Jo-Ann: Building the future of Haiti

Meet Jo-Ann – the leader of the first group of volunteers trained by Plan Haiti to help distribute aid and provide emotional support to children affected by the earthquake.

She leads 30 volunteers who have all been trained in child protection. They assess the children in tent communities, which have sprung up everywhere after the quake, to identify ones that may be vulnerable to abuse and trafficking.

The group, the first of many that Plan Haiti will train, is made up of students who suddenly have no university to attend, and teachers who no longer have a classroom. Many of them have lost everything too, but despite the difficulty of their own situations, they are dedicated to helping children survive the disaster.

Emergency supplies

Jo-Ann and her team helped distribute Plan emergency rations to 200 families in Port-au-Prince. The event went off without a hitch - no small accomplishment in a city still reeling from death and destruction.

The United Nations is supplying security details to aid organizations, but Jo-Ann’s charm helps ease any frayed nerves. She knows the community and they know her; these links and her easy manner are what make people like her integral to this kind of work.

Girls’ rights

When asked how she manages to lead a group that includes men, even men a few years older than her, she is quick to answer. She has been involved with Plan’s youth programs for years and says: “It is not easy but we were all taught as youths that girls have the same rights as boys. I tell them that we are equals.”

The young men may be twice her size, but that doesn’t stop her from hauling around large bags of emergency rations. “I feel like I have the same strength,” she says.

Education fear

Once life returns to normal she will continue her studies, with the aim of earning a degree in communications. While Haiti has made some progress for girls’ and women’s rights in the last few years, Jo-Ann worries that some of these gains may be lost as life becomes more difficult.

The earthquake has set the development of Haiti back, and Jo-Ann worries that people may begin to rationalize the need to cut back on things like educating their daughters and not sending them to college. However, Jo-Ann knows that if these issues are to be tackled, they must be highlighted.

“Communication is a key to a changing a society,” she says.

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