Reuters/Marco Dormino/UN/Minustah courtesy www.alertnet.org

ChildFund Opens Child Centered Spaces in Haiti

Three Child Centered Spaces supported by ChildFund are now up and running, reports Disaster Management Team Leader Anne Edgerton, who has been coordinating response and recovery efforts.

From the start of ChildFund’s partnership with CBM in Haiti, a top priority was to establish places for children to gather and receive alternative basic education in a structured environment.

The Child Centered Spaces enable children to resume a schedule and focus on something other than the loss around them.

Much effort has gone into locating children with disabilities whom CBM served through the Centre d’Education Special (CES) before the earthquake struck. Other children without disabilities are also welcome to come to the centers.

ChildFund has been working closely with the CES to set up the Child Centered Spaces. CES serves children who need special education, providing a variety of services based on the child’s age and disability.

The earthquake destroyed the CES building. So, in addition to establishing the Child Centered Spaces, ChildFund will assist with the eventual reconstruction of the school.

“Places that need Child Centered Spaces are not hard to find because children are not back in school yet,” says Edgerton. “CCSs are a real excitement, even on the day the tent is pitched.”

Edgerton reports that many people in the community are lending a hand to help get the Child Centered Spaces up and running. “This will ensure lasting relationships with CES, which will work to integrate its own students — those with learning disabilities — with children who are coping with the aftermath of disaster and displacement.”

• Reach 1,200 children with disabilities or injuries through our initial work.
• Work to rebuild the collapsed School for Special Education, providing ongoing services to the children, who need support now more than ever.
• Establish Child Centered Spaces, which are central to ChildFund’s program approach to reaching out to children during crises when schools are not functioning.
• Train psychosocial volunteers, teachers and counselors, who will work with the children to talk about the effects the earthquake will have on their lives.

Your generosity is allowing ChildFund experts to deliver critically needed relief to children and their families in devastated areas.

To support ChildFund’s work in Haiti, donate below.