Inspired by AVJ’s success, a second free alternative school has been launched in a slum near downtown Port-au-Prince called Solino. This extremely poor area has been wracked by violence in recent years involving gangs and police. The Solino assembly joined with members of SODA from other slums to clean out and reconstruct an abandoned building in the neighborhood, converting it into a local schoolhouse. The teachers have been working voluntarily and with almost no materials, but their enrollment has increased since classes began in January 2007 and there are now more than 120 students.
