Haiti day 6

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Today we toured the slums of Haiti, where The Salvation Army operates schools for some of the poorest children in the country. Students are not only given a good education for a fraction of the cost of other schools, they are also fed a nutritious hot lunch, the best (and possibly only) meal many of them will have each day.

The Salvation Army school in one of the suburbs, Fort National, was the smallest school I have ever seen. Located in a densely populated suburb, the school was a very narrow, three storey building. In one 3metre x 3 metre classroom sat 26 students, neatly cramped into bench desks! However despite the difficult conditions, the students are happy and getting a quality education which enables them to have a better start in life than many of their peers.

The Salvation Army has three schools in Port-au-Prince and just one corps. It would dearly love to expand its ministry in the city but lacks the funds to purchase land and build the necessary facilities. That’s a real shame because the work that is being done by the Salvos in this country is really making a difference in people’s lives.

Next door to the Fort National school was a voodoo temple. Voodooism is big part of the culture in Haiti. For example, one of the patients that we saw in the clinic was blind in one eye. When asked what had happened to her eye, she replied that it was the fault of an evil spirit.

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Photos

Finding the Salvos
The Salvation Army is located in the heart of some of the most disadvantaged areas of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.

Curious onlooker
A little girl watches as we take video-footage of her street.

At School
A student at The Salvation Army’s school in the suburb of Fort National, Port-au-Prince.

Voodoo Temple
A skull on the altar of a voodoo temple, located next door to The Salvation Army’s school in Fort National.