“My favorite subjects are mathematics, social sciences, Creole, French… When I finish with school, I want to study and become an agronomist.”
Entha is 10 years old and lives with her two brothers and her mother Edlène in the mountains of southwest Haiti. During a major earthquake in August 2021, the village where Entha and her family lived was completely destroyed.
For a time, the family lived outside until Storm Grace hit their community on August 16, 2021, forcing them to improvise a small shelter to live in. Access to the village is difficult and aid wasn’t able to reach the community. Community members had to travel outside the village on foot and cross steep roads, but Entha’s mother Edlène was afraid to go out, so neighbours shared what they had with them.
“[When the earthquake happened] I was lying down on a bed and sleeping. My mom was washing outside with my older sister,” Entha says. “I heard a huge noise of something coming from the back of the house. I saw everything shaking. Then, I ran and as I was running, I fell and hit my knees. We ran right to the church, but [it] was already destroyed. We went to the school and [then] people took me to the hospital.”
The earthquake also destroyed the small shop Edlène owned, making it difficult for her to earn an income and afford food and supplies for her family.
“It was hard because I had nothing. And since this happened, I couldn’t buy any goods because I didn’t have the means,” Edlène says. “Save the Children gave me cash transfer. This was very welcome considering the situation I was living [in]. We had nowhere to get anything.”
Save the Children supported Entha and her family with three multi-purpose cash transfers. With these, Edlène was able to buy tools to rebuild her house, to pay school fees, and purchase food to ensure her children wouldn’t continue to go hungry.
Entha and her two brothers also attend a Save the Children-supported Child Friendly Space near her house, to learn and play with other children from her community. In coordination with community leaders, the Child Friendly Space also provides children with psychosocial support, so they can recover from the earthquake, feel better and more confident.
“We always find something to play with [at the Child Friendly Space], we often go to play cards, or we play on the field… Before all this, we didn’t have anything to play with,” Entha says. “People talk to us and explain [to] us what our community is. Then, they also told us about earthquakes. I would like to thank them because I am happy for everything, they did for me.”