The schools behave much like the adult world in Haiti. There is a pressing forward and a sense of “business as usual,” but there are broken buildings and classrooms that, like ghosts, haunt the Haitians. One should not pause to gaze too long, or these ghosts will, once again, strike fear. Therefore, the buildings are ignored, so much so, that they are abandoned. Even if in good condition, the classrooms are left to themselves and school is conducted outside. The children gather under tarps and prefer to gamble with the rain than with the buildings. Even the chalkboards have not been erased, and still read “January 12, 2010.” With a sense of reverence for the day and the lives that were swallowed by the rubble, the schools have left the classrooms as they were the day of the quake.
