"I feel safe here and this is the only place I can play"

micheka Each child-friendly space established by Save the Children is set up with a kit of materials — which cost $368 for the organization to assemble. Each kit provides up to 100 children with hours of play that helps them build their resiliency, recover from the disaster and allay their stress.

Micheka's story

Eleven-year-old Micheka proudly writes her name on a pad of paper when we ask her to spell it for us.

We met her at one of Save the Children’s child-friendly spaces that was set up in Port-au-Prince shortly after the earthquake. These programs provide Micheka and thousands of other children in affected communities a place to play, interact with their peers and just be children for a while, helping them recover from the devastating earthquake that ravaged Haiti on January 12 and the frequent aftershocks that have followed.

The threats and fears of children in the disaster zone remain undiminished.

Micheka and her family had to flee their home with little but the clothes on their backs. They now live in a tent on the grounds of the Saint Louis Gonzague secondary school. When the earthquake struck, Micheka was at school and her immediate thought was for her family.

“I was afraid that everyone in my house had died so I ran home as fast as I could. No one died but something fell on my little cousin and she had to have her arm amputated,” she says.

Micheka lives with 13 people in one tent. She says it is hard to sleep at night as there is little space and it is very warm. She told us that life now was harder than before the earthquake.

“My house was destroyed in the earthquake. A wall has collapsed so we came to live here,” she says. “A few days ago we went back to visit our house. I was shocked, and I found none of my toys. I really want a baby doll to play with.”

Port-au-Prince is experiencing frequent aftershocks, a reminder that danger is still a reality. Micheka says that every time an aftershock occurs she feels like she will be “swallowed up by the ground.”

But at this child-friendly space set up by Save the Children, Micheka and hundreds of other children affected by the earthquake have a chance to forget their fears. Here they have a supervised place to play where they can talk about their feelings and feel protected and secure.

“I like to come here to play and joke around with the other kids. I feel safe here and this is the only place I can play,” she says.

Micheka used to go to school, but she is waiting to see if her school will reopen on March 1. When we asked her what she missed about school she told us:

“I love to learn and one day I would like to be a doctor.”

Micheka also introduced us to her mother and showed us where she lived. Her tent is one of thousands of others crammed into a small space. There is no running water and stagnant water has collected in a shallow ditch nearby. At one point Micheka spontaneously knelt down and started praying. When we asked her why, she said:

“I feel lucky here because some people don’t even have a tent to sleep in. I am praying for those people who don’t have a tent, and I hope the country will be safe again and that people will be happy and safe.”