The BBC have been following an Oxfam aid shipment all the way from our logistics warehouse in Bicester, Oxfordshire, to Haiti where it will be used to help 80,000-plus earthquake survivors. Lucy Brinicombe saw it leave the UK.
It is hard to picture what 50 tonnes of aid looks like and – wrapped in plastic on loading pallets – it doesn’t look like much.
Taking a closer look though, I felt quite emotional as it was loaded onto an empty Boeing 747 Cargo plane at Stansted airport bound for Santo Domingo last Friday (22 January).
Seeing the cargo of latrine slabs, the soap, pipes, picks and shovels (assembled in the hours and days before at Oxfam’s logistics warehouse) piled up in boxes brought the reality of what we were doing to a jolting reality. The address slapped on each crate to Oxfam’s Port-au-Prince office demanded you take notice. This British Airways plane was heading to a far-off place that had become a constant feature on the news, in our conversations and – in my case – at work. All for the wrong reasons, Haiti and its people were – and are – at the forefront of all our minds.
Seeing that very aid last night on the BBC’s Six o’clock News, already put to use to help thousands of people stricken by the earthquake was another incredible moment. Having been safely delivered to Santo Domingo, trucked across the border and through customs, the aid – specifically the bright pink wheelbarrows – was featured in the news clip. Free from the protective wrapping, they were no longer inanimate objects but had almost come to life – pivotal in Oxfam’s work, being used to carry away rubble and clear space to dig latrines and begin to re-build the broken city. With a clear, life-saving purpose, they were – and are – making a difference on the ground.
Donate now and find out more about Oxfam’s Haiti Earthquake response