coalition for the Defence of the Child's Rights (COHADDE) and Jeunesse & Action, Haitian children are being taught conflict resolution, gender equality, protection from HIV and about children's rights.  

Domestic Workers

Many of the estimated 300,000 domestic workers in Haiti have been entrusted to a host family by their parents who are unable to provide them with the necessities of life. They work in exchange for housing and food. Without means to contact their family, they are often left to the mercy of cruel employers. Unwilling to suffer abuse at work or to return to their poor families, many of these children choose to live on the streets.

One man who wants to end the vicious cycle to the street children in Haiti is Joseph Simon, the founder of TIMKATEC, Save the Children Canada's partner organization for the past five years. Save the Children Canada financially supports TIMKATEC and its staff of social workers, educators, and care givers as they provide former street children with a new home and new hope for an improved life. Bridge education programs are offered to prepare street children for enrolment in the public school system.

Street Children

In a country like Haiti where poverty is common, it is no wonder that thousands of children have made the streets their home. Once there, they are forced to beg, steal, prostitute themselves and engage in violence in order to survive. As a result, many land in prison, suffer from malnutrition and pick up infectious diseases such as STDs. There are approximately 10,000 street children in Haiti . Between 6,000 and 8,000 of these are in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Save the Children Canada helps support various local organizations that provide shelter, food, clothing and vocational training to hundreds of street children. These children also benefit from non-formal education, apprenticeship opportunities, cultural and recreational activities while we meet their immediate needs of nutrition and health.

HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS continues to spread across Haiti ( 250,000 people are diagnosed with HIV/AIDS), and AIDS is the main cause of death among women of reproductive age. The country has approximately 200,000 AIDS orphans and at least 12,000 infected children. In all of its programs, Save the Children Canada's approach consists of providing information to young people and speaking at community meetings.

Humanitarian Assistance Programs in Haiti

Save the Children Canada, the Red Cross and a network of 21 children's rights clubs trained youth and communities on how to prepare for natural disasters such as hurricanes. In collaboration with MENJS (Ministry of National Education,Youth and Sports), Save the Children Canada constructed three child-friendly schools in remote areas to replace buildings ruined by the 2004 flooding.This ensured school access for 1,715 children. This CIDA-financed emergency project was enabled through the Centre de Gestion de Fonds Locale.