Haiti 

Guy Sharrock

For the people of Haiti, who were affected so enormously by the earthquake of 12th January 2010, it will be a long time before their lives return to 'normal'. As time goes by we must remember not to forget the people of this country, but remember them in our prayers and thoughts. As part of my work for Catholic Relief Services, I have had the fortune to visit this country, and to work alongside some of the local people in Port-au-Prince, a badly affected city. Over the coming months, I hope that I can share with you some of my experiences and some of the progresses that are being made in Haiti (below you can find monthly updates). 

Background

Food and Jobs

Across Port-au-Prince and the outlying areas of South, nutritious food is being supplied to more than 700,000 people, many of whom are living in camps, orphanages and hospitals.

Shelter

In the first three months of the emergency response, emergency shelter kits were provided—including tarps, nails, ropes and bedding—for tens of thousands as well as large tents for hospitals and orphanages. In the months ahead, people will be given help in building transitional wooden shelters with materials that can be dismantled and used later for permanent housing.

Water and Sanitation

To prevent further disaster from waterborne disease, systems are being installed for clean water and sanitation in the crowded Port-au-Prince camps, clinics and hospitals. Hundreds of latrines have been provided and many Haitians have been employed to clear rubble from the main canals and drains of Port-au-Prince.

Education

For years, food and support has been provided to meny orphanages and child-care centers in Port-au-Prince and Les Cayes. In the weeks after the quake, food, water, hygiene kits, child-care materials and counseling support were given to affected centers. "Child-safe spaces" have been established, with large tents, recreational and educational materials, and trained staff and volunteers, in the urban settlements and tented cities.

Health

In the weeks after the quake, supported teams of doctors and nurses in three hospitals and several clinics and camps as they treated an average of 350 patients and performed 30 surgeries every day. Teams restored lifesaving health care, equipment and supplies in tent cities, providied vaccinations to prevent epidemics, and met the needs of recent amputees.

May 2010

My Trip to Haiti

 It was not the image of someone from the Franciscan brotherhood that I had anticipated prior to my visit to the school. Dressed in old white trainers, white shorts and a vest, Brother Joseph was sweeping the school driveway when I arrived. A small man with a twinkle in his eye, he welcomed me and my colleague, Ritchy Philoctete, an ex-pupil of the school, with a large smile and a wipe of the sweat from his forehead in the hot sun of the late afternoon; even at 3 o’clock, it was still 35°C.

The strongest earthquake in Haïti in more than 200 years, measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale, rocked the impoverished Caribbean nation on January 12, 2010. Powerful aftershocks shook the desperately poor country where many buildings, despite being made of concrete, are flimsy. Latest estimates are that around 300,000 people have been killed by the earthquake, with another 300,000 injured. Over 250,000 houses have been destroyed, resulting in the displacement of well over one million people. 

A group of boys at Simon Langton School in Canterbury were moved by what they heard and read about the plight of the people living in Port-au-Prince. In response they decided to set up a cake sale, and through a Miami-based friend of an uncle of one student, donate all the proceeds to Saint Louis de Gonzague, a school located in Port-au-Prince, Haïti. I heard about their terrific initiative just prior to visiting Haïti where my organization (Catholic Relief Services, the US-based sister agency to the UK’s CAFOD) has had an office since 1955 and is currently engaged in the humanitarian response.

The site in Port-au-Prince hosts both an elementary and secondary school. Brother Joseph has been resident there since the time of its construction in 1970. As he said with a wry chuckle, “The earthquake was God’s fortieth anniversary present to me!” The cold statistics are that the school lost three teachers and four students as a result of the earthquake, but this does not tell the whole story. Most pupils have lost family members. Brother Joseph told me that one boy had lost eight family members in the 35 seconds that it took for the earthquake to run its course. The numbers of pupils and staff killed could have been a lot higher – the secondary school has 800 pupils – were it not for the fact that many were heading home at school closing time. Brother Joseph showed me the never-to-be forgotten spot where he was standing. He lifted up a clock – “my souvenir of the earthquake” – in his now-destroyed office; it stopped ticking at precisely the time of the awful event. As we walked around the school it was readily apparent that some buildings had simply collapsed; others, though still standing, were seriously damaged. It will take a long time to restore it to its former glory.

Since that terrible day, the school has hosted many Haïtians who have lost their homes. At the moment it looks as much a refugee camp as it does a school. Brother Joseph told me that in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake there were tents everywhere, all over the school grounds wherever there was a free space. Just imagine 1,000 tents and 5,000 people living on the Langton playing fields?! A few families have returned to their homes. Those who cannot are living in tents and are receiving assistance (shelter, food, health and hygiene, water and sanitation, cash-for-work payments, etc.). The medium-term plan is to move them from this temporary location to transitional shelter (built from wood) before helping them with the long struggle to return to normality.

As for the pupils, the school has now set up desks, chairs and blackboards in large UNICEF tents. The plan is that the elementary school pupils will study early morning, followed by the secondary school students. The school will then open the ‘canvas classrooms’ for others to use in the evening. This will continue as the slow task of repairing and rebuilding the school takes place.

Brother Joseph wanted me to extend his thanks to all those students who contributed to the fund-raising efforts. In the school’s chapel he introduced me to Brother Jean, “our money-man,” remarking that the contribution would now be in very safe hands.  Both of them agreed that the earthquake had meant that many people from all over the world have shown, through efforts such as those of the Simon Langton pupils, tremendous solidarity with the plight of the Haïtian people.

Following my visit, Brother Joseph wrote this response in an email to the students:

Dear Simon Langton students, the only word I must say over and over to you today is Thank You! Thanks a lot! The pictures taken by Guy will update you on landscapes and faces. They will also give you an idea of our future use of your generous contribution, for reconstruction as well as the modification of the green area. Despite some practical difficulties, we have restarted all our classes under tents this Monday, May 3rd. Many thanks to you and your families. May God bless and guide you! Again on behalf of the entire Saint Louis de Gonzague family (teachers, students and family), I extend to you my warmest appreciation. Fr. Joseph Bellanger.

June 2010

Monthly Update

Over the last month the work in Haiti has been continuing as groups such as CRS try to help Haitians return to their normal lives. Long-term foundations are being laid for the future, while in the short term, activities such as shelter construction and the provision of medical, washing, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities continue to be built. In June alone, three new temporary structures were built (ie, classrooms, medical wards etc.) and 62 WASH units were installed (22 pit latrines and 40 bathing facilities) just by CRS.

CRS also assisted many people this month through its Cash for Work scheme, designed to help those people in greatest need. Canals were dug to control the flows of water in camps, sanitary latrines were erected, and hygiene promoters continued to educate the public about good hygiene practices. The picture to the right portrays one of the bridges that was constructed using CfW, with the purpose of facilitating the safe movement of vulnerable people.

To finish, some figures (as of late June 2010):

• As part of the ongoing habitation assessment process, an estimated 157,865 structures had been assessed by the Ministry of Public Works, with the expectation of reaching from 350,000 to 450,000 structures by the end of August. Initial results indicate that approximately 46 percent of surveyed houses are safe for habitation, while 30 percent require minor repairs.
• 130 settlement sites had been registered, consisting of 164,405 households. IOM plans to complete formal registration of sites holding more than 1,000 households by the end of June and to complete the process by September.
• 3,264 transitional shelters have been built, capable of housing 10,355 people. An additional 12,175 transitional shelters are already in country and by summer 2011 the Shelter Cluster plans to have 125,000 transitional shelters constructed.
• WASH Cluster partners had constructed more than 11,000 toilets, representing 90 percent of the goal for Phase I, which ended in May. Partners had also built approximately 2,932 showers, or 50 percent of the Phase I goal; provided 5 liters of water per person per day, out of a targeted 7.5 liters; established 450 private water kiosks; trained 3,238 hygiene promoters; and distributed 200,000 hygiene kits.

6 months on from the disaster, we must remember that it is still important to remember the victims of this earthquake in our prayers and thoughts.