By Prof. Robert Maguire
Best Defense chief Haiti correspondent
maguirer@trinitydc.edu

Five days prior to the quake, I visited the brand new campus of Haiti's leading private university, Université Quisqueya. The university's rector, Jacky Lumarque, and one of its founders, former prime minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis, proudly showed me and several others around the campus that had been constructed on the grounds of a residence of a former Haitian president, located in the foothills of Port-au-Prince, in a neighborhood called Turgeau. That ornate home and now-administrative center and museum (called by some Haitians "Versailles") was the centerpiece of the sprawling campus that also included a parking area, places for students to gather outside, a building to house visiting international professors and two, four or five story classroom buildings joined by an enclosed walkway and a courtyard with an outdoor amphitheatre for lectures under the sun and stars. More buildings -- particularly a library -- were still under construction. The classrooms, built with a private bank loan of more than $1.5 million, boasted not only well-equipped classrooms -- a rarity in Haitian universities -- but also modern lavatories for the students, also unusual. Indeed, during the tour, Jacky went out of his way to show off these facilities for students. As we stood under the stars in the parking area and talked about this magnificent achievement and the promise it held for the future of higher education in Haiti, students were drifting out of classes already being held in the brand new building.

On January 12th, tragically, all of this came crashing down, at a time when classes were in session. I've attached below is a poignant statement written by Jacky Lumarque several days after the quake. This, for me, is perhaps the most moving account I have read of the tragedy and damage of the quake, particularly in view of the insights it gives into how Haitians mobilized immediately to organize themselves and to look after their fellow citizens. 

Anyone who knows anything about Haiti can attest to the terrible contradiction regarding education that existed even before the quake, but that now stands out in stark relief: Haitians from the very rich to the dirt poor treasure education as a means to succeed in life. For the poor, in particular, education represented possible road out of poverty. Further afield, those of us who have followed the evolution of the Haitian Diaspora in the US know how much education means to Haitian parents and their kids -- and the extent to which Haitian students excel when given that opportunity of an education. In a word, Haitians have demonstrated time and again; here and there, how they are ‘swaf' (thirsty) for education. The terrible contradiction is that this thirst is seldom quenched, particularly among Haiti's poor.

Before the quake, 25 percent of Haiti's districts -- all in rural areas -- did not have a school. An estimated 500,000 Haitian children of school age did not attend school, largely on account of this factor and the fact that either they were needed at home -- to work or to watch over other kids -- or their parents simply could not afford the school fees. Yes, there are fees because 81% of Haiti's schools are private. Past dictatorships and military governments cared little about education. 

The private schools are a mixed bag. Some are well-established and have an excellent reputation for quality education. They tend to be located in Port-au-Prince with fees that put them well out of reach to all but the moneyed class. But the elite schools are not the only ones in Port-au-Prince. The city is (or was) packed with private schools -- from the best to the worst. The worst, tending to be private businesses, were often referred to as ‘lottery schools' because paying to send one's child there was akin to playing the lottery -- the odds of winning were stacked against you. Many impoverished families dedicated scarce resources to these schools, including the allocation of money sent by family abroad. But, with average class sizes of 70 plus kids and teachers whose educational achievements were often not much higher than their students, these private schools offered little in the way of a ticket out of poverty. Indeed, one of the growing social problems in the capital city was the growing number of school graduates with no prospect for work.

Does the quake provide an opportunity to address this glaring contradiction in Haiti's educational system? If Haiti is to be ‘built back better' the answer to that question must be a resounding yes. But will it be? In addition to building better schools, will the educational system be decentralized to serve the needs of all Haitians and help stem the flow of promising young people who can meet their educational aspirations only in Port-au-Prince, thus further impoverishing the already poor countryside? (An aside - in the immediate aftermath of the quake there was a kind of mini-migration to Port-au-Prince of panicked stricken parents whose children were attending school in the capital city. Many parents had their hearts broken when they arrived in the shattered city.) Who will teach the students and how qualified will they be? (Another aside: As I have written in my USIP Special report "Haiti After the Donors' Conference" perhaps Haitian-American university students and recent graduates could help to fill this need, at least in the short term.) Many other questions remain to be answered. One thing for sure, the virtual ‘privatization' of Haiti's education system was not serving the vast majority of the nation's citizens.

In the here and now, another problem exists: How do the surviving students of Quisqueya and other broken schools continue their education? This includes not just university students, but also those at other levels -- secondary and primary. Will there be a ‘lost generation' of Haitian young minds, or can some steps be taken to mitigate that fear?  How about a couple of ideas: what about offering Haitian students visas to be able to come to the US for their education? Of course, this is complicated -- how can entire schools (composed of students who do not speak English) be relocated? In the short term, surely any Haitian students who show up at our schools because their enterprising extended families already in the states have sent for them, should be welcomed into our institutions, much as were the displaced students of Katrina. Think of it this way if you must -- what an infusion of talented, inspired minds we will have among us.

How about another idea: what about providing educational opportunities across Haiti's land border with the Dominican Republic, with people and organizations from other countries chipping in to help the DR to be able to absorb the kids and provide them with the food for their mind that will nourish Haiti's future? 

I hope you have a few minutes to read the statement of Jacky Lumarque, posted just below.

Statement of Dr Jacky Lumarque, Rector of Université Quisqueya, Port-au-Prince

It's my first time on the Internet since Tuesday's earthquake. My apologies to friends who may have been worried by my silence but I have been focused on rescue operations and assistance to families. I was bent on not ending rescue operations until getting confirmation that the persons we were searching for had indeed died. Here's the situation.

I stopped searching for survivors for good and I am finally able to extract those corpses that have been identified: 5 students from the Faculty of Education, including 2 priests from the Salesiens congregation, a monk and a nun from the St Croix congregation, a lecturer, an engineer and two gardeners. We will find out this morning if there are more victims that can be identified. The corpses are badly decomposed and we had to turn a water tank into a grave, in the botanical garden. This location will become a mausoleum dedicated to the victims of the earthquake. Bishop Dumas, members of the Don Bosco and St Croix congregations will hold a church service in memory of the victims at noon. Those who cannot be present physically will surely keep us in their affectionate thoughts. Special thanks to students and volunteers (most of whom didn't even finish primary school) for the extraordinary courage displayed, as they work 48 hours non-stop to take about 20 survivors from the rubble, without any technical support and at risk of losing their own lives. Those who died before our eyes did not make it because of the lack of resources and equipment to move them out from under the beams and flagstones where they were crushed.

All the buildings were destroyed, including the Museum which was hosting an exhibition dedicated to the famous Haitian-born painter, Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as three apartments for visiting lecturers at Quisqueya and the state universities. We will have to start from scratch but I have no doubt about our collective ability to find the means, the energy and the determination to do so. For now, mobilization at Quisqueya has been directed to families in need. The Harry Truman Boulevard Campus has been used as a Center already hosting 10,000 victims from Cité l'éternel. The Gheskio Center and US doctors are assisting those who are ill or injured. We invite ALL Quisqueya Medical Faculty students to come and assist us in organizing daily life in the community and providing basic care. We will wait for the venue to be secured (fences have to be put up again) before starting distributing food, in order to avoid looting. On the Turgeau campus, the esplanade and the parking lot will also be transformed in a care center for the victims. Since we will be located near the main drinking water reservoir in the city, we are trying to set up a small water treatment plant in order to produce 3 thousand gallons of drinking water per day, to serve residents and newly installed "colonies" in peripheral neighborhoods (Turgeau and Debussy). Aide et Action is expected to get the equipment needed for the plant from the Dominican Republic. Quisqueya students are invited to form a solidarity network. Helping the more fragile among us will actually give them the strength and inspiration to rebuild their individual lives and the community. International aid has been abundant but poorly coordinated and there are great frustrations. The population has spontaneously formed "colonies" in various areas; these groups must be helped to get organized rationally while relief efforts are channeled to those who are most in need.

Thank you to all our friends for expressing their solidarity and affection. The hardest time is still to come, when we have to rebuild and spontaneous solidarity fades away. It is up to Haitians to get organized with the help of a network of friends acting out of solidarity rather than out of the search for media visibility only.

(Translation from French by Gilles Lubeth)