~ One woman's mission to improve quality of life ~
MARIGOT--There's a lot more to Georgina Rohan than meets the eye. Most people are familiar with this devout French Quarter lady as the scout master for Explorateurs Drum Band, a group that regularly features in the parades for the district Fêtes or annual Bastille Day celebration.
But on Coralita Road, at a simple house referred to as the scouts headquarters, there's something completely different going on, and it presents a side to Rohan not hitherto known to everyone. Inside a fenced-in yard, numerous children are sitting at tables with adults learning to make all manner of useful household items from recycled materials.
This is where Georgina Rohan and a handful of helpers hold court. Call them Good Samaritans or Florence Nightingales if you will. These are women volunteering their time to make a difference to children's lives, offering refuge from troubled homes and irresponsible parents, plucking gullible kids from the streets and out of harm's way.
These children are cared for in a safe, social environment, they get fed and learn craft-making, and get to sell their creations for a few dollars to go to the movies. Even reading and school work is included.
Inside the house there's an impressive display of colourful completed items. Dolls, jewellery boxes made from baby wipe boxes, flower pots and vases, tea cups, waste-paper baskets, and so on. Materials such as toilet paper, napkins, magazine paper, newspapers, clothes pegs, cotton and wool, are used.
Right now it's a summer camp in progress, but Rohan says she has been looking after hundreds of children this way for 25 years.
"There's nowhere for children to go but here, even at Christmas and Easter," she explains. "At least here they are off the street, away from the begging, thieving, the drugs, the weapons. As an association we do get a small subvention from the Collectivité, but it's not enough to pay the rent, to feed these children, and for the materials we use. I want the Collectivité to know the subvention is not enough to get through the year.
"The children eat and drink a lot and if you don't feed them, they are going to steal," she adds. "Their parents don't care; they just take the CAF (family allowance benefit) money. I don't like to see children suffering. The teachers I have do what they can from their hearts, some of them don't have a job, but I'm a pensioner and I can't pay them. So I would like the Collectivité to come here and see what we are doing. I would like at least two of the teachers to be given a job to work with me."
Rohan talks of delinquency and irresponsible parents in French Quarter as if it were a normal way of life. That so many children gravitate to her for sustenance and security says much about the lack of community development and lack of activities for children.
A troubling question is why, for example, has the French Quarter Cultural Center, an ailing building, years ago deemed too dangerous for occupation, never been renovated and re-opened? It only adds credence to the popular notion of French Quarter as a "forgotten" district.
Also telling is the fact that many children don't want to go home at the end of the day, because there's nothing for them there, Rohan points out. The volunteers often drive them home late in the evening.
In a different part of the house is a computer room for internet and school research. There are eight computers, clearly old and long past their sell-by date. Only one modern computer is visible.
Then there is the kitchen which is quite spacious and clean, with a modern fridge and stove and appears up to the task of feeding the children. Rohan says she can spend up to 3,000 euros on food for a week.
From these very same children, the drum band evolved years ago. She says there are some 50 children who are involved with the band, the best of whom are retained for parade days. Explorateurs, as an association, was formed in 1995.
Performing in a drum band requires discipline and skill, and the fact that her children have acquired this talent is further testament to Rohan's commitment to the youth.
In conclusion, she wants to continue what she's doing, but needs help and more funding. The drum band also needs help.
She points to a sad-looking pile of broken drums stacked up in a corner. "During the hurricane last year, a lot of the drum equipment got broken or spoiled, so we are looking for donations to buy more equipment."
