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HAITI / SCHOOL RECONSTRUCTION
STORY: HAITI / SCHOOL RECONSTRUCTION
TRT: 2.01
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: CREOLE / NATS
DATELINE: 8 JULY 2010, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
1. Med shot, girl exits tent
2. Wide shot, girl walking next to tent
3. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Christine, 14-year-old Girl:
"It takes me almost an hour to go to school. Sometimes, there is heavy traffic. And it's difficult to find room on a bus because the streets are so crowded. There are also blockages in the street that slow things down. It's not easy."
4. Med shot, crumbled wall with broken TV on ground
5. Close up, crumbled wall revealing window behind
6. Wide shot, UNICEF tent, school girls, metal gate
7. Med shot, UNICEF water tank and school girls
8. Close up, girls drinking from water taps
9. Med shot, UNICEF latrines
10. Med shot, girls walking in front of UNICEF tent
11. Close up, girls at desk
12. Med shot, teacher at chalkboard
13. Med shot, man with sledge hammer smashing cement
14. Wide shot, motorcycle drives past large rubble pile
15. Close up, men in hard hats set boards for foundation
16. Med shot, woman in hard hat talks with two men in hard hats
17. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Ginette Mathurin, UNICEF Engineer:
"This is the first school where UNICEF will ensure that all the children who come here will be safe, even if there's an earthquake, even if there's a cyclone. They will be safe."
18. Wide shot, man in black shirt with damaged buildings in distance
19. Med shot, girl writing in notebook
20. Close up, girl writing in notebook
21. Close up, anatomy drawings in notebook
22. Med shot, girls seated at long desk
23. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Christine, 14-year-old Girl:
"My mother didn't go to school and she's had a very difficult life, that's why she wants us to go to school and to excel – to become somebody and be able to take care of ourselves. She wants us to have a better life."
24. Close up, girl examines herself in rearview mirror
14-year-old Christine shares a small tent in Port-au-Prince with her mother, brother and sister. The January twelfth earthquake destroyed their home, and for the past several months, they've been living in a temporary camp near the airport.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Christine, 14-year-old Girl:
"It takes me almost an hour to go to school. Sometimes, there is heavy traffic. And it's difficult to find room on a bus because the streets are so crowded. There are also blockages in the street that slow things down. It's not easy."
The earthquake not only destroyed Christine's home, it destroyed her school. For now, she's attending class in a temporary learning space provided by UNICEF, which is also supplying Christine and her classmates with clean drinking water, latrines and hand-washing stations.
More than 200 of these temporary schools were set up and UNICEF is in the process of transforming them into semi-permanent structures made partially of concrete and bricks. Hundreds of additional semi-permanent schools will be built. All told, the new schools will help 135,000 Haitian children realize their right to an education.
The biggest obstacle to building the new schools is removing the debris from the old schools. Some 4,000 schools were damaged or destroyed. Experts predict it will take years to clear the sites. In some cases, parents and school administrators are volunteering to remove the debris, as is the case in downtown Port-au-Prince, where a four-story school was reduced to this pile of rubble. Once the debris has been cleared, UNICEF will step in and establish a semi-permanent school.
Each one costs approximately $30,000. They're built on concrete foundations, with steel tubes to strengthen the tent walls. The roof is also made of steel.
Ginette Mathurin is a UNICEF engineer who stresses the safety of the new schools.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Ginette Mathurin, UNICEF engineer:
"This is the first school where UNICEF will ensure that all the children who come here will be safe, even if there's an earthquake, even if there's a cyclone. They will be safe."
At the camp, Christine tries to find a place in the shade to study. There is little relief from the relentless Caribbean sun, and the lack of ventilation inside the tents makes it nearly unbearable during the day. Christine clings to education because she knows it offers hope in a country where hope runs scarce.
SOUNDBITE (Creole) Christine, 14-year-old Girl:
"My mother didn't go to school and she's had a very difficult life, that's why she wants us to go to school and to excel – to become somebody and be able to take care of ourselves. She wants us to have a better life."
Christine wants to become a doctor. It's a goal that keeps her focused and propels her through long, hot days.
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