Haiti: Making life bearable
23 Jan 2010
By James Addis
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Those displaced get shelter from newly-erected World Vision tarps.
Photo by Jon Warren.
©2010 World Vision International |
Fabiola St. Juste knows what it is like to be homeless and she does not like it very much.
The eight-year-old sleeps on a particularly rocky patch of ground that was once part of a grassless soccer field in Petionville, Port-au-Prince. She sleeps on an old piece of carpet, but complains when she lies down it still feels hard and cold.
A few days ago, her only protection from the elements was provided by thin, torn, roughly-tied-together bed sheets, suspended by odd bits of lumber. It provided some protection from the sun but was useless against the rain.
“The rain would just pour in and everything got wet,” Fabiola says.
Three families—15 people—slept, ate, washed, and socialized, in the crudely constructed tent, and Fabiola hated the fact that it was so crowded.
“There was not enough room to eat, or sleep. There was not enough room to do anything,” she says emphatically.
Even so, she would not risk going back into her home, which suffered structural damage but was not destroyed in the earthquake.
“I wouldn’t go back. It’s not safe. It’s frightening to go into buildings now,” she says.
If there’s one bright spot in the grim picture, it followed a World Vision distribution of tarpaulins, cooking utensils, and hygiene kits to the hundreds encamped on the soccer field.
Fabiola considers the tarps to be the most helpful thing. All over the camp, they have been skillfully erected, creating an impression of neatness and order where formerly there was chaos.
“The rain does not come in now,” Fabiola says.
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