During a meeting with Episcopal Church Center staff in New York this week, the Rev. Kesner Ajax, Diocese of Haiti partnership coordinator reported on the progress of the recovery efforts in Haiti. Specifically he reported on where things were for the Episcopal Church and where they were expected to be going:
“A crisis committee convened shortly after the earthquake by Bishop Jean Zaché Duracin will release its master plan for rebuilding ‘very soon,’ Ajax said. The plan is expected to guide the diocese’s efforts and give other Episcopalians opportunities to partner with Haitians in those efforts.
Meanwhile, he said, some of the 250 schools run by the diocese before the earthquake have re-opened in recent days and weeks. Many are in the countryside, but in Port-au-Prince they also include an elementary school and the College St. Pierre high school, the site of an earthquake survivors’ settlement run by the diocese. The diocese’s seminary has relocated outside of the capital.
Ajax told the briefing meeting that the Haitian government helped the diocese clean and prepare the elementary and secondary schools for the students’ return, but ‘they did not care about universities and tech schools.’ While Episcopal University in Port-au-Prince remains closed, its nursing school campus in Léogâne and BTI in Les Cayes are operating again, Ajax said.
The schools reopened despite the fact that some of them have no desks, chairs, toilets or administrative offices. In addition, he said, school officials have been trying to locate the students and their parents. Some moved out to the countryside, while others have left for the U.S., Canada and the Dominican Republic.”
Read the full report here.