The Commune of Grand-Goâve

Coastal territory of the West Department of Haiti, located 52 km southwest of Port-au-Prince between the communes of Léogâne and Petit-Goâve. It has a population of around 110,000 inhabitants.

January 12, 2010

Balance sheet of effects of the earthquake on the commune of Grand-Goâve

http://grand-goave.webs.com/GRAND-GOAVE%20BILAN%20SEISME%202010%20%2819%20FEV%29.pdf

Grand-Goâve abounds with young people with various levels of professional training in various fields. Looking for work and ways to earn money, these young people have set up several projects for improving their situation. For lack of funding and management resources, however, for the most part these worthy projects remain but a dream.

Grand-Goâve Online

The purpose of this project is to inform the local, national, and international community about what is happening in the commune of Grand-Goâve. The association works with all sectors of community life. The goal is to strengthen the capabilities of these sectors to ensure the sustainable development of the commune.

The Committee:

  • Marc-Elie Adraste, Founder-President-Webmaster
  • Claude Wiby Rinvil, Secretary General-Research Director
  • Paulio Justin, Treasurer
  • Markenro Jean, Editorial Director
  • Gary Badio, Head of Communication
  • Beatrice Victor, Executive Secretary
  • Emmanuela Jeudi, Assistant Secretary
  • Gabrielle Metellus, Librarian
  • Martin Jean François, Public Relations

 

The Ecole Communautaire la Renaissance de Grand-Goâve [Grand-Goâve Renaissance Community School] in Haiti is a project started by a group of young people in the community, who set up a working group to study certain vulnerable groups in the commune and assess their respective levels of vulnerability. With a special focus on the urgent and acute cases of children in servitude, homeless children, children with no one to care for them, children in abusive situations, and other similar or related cases, they hope to improve the living conditions of this important segment of the population.

Geographic location

  • Department: West
  • District: Léogâne
  • Commune: Grand-Goâve
  • Address: Local du Collège Baptiste Siloé
  • 47, rue A. Pétion, Grand-Goâve, Haiti

Opening of the school

  • Opening date: November 12, 2009
  • Enrollment at opening: 160 students
  • Number of faculty: 7
  • Number of classes: 3
  • Activities undertaken: educational – recreational – social
  • Economic situation: precarious – support from some prominent members of the community

 

Vision

  • Helping the children develop social skills
  • Instructing the children
  • Recreational activities program
  • Reintegration/reinsertion program
  • Taking charge of the children’s health care
  • Accompaniment of the families
  • Technical school
  • Professional school

 

Characteristics of the children

  • Environment: disadvantaged
  • Family: generally single-parent, majority in foster care,
  • homeless, youth gangs (unaccompanied children)
  • Economy: non existant – children survive by begging or age-inappropriate labor
  • Social: delinquency – must fend for themselves – no moral guidance
  • Health: malnutrition – anemia – in some cases physically handicapped
  • Leisure activities: few or none – and what there are are unwholesome

 

Statistics

  • 40% of the children are between 4 and 6 years old
  • 60% of the children are between 6 and 17 years old
  • 30% live in a single parent household
  • 35% of the children do not have birth certificates
  • 20% are orphans
  • 25% of the children live in servitude
  • 20% of the children are homeless
  • 60% do not have access to a hot meal
  • 80% do not have access to medical care

 

After the earthquake…

  • The school facilities were completely destroyed
  • The situation of the children has deteriorated in every respect
  • One (1) student is dead, a victim of the earthquake
  • More than ever before, delinquency is rampant in the refugee camps
  • Scholastic activities have been shut down
  • Total paralysis of activities relevant to the vital lines of the zone

 

Attempt to resume scholastic activities

Date : April 19, 2010

  • Number of students present: 80, or 50%
  • Faculty: all available

Needs

  • Medical supplies (first aid kits)
  • Sports equipment
  • School cafeteria
  • Scolastic (instructional) materials
  • Library
  • Financial assistance for the faculty
  • Construction of a school building
  • Furniture
  • Psycho-social accompaniment (supportive counseling)
  • Drinking water
  • Clothes and shoes for the children
  • Bathroom facilities (for the children’s families)
  • Accompaniment of the homeless children (shelter)
  • Socio-economic aid for the project managers
  • Professional school for the children

 

The Committee

  • Ybsens Clarck Pascal, Coordinator/Director of education
  • Marc-Elie Adraste, Administrator
  • Joseph Wisner Laguerre, Counselor
  • Jean Auguste Avril, Delegate/Public Relations