After 1,261 schools were destroyed and 2,530 were badly damaged in the 12 January 2010 earthquake, schools in Leogane were unable to operate for three months, depriving children not only of the opportunity for education but also of a sense of normalcy and structured routine. Over the past few months NGOs have worked together to supply tents and tarps for emergency classrooms, but the need still far exceeds current materials and plans.
Recognizing the importance of getting children back in class, HODR designed and has started building its first transitional school for the community of Leogane. The site was once home to a school for 75 students and doubled as a church on Sundays. It completely collapsed during the earthquake and HODR sent a team in last month to clear the rubble. Construction started three weeks ago at our base with a team of volunteers prefabricating all of the walls, windows and trusses for the school while members of the community prepared the foundation. With a three-classroom school ready to be erected, the Sri Lankan MINUSTAH peacekeeping force helped to transport the prefabricated materials to the site.
The school design draws on the transitional shelter design implemented by HODR in Sumatra, Indonesia earlier this year. The classrooms are framed with pressure-treated wood, clad in metal mesh, and plastered to create a finished masonry look without the risk of collapse of block masonry construction in a future earthquake. We have added hurricane roof strapping, donated by volunteer engineers, to further protect the building against the oncoming hurricane season.
Within a week of starting work on the school site, volunteers had the walls and trusses fully installed. One team installed the corrugated metal roofing sheets while a ground crew worked on getting the walls ready for the plastering team. As all this was going on, a crew back at base built classroom furniture. We are now into the 4th week of work on our first school and estimate its completion in next few days. We imagine that before the school is ready to be painted (in about two weeks), classes will be in full swing!
As the pilot school draws to a close our carpentry team is already preparing for the second build. This school will be run as a community build/satellite project, with HODR volunteers overseeing the work while sharing building and carpentry skills with people in the community whose children attend the school. During the four weeks of building volunteers will be staying at the school and living amongst the families there, offering both
the community and the volunteers the opportunity to live, work, and learn together.
To support our transitional school program and be part of the next build please click here.
Sinead Clear
Project Coordinator
Project Leogane
Tags: All Hands, disaster volunteer, earthquake, earthquake in haiti, Haiti, haiti earthquake, Hands On Disaster Response, HODR, leogane, volunteer