Songs from Haiti

Guest blog by Christine Hwang, Red Cross delegate to Haiti. Christine recently returned from a six-week mission to Haiti where she worked in a Red Cross hospital.

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The children are excited to see us.  “Pick me! Pick me!” they shouted. As a Canadian Red Cross public health delegate to Haiti, I was visiting a makeshift school just outside the gates of the hospital where the attendees are from a nearby temporary camp.  My colleagues and I would pick 16 of the children to attend an hour long session learning simple yet life changing habits through games and songs.

Art, song and dance is important to Haitian culture.  While kids may enjoy puppet shows and colourful pictures, what they enjoy most is to sing and dance.  Within days, the songs taught to a small group of students were overheard being sung by the rest of the schoolmates.  While the impact of the songs is not easily measurable, every time I hear the tune, I remember to wash my hands and pick up trash.  I can only hope that they will do the same for all those who sing the songs.

As we head into the rainy season with a large part of Haiti’s earthquake displaced population living in crowded makeshift homes, communicable diseases become a real threat to the health of all.  Children, being the most vulnerable part of the population, often become severely ill from diarrhea and other respiratory tract infections.  Recognizing an urgent need to get health messages out, we created songs teaching simple interventions:  keeping a place clean, washing hands, finding clean water and eating healthy foods.  

You can hear Christine on the John Tory show on NewsTalk1010. Scroll down the list of Audio interviews on Demand.

Check out a video clip of the children learning the health song.

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