|
Haiti: Blog - John Kisimir
12 Mar 2010
John Kisimir is a World Vision relief communications expert from Kenya. Currently in Haiti, he has responded to various emergencies in Africa including Darfur, Somalia and Liberia. He is based in Los Angeles, United States.
The challenge of aid work in an urban setting
12 March
The Haiti earthquake emergency intervention is proving to be one of the most challenging humanitarian situations in modern times.
Most humanitarian organisations are used to supporting major interventions in rural areas and rural communities do have functional social structures that make it easy to mobilize people thus making the business of giving aid much easier.
Haiti is different. Its city of Port-au-Prince is a fully urban environment – from the suburbs to the sprawling slums of Cité Soleil. Some residents are professionals whose homes and jobs are no more. Some are families who lost a loved one they depended on. Some are folks who abandoned their homes - too scared to live under a concrete roof. Some are criminals who mugged and stole even before the earthquake. You can also count among these prisoners who walked to freedom when the quake brought down jails. Do not also forget unaffected people who pose as victims who attempt to receive free goods – sad but true.
It is one of those rare moments where aid agencies have embraced the support of the military in providing armed protection at aid distributions - an interesting combination of compassion and hard knuckles.
If you want to know how this combination is working, you should probably meet Dr. Debebe Dawit, a veteran aid worker for World Vision. His experience includes massive humanitarian interventions like the Asia Tsunami and others in Pakistan, the Southern Africa food crisis, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Angola, Rwanda and now Haiti.
He comes to Haiti with a heart and expertise to move things fast. Yet he sees the risks behind every makeshift camp in the city. Life is hard and residents are restless from all the suffering they are experiencing. Anything done wrong can cause distress and possibly a riot.
Today, he woke me up at 5:00 am to visit one camp to provide tents to those who do not have them. The plan is to go early and make sure that only those who live in the camp get the help they need.
With a crew of 20 World Vision staff and United Nations peacekeepers from Nepal, we arrived at the sleepy camp. Some residents were sleeping in cars, while those who slept under the stars had started to stir.
As the peacekeepers took positions, World Vision staff swung into action putting a security barrier at the entrance of the camp. Leaders of the camp were quickly located and word was passed out from tent to tent. Sleepy camp residents started to come out holding coupons that were given through their leaders a few days ago. The elderly, the disabled and the sick got into line first. The young and the strong jostled for position at the end of a growing line.
A truck carrying the tents pulled over and the distribution starts. Dr. Dawit was busy giving instructions to his staff. Every detail in the process matters and there is no room for mistakes - from security to the recording of names on the register. The soldiers are on guard, stopping those without coupons outside the camp from getting into line. Often there are scuffles and arguments but the tension subsides once the beneficiaries realise that the process of sharing resources is transparent.
“It is human nature to have conflict when in distress but my job is to make sure that those who deserve help get it. I must also keep the promise of that person who gave a one dollar donation to Haiti,” Dr. Dawit says.
Today’s distribution is over and another one is planned for tomorrow and the weeks and months to come.
Since the earthquake struck, World Vision with the support of the World Food Programme has given food aid to more than 864,000 people. None food items including 2,500 tents, 9,400 blankets, 11,400 cooking sets and 5,200 mosquito nets have reached 65,000 people in the camps to make life just a little more bearable.
Rural communities shoulder the burden of displacement in Haiti
24 February
I am on the trail, following thousands of people on the run from the tribulations of the devastating earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. An estimated 40,000 of them have fled to La Gonave, an island to the west of the capital city, Port-au-Prince.
They have moved from the massive camps in Port-au-Prince either because they have family or friends in La Gonave or have found conditions in the sorrowful, overcrowded camps unbearable. Moving with them are thousands of children - distressed and hungry.
I am African and since my arrival in Haiti, I have been on an emotional roller coaster.
Parts of Haiti are like a sub-Saharan African nation away from Africa - from its cultural beauty to an economy on its knees. I have been to both places. But there are two things about Haiti that set it apart from a country in Africa. One is that it has been knocked flat out by the earthquake. Second it is not a young nation - it emerged from colonialism and slavery over 200 years ago.
The country is a mere 680 miles from the US city of Miami - a world where expensive Ferraris grace the massive freeways. The Dominican Republic, Haiti's island neighbour, hosts thousands of holiday-makers on all-inclusive Caribbean paradise tours. Yet Haiti's children are just as desperate and hungry as many in the Sudan, Congo or Kenya.
Haiti's poverty is crippling to say the least. My visit to La Gonave is a testament to a forgotten and defeated people. Its roads are extremely neglected, making it near impossible for vehicles to pass. Residents find mules, donkeys and their own feet a more reliable form of transportation. Our drive through the hills and valleys was painful - the vehicle shook and swerved - creaking all the way - shaking those onboard like seeds in jar.
The island had an estimated 100,000 inhabitants before the 40,000 new arrivals. Its young people have little or no education and are unemployed. Thousands of those who fled Port-au-Prince have found a place among friends and relatives. Homes are overcrowded, food and water resources overstretched and there will be challenges of accommodating the new children in schools.
World Vision has started food distributions here, but there are challenges in the days and weeks to come. Access to water has always been a challenge in La Gonave. The quake has destroyed water tanks in many homes and a water crisis is looming. Many schools have had classrooms damaged and it is not clear how many will be usable when schools open. The cost of food has also shot up - the price of rice is up by 60 per cent - since supplies from Port-au-Price are hard to come by.
I left La Gonave for Port-au-Prince, the headquarters of sorrow, where street after street of fallen buildings and a million people in camps remind us of the work ahead to rebuild Haiti. The work ahead does not only entail responding to the immediate and longer term needs of a fallen city, but reviving the hopes of those in rural and remote areas like La Gonave - who are now carrying the burden of the displaced.
|
|