‘Ann Jwe Ansanm’: Traditional games offer Haitian children a break from screens 

LÉOGÂNE, Haiti — For seven hours on Aug. 15, the courtyard of Anacaona High School— about 21 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital— became a place where children traded phones and screens for jump ropes, dominoes, cards, hopscotch, knucklebones, mancala, chess and other board games.

More than 200 people, including over 100 children, gathered for the first edition of “Ann Jwe Ansanm” — Haitian Creole for “Let’s Play Together.” This community initiative aims to revive traditional Haitian games that organizers say are disappearing from the daily lives of younger generations.

The event, organized by youth group Yogann An Mouvman (YAV) — which literally means “Léogâne in Movement”— in partnership with the grassroots organization Integrated Women of Haiti (FIH), was more than a day of entertainment. Organizers wanted to create a space where children could interact face-to-face, parents could reconnect with games from their own childhoods and younger generations could learn traditions increasingly displaced by digital entertainment.

“We must preserve our traditional games, which are in decline, revive them among young people and adults, but also practice them and promote their intergenerational transmission,” said Clifford Lanéus, YAV’s assistant coordinator.

A break from screens while reconnecting generations through play

The activity comes as smartphones, social media and other forms of digital entertainment increasingly compete with traditional forms of play.

In Haiti, games that once brought children together in neighborhoods, schoolyards and family courtyards are becoming less visible in some communities. Lanéus said he has observed children spending more of their free time on social media, including during school vacations, rather than playing the games he remembers from his own childhood.

The organizers responded by creating a day centered on physical play and direct interaction.

Beginning around 10 a.m., children, teenagers and adults gradually filled the schoolyard. Some arrived with their parents, aunts, uncles or neighbors. Children from orphanages and care centers also attended with their caregivers after receiving invitations from FIH.

Music, laughter and conversation filled the courtyard as participants moved between games.

For the organizers, getting children away from their screens was not about rejecting technology. It was about creating an opportunity to experience forms of recreation that depend on physical activity, imagination and interaction with other people.

Parents and young adults were not simply spectators.

Several joined their children in the games, creating moments that connected their childhood experiences with those of a younger generation.

Phara Bazile Laguerre, 49, who attended with her three children and a young neighbor, said she grew up playing traditional games and still plays some of them with her family.

“I always play with my children at home as well as with my mother,” she said. “We play cards and mancala, but mancala is my favorite game.”

For some parents, the event brought back memories of childhood games they had not played in years.

“It’s been several decades since I last played these games,” one participant said. “Today, I feel like I’m reliving my childhood. It brought back many memories and the wonderful times I spent playing when I was younger.”

For Laguerre, playing traditional games with her family remains a way to spend time together.

She believes those moments can strengthen relationships between parents and children while giving families an alternative to increasingly screen-centered forms of entertainment.

Preserving more than a game

For Rose Gina Gard Saintonge, FIH’s coordinator, traditional games are part of Haiti’s cultural memory.

“These games take us back to our roots,” she said.

Saintonge joined the children in playing knucklebones, a game she remembers from her childhood.

“I played jacks. It had been several years since I had played this game,” she said. “I felt like I was back in my childhood.”

The event also introduced some children to games they had never played before.

Jessica Louis, 7, said she jumped rope for the first time.

Kiara Pierre, 15, who attended from an orphanage, said she enjoyed the experience and hoped for another edition.

“I had a great time,” she said. “I’m already looking forward to a second edition.”

The organizers said inviting children from care centers was intentional. Saintonge said children living in those settings, like other children in the community, need opportunities for recreation, social interaction and connection.

An old tradition in a changing Haiti

The Léogâne event reflects a broader challenge facing Haitian families: how to preserve cultural practices as children’s leisure habits change.

Traditional games are passed from one generation to another largely through practice. When children stop seeing parents, grandparents and older siblings playing those games, the knowledge can disappear with them.

That is why organizers see events such as “Let’s Play Together” as more than one-day activities.

They hope the games will return to homes, neighborhoods and schools, where children can learn them from older generations and continue passing them on.

For the adults who participated, the day offered a chance to revisit a familiar part of their childhood. For the children, some of whom were playing the games for the first time, it offered an introduction to a form of Haitian cultural heritage that might otherwise become increasingly distant.

As the phones remained aside and the games continued in the schoolyard, the organizers’ message was simple: preserving a tradition can begin with making time to play.

“I’m already looking forward to a second edition,” 15-year-old Pierre concluded.

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