Progress!

Not at all ready to deem anything a "success" yet, but certainly, there are signs of progress everywhere. Throughout Port-au-Prince, all roads now appear to be open and cleared of rubble. There are noticeably more heavy pieces of equipment (bulldozers, front-end loaders, etc) now than a month ago. Street life -- "sidewalk" merchants, traffic, and pedestrians -- seems to have returned to something resembling pre-earthquake levels.
More specifically, at the College Catherine Flon, about two-thirds of the rubble from the collapsed building has been removed by the government-sponsored cash-for-work program -- tens of people in yellow t-shirts breaking up the rubble with pick-axes and depositing it with shovels in dump trucks. All student records, financial ledgers, desks, chairs and chalkboards have been removed from the damaged building that needs to be demolished. Everything is now stored in another building and in a truck container on-site, that is doubling as a makeshift office for the school's headmaster.
Yesterday, there was much discussion and brainstorming about how and when to start school again. Most argued for starting it soon in order to get kids off the streets and give them hope. Others argued that it is too soon and the emotional wounds are still too raw. There is much conern about how to financially operate the school. 80% of schools in Haiti are private, including the College Catherine Flon. If nearly everyone in Haiti is out of work (or working for little or no pay), how will students be able to pay tuition? And if there are no tuition payments coming in, how will schools be able to pay teachers and purchase supplies?
Further discussion was around if and when students and teachers will be willing to re-enter multi-story concrete buildings that have been deemed earthquake-resistant. The psychological trauma is so strong that many cannot bring themselves to enter any building with more than one floor.
While meeting with a group of teachers, we asked how many were sleepeing outside of their homes, in tents or on the street. Every single hand went up. Among a group of students with whom we met, every single one had lost a friend in the earthquake -- some indicated they had lost five or more friends. But there are eager to continue their studies and, as one teacher commented, completing their education gives life and respect to the dreams that their now deceased parents or friends had for them.