Three months to the day since the Haiti earthquake, huge challenges remain. But thanks to extraordinarily determined people doing amazing, innovative work, there is genuine hope for the future. Oxfam Great Britain’s CEO Barbara Stocking has been there to see for herself.
Driving up the hill in Petionville past our office, destroyed in the earthquake, my first impression was how much work had been done to clean up the rubble and rubbish of the area. A contrast to the suffering behind walls and in the huge number of small camps. Also a contrast to Carrefour Feuille, very close to the epicentre, where you still climb over rubble to get around.
On my visit I had the chance to see real contrasts. Near the centre I visited a small (3,500 people) camp which was well organised and where our water and sanitation work is really helping. Latrines are a real problem. The owners of the land of many of the camps do not want latrines dug there, and/or it may be impossible to build latrines on rock or concrete so a lot of innovation is needed.
An innovative alternative to latrines
At this site I saw latrines on raised areas where the huge tanks only have to be emptied every few weeks. From our surveys we know that a lot of people use toilets in their old damaged homes or, like so many people across the developing world, they use plastic bags. We have another innovation – peepoo bags – where both the contents get treated and the bag dissolves in a few weeks, so they can all be thrown into big waste pits. It brings it home to you how people lived (and live) before (and after) the earthquake.
The work of the Haitian people is very impressive. I visited a community kitchen in Carrefour Feuille that feeds 80 of the most vulnerable people every day. It is one of 56 kitchens there with another 50 to be set up soon in the neighbouring quarter, and perhaps another 250 kitchens in the Delmas area. We pay women, who used to have food stalls, to cook the meals and we pay for the food. The women who cook in the kitchens have formed small community groups. The kitchens provide hope and solidarity to people as well as food.
Clearly traumatised
This spirit is badly needed as people are so clearly traumatised. We have over 200 Haitian staff now, as I met them they were enthusiastic as they talked about our work but their faces became drawn and pained if I asked them about their lives now. With those I already know a gentle question brings tears into their eyes. Most are staying with friends or relations (or vice versa) in cramped conditions, yet they are working hard and look so clean and smart. A small miracle in the circumstances.
Another example I saw of community work was the cleaning of one of the major canals that takes rainwater down the hills into the sea. Like the canals in many shantytowns across the world, the one in Cité Soleil is filthy and full of rubbish. Community teams, again paid by us as part of a cash-for-work scheme, are clearing out all the rubbish so that water can flow down again. This is very important now as when the rains come the water can flow and this means the areas lower down are not flooded.
Race against the rainy season
The other area of our work is shelter. It is a race against time to get enough plastic sheeting to everyone for the rainy season. Tents that have been provided (not by us but by others) tend to leak or they are just too big for the space available. The Government, United Nations and European Union agencies are concerned about the rains coming and the hurricane season. Some people will have to move from the lower areas of camps and we were starting work this week on a new camp for 20,000 people.
Another option is for people to go back to their homes even if partially destroyed but, of course, they are afraid to do so in case they are dangerous. We have led the way in getting structural engineers to assess houses. They mark them green, or, amber (safe to live in but needing repair), or, red (unsafe and needing to be knocked down). There are now 200 or more engineers assessing houses.
Reaching 300,000 people
So our work covers our traditional areas of water, sanitation and public health as well as very different and imaginative schemes. As I left, the number of beneficiaries we were reaching in one way or another was 300,000. Of course everyone worries what will happen in the long term. We recently took the initiative by asking the people themselves what they wanted in a survey. The top two items were jobs and education. It was a surprise that these came even higher up their priorities than shelter. It demonstrated once again that people don’t want handouts they really want to fend for themselves.
A turning point?
There is much concern too about how reconstruction can be led. It is so important that it is the Haitian Government and the Haitian people that do lead and yet the Government is quite weak and will need a lot of support. Donor Governments also need to make long-term commitments not just to rebuilding but to making a complete change to Haiti – for example, enabling the Government to provide good health and education.
Everyone hopes, as Oxfam does too, that the earthquake can be a turning point in Haiti’s history. It is a beautiful and fertile island; it feels that it should be possible.
More on Oxfam’s Haiti earthquake response
Haiti: keeping up the good work (video report from Oxfam’s Humanitarian Director Jane Cocking).