Today the children at the Los Platanitos [1] community school, in the Dominican Republic, are learning about migration. But there are no books, just a Haitian parent who has come in to tell his tale. In this country, which tolerates a more or less official segregation system for Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian origin, the Onè Respe [2] association has, since 1996, been starting up community schools in order to overcome extremely deep-rooted prejudices and to "create a spirit of solidarity between the children", explained Joël Valerio, an NGO member. There are now four schools with 500 schoolchildren, ranging in age from one to twelve, who are receiving a quality education. The aim is clear – to provide good academic skills, multi-cultural knowledge, and to encourage open-mindedness, which is key to personal development.

Some children are ashamed of being Haitian  

These schools are a breath of fresh air for many children. In addition to the uncertainties of daily life and an often violent family environment, these children suffer from being continuously rejected. Haitian immigrants provide cheap labour for the agricultural sector and tourist trade in the Dominican Republic and are subject to appalling discrimination. Even though they may have been born on Dominican soil, they are refused Dominican nationality. The jus soli [3] doctrine, which guarantees nationality on presentation of a birth certificate proving birth in Dominican territory, is in actuality contravened on a daily basis. Officials refuse to issue this precious access to citizenship because of a too-dark skin colour or a doubtful Spanish accent. This rejection then follows them throughout their childhood.

	Sharing plasticine clay, an activity full of sense for these Haitian and Dominican children © : Onè Respe

This is the discrimination against which the community schools are fighting. They are convinced that multi-cultural education is the basis for acceptance of others. To this end, each month the students work on a specific topic – inter-cultural issues, anti-Haitian discrimination, immigration, etc. The guiding principle is constant work on sharing and the fight against racism, the major icons of which are always being celebrated: Martin Luther King, Gandhi, or Toussaint Louverture [4], a national hero in Haiti. Each of these days is the occasion for the children to think about discrimination, its causes, how it manifests itself and its consequences on the weakest in society. "Everybody learns – the children learn from the teachers and the teachers learn from the children", the ten teachers, most of whom have been recruited from the neighbouring bateys [5] point out.

Working with young people is of paramount importance 

It is not by chance that young people are being targeted. For it is in childhood that prejudice is interiorized. But make no mistake, the community schools are not mere day-care centres. In their first year, the children learn to share everything: their toys, lunch and all their activities.  Then, as they grow up, they become familiar with values of solidarity, of sharing and living together.  The paradox is that at this moment in their lives, they are confronted with violence, segregation and rejection. They also take part in charlas informativas [6], which provide the occasion for them to talk about the experiences to which they are subject or in which they have taken part.

However, the NGO does not limit itself to the teaching role. Through the community child education network, it makes proposals to the government to improve the content of the school curriculum. These schools have set themselves the task of becoming an example, both in terms of the quality of teaching provided and of the wonderful spirit of solidarity and tolerance that they develop in the populations. Onè Respe is convinced that "racism kills love, divides the people, destroys democracy". What the community schools do is re-establish social links. The 2,000 Haitian and Dominican children who have attended these schools will not contradict this.