Li, Li, Li! Statement on Occasion of Children’s Day

Date: June 10, 2010
Contact: Michelle Karshan, LiLiLiRead@gmail.com

Website: http://www.lililiread.org/

 

Li, Li, Li! Statement on Occasion of Children’s Day

Li, Li, Li!, a storybook reading program for Haiti’s displaced children in the camps, praises Haiti’s courageous children and the camp councils, government and non-governmental programs who provide them services. Li, Li, Li! also cites serious continuing lack of basic services to displaced children and warns that Haiti’s future greatly depends on how its children are treated today. Li, Li, Li! calls on Haitian government and others to act now on behalf of Haiti’s displaced children

Port-au-Prince, Haiti, June 10, 2010 -- On the occasion of Children’s Day on June 13, 2010, Li, Li, Li! salutes the courage, spirit, and determination of the Haitian children who are victims of the January 12, 2010 catastrophic earthquake. Five months after the earthquake, Haiti’s displaced children continue to live in transitional settings such as tent and sheet camps still lacking in basic services such as drinking and bathing water, sanitation services, privacy, security and protection from violence, waterproof housing, free public schools, and other essential elements to the survival and psychological well-being of children.

Li, Li, Li! Reader/Animateurs read to approximately 3,000 children per month in dozens of camps including in Port-au-Prince, Leogane, Pernier, and Tabarre. We are still observing children living in heart-wrenching conditions in camps that have been visited on numerous occasions by international organizations but to date have not received basic assistance. We observe on a daily basis children with signs of gross malnutrition, listlessness, exhaustion and post traumatic stress syndrome. We make special note of the daily emotional trauma experienced by the children who live in the makeshift shacks in Marche Tet Bef along Grand Rue – the site of one of the worst and most visually stunning devastation – who are forced to view these horrific cinema-like images on a daily basis.

Children in the camps are often victims of or witness to violence, including rape and robbery, various tactics used to move camps off private and public land, and some are victims of violent forced evictions. The recent assaults by United Nations troops and Haitian police against demonstrators in the Champs de Mars area caused children in the camps there to be gassed and hit by rubber bullets.

We take this opportunity, at the start of the five-month hurricane season, to praise the camp councils for their endless efforts to secure assistance for their camps, and those local and international organizations and Haitian government agencies that are providing services to Haiti’s children. We call on Haiti’s government and all stakeholders to accelerate their response to provide meaningful and essential services to Haiti’s displaced children in a timely and cohesive fashion and in line with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. Finally, Li, Li, Li! points out that Haiti’s future greatly depends on how its children are treated today.

For more information on Li, Li, Li! program in Haiti please visit website at http://www.lililiread.org/ or write us at LiLiLiRead@gmail.com Cell # in Haiti at 3871-0400. Photographs available to the press.

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Li, Li, Li! Enlists Haiti's Children in Fight against Cholera in Haiti

Image by Riva Precil (copyright)

Date: October 30, 2010
Contact: Michelle Karshan
Website: http://www.LiLiLiRead.org
Email: LiLiLiRead@gmail.com
 

Li, Li, Li! Enlists Haiti's Children in Fight
against Cholera in Haiti

Seeks financial support to cover Cholera Prevention Component

Port-au-Prince, Haiti -- Li, Li, Li! has begun to brief children in the camps on Cholera Prevention, Identification and Response.  Li, Li, Li! is in a very good position to reach thousands of children with life-saving information oriented for children on Cholera. Thousands of children in the camps already know Li, Li, Li! and respect our program and readers. Children should be given this information so they can take action to help themselves, their families and other residents in the camps. Following the announcement of a Cholera outbreak in Haiti, Li, Li, Li! reached out to the Hesperian Foundation to quickly make their Cholera factsheet available in Creole – which they promptly did.

Li, Li, Li!  holds reading sessions in approximately 25 tent camps each week, reaching 3,000 children per month. In response to the Cholera epidemic, Li, Li, Li! sought appropriate materials in Creole to use to brief children verbally and by providing appropriate handouts for the children and their families or caretakers.  Our reader teams read daily in camps in several neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince,  Leogane, Carrefour, Tabarre, Cite Soleil, St. Mary mountain in CanapeVert, Delmas, Pernier, Santo, Fontamara, Croix-des-Bouquets, etc.  Many of the camps we read in are without resources or any activities for children.

Li, Li, Li! is briefing the children, the camp councils, and adults attending our storybook reading sessions on realistic measures that they can take to prevent contracting or spreading Cholera, how to quickly identify possible Cholera, how to respond when Cholera is suspected, where to quickly obtain medical care at a Cholera Treatment Center or hospital, and what social services are available in the event of family crisis.

Cholera epidemics typically last 90 days, although it is agreed that Cholera itself is now in Haiti for the long run. Li, Li, Li! is seeking financial support to cover a three month period for our Cholera component. This grant will cover various expenses including offset of thousands of flyers, vehicle and gas costs to transport flyers to camps outside Port-au-Prince and a part time health liaison. 

Thus far, close to 5,000 persons are known to have contracted Cholera resulting in more than 300 fatalities.  However, because only a small percent of those with Cholera exhibit symptoms, it is believed that thousands of others are silent carriers capable of spreading the illness to others over a period of weeks.

The WHOs Global Task Force coordinator, Claire-Lise Chaignat, stated that the epidemic in Haiti has not been contained, nor has it reached its peak. The Haitian government is preparing for the worst case scenario.  There are more than 1,300 settlement camps. Cholera can kill within hours, with small children being particularly vulnerable. Cholera is one of the leading causes of mortality amongst children globally. Educating the public on how to prevent and respond to Cholera is critical to saving lives. Protection of families at the community level is part of Haiti’s National Strategy to the Cholera Epidemic.

Haiti’s children have already suffered enormous trauma and losses from the devastating January 12, 2010 earthquake. Please help Li, Li, Li! in its work briefing children and providing them with illustrated materials on prevention, identification and treatment of Cholera. 

Won’t you help us put valuable information in the hands of Haiti’s children living in settlement camps to empower them to act to protect their health and the lives of those around them.

Note: Many thanks to the Haitian alternative media project Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye and Let Haiti Live for providing us with guidance and a box of fliers to get started on our outreach campaign with children attending Li, Li, Li! reading sessions. Thanks to David Diggs of Beyond Borders for quickly forwarding Ministry of Public Health fliers to our attention.

For more information on Li, Li, Li! see our website at http://www.LiLiLiRead.org

Li, Li, Li! 2-page briefing sheet: http://lililireadblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/li-li-li-read-two-page-info-sheet.html

Li, Li, Li! Read website: http://www.lililiread.org/

Email: LiLiLiRead@gmail.org

Editors: Photos available upon request

Li, Li, Li! Two Page Info Sheet

Image by Riva Precil (copyright)

Li, Li, Li! Read

http://www.lililiread.org/
Email: LiLiLiRead@gmail.org

About Li, Li, Li!

Psychosocial, Promotion of Literacy, Job Creation

Who: Li, Li, Li! (which means Read, Read, Read! in Haitian Creole) is a storybook reading out loud program in Creole for Haiti's children who became homeless or displaced because of the catastrophic January 12, 2010 earthquake. Founded in February 2010, Li, Li, Li! is a not-for-profit program based in Haiti and has been reading in the camps since April 2010.

What: Li, Li, Li! provides an engaging, interactive, and fun hour-long activity for children displaced by the earthquake that addresses the trauma and anxiety children are suffering, encourages literacy, creates a model for parents to read to their children, reinforces Creole, and contributes to job creation.

In addition to reading books written in Creole, Li, Li, Li! translates other language storybooks into Creole and often uses puppets and dolls to animate the stories as well.

Our trained readers are dispatched in teams of two for storytelling hour at various tent/tarp camps and other transitional settings -- both in rural and urban areas.

Li, Li, Li! also trains staff at transitional centers to read out loud. Li, Li, Li! provides the training, supplies appropriate children’s books in Creole, and continues to participate and monitor their reading sessions to insure success and continuity.

Li, Li Li! also works with partner organizations to bring critical services to camps such as tents, medical care, and most recently, vital information geared to children on how to prevent, recognize and seek help for Cholera.

Where: Li, Li, Li! reads in approximately 25 tent settlement camps per week and reach more than 3,000 children per month throughout Port-au-Prince, Leogane, Carrefour, Tabarre, Cite Soleil, St. Mary mountain in CanapeVert, Delmas, Pernier, Santo, Fontamara, Croix-des-Bouquets, etc.

When: Li, Li, Li! conducts reading sessions Monday through Friday, as well as during the weekends when necessary. At the invitation of the children, and the camp councils, we also participate in special events at the camps and transitional centers.

Our dedicated readers face many challenges in carrying out their work including heavy rains, landslides, earthquake aftershocks, insecurity, forced evictions of camp residents, camp conflict, political demonstrations, general strikes, election-related violence, gang warfare, the proliferation of weapons, and now a Cholera epidemic!

Why: The January 12, 2010 7.0 earthquake in Haiti killed more than 230,000 and injured 300,000 persons. As recently as October 2010, 1.5 million people remain in more than 1,300 spontaneously organized tent and tarp camps in Port-au-Prince and surrounding regions. Only approximately 30 percent of these camps are managed by organizations, receive regular resources, and less than 20 percent provide recreational or educational services for children.

Psychosocial. As a result of the January 12, 2010 7.0 earthquake in Haiti, children experienced tremendous trauma – both physically and emotionally. Their post traumatic stress continues to be compounded by continued aftershocks and fear of another severe earthquake, the continuing death toll amongst those who have survived, the uncertainties of finding loved ones who survived, and most recently the outbreak of Cholera in Haiti. Also, countless children continue to suffer and struggle with the pains of injuries, physical trauma, rehabilitation, and post earthquake illnesses.

Story time hours help children release tension, find some new joy and give them some colorful, engaging images and stories that they can use at night when trying to go to sleep -- despite their difficult sleeping conditions, physical pain, anxieties and sadness.

Literacy. More than half of Haiti’s school-age children have never been to school and now even greater numbers of children are unable to access schooling. 80 percent of the schools were destroyed or damaged. This makes our program even more important to help expose children to books, literacy, and key subjects such as science and nature, the environment, other cultures, history, conflict resolution, sports, health, literature, etc. All of these important subjects are shared through reading out loud.

Creating Jobs for Haitians. Our trained readers are all Haitian, are victims of the earthquake, live in transitional housing, experienced trauma and losses. Nine months after the earthquake, only a tiny percent of pledged aid has been released for Haiti. Haitians need jobs and training so they can support their families, repair their homes, seek out new housing, pay for their children’s education, and participate in the transformation of their nation. We hope that our reading program can generate interest and jobs in the field of literacy and universal education for children.

Visit Li, Li, Li! Read website at http://www.lililiread.org/ or write us at LiLiLiRead@gmail.com

See how you can help support our program and be part of a real transformation of Haiti with literacy for all.

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