Julie Schindall braves the dust and dirt of a new temporary settlement for Haitians forced to leave their homes, where Oxfam’s water, sanitation and hygiene teams have been working.
About ten days ago, we found out the government of Haiti has identified a site for temporary location of homeless people living in flood-prone settlements in Port-au-Prince. The government took two months to identify the site, and we had one week to prepare it. It’s a desert-like flat plain about 15km outside of Port-au-Prince. The dust is intense.
We sent out emergency water, sanitation and hygiene teams to install latrines, showers and water bladders. They were the only people working on the site until the last day before the first group of new residents arrived. Our engineers had to wear face masks to protect against all the dust. The American military calls the site “peanut butter camp,” because when it rains, the plain turns into a brown mud pit.
That’s not to say the site can’t be made workable. Our engineers have experience in countries with tough climates all around the world, including Chad and Ethiopia. But installing latrines takes time: to dig pits around 12 feet deep, lay in large stones and wooden frames to secure the loose soil, and drop in corrugated metal walls. Then the latrine is covered with one of our latrine slabs and around the slab goes a reinforced heavy plastic box with a raised, ventilated roof. The latrines also need handles and locks. On Saturday, someone at the site asked if we could move them a little bit closer to his organisation’s temporary camp. I looked at him and said, “It’s 12 feet into the ground. That’s no Port-a-Potty.”
Finally, just before the new residents of the camp were due to arrive, gravel was laid down. Other agencies arrived with a mobile clinic and hygiene kits. Our water bladders were filled and we made sure enough showers were working for the first small group of people. (Thank goodness for that water bladder. It’s the best water I’ve drunk my entire time in Haiti. Its taste reminds me of my childhood, where the city also slightly chlorinated the water.)
The camp residents arrive
I went back to the site on Saturday because I figured a lot of media would be there. I wanted our engineers to do their job, and I would talk to the press. Everyone was in a nervous state all afternoon. Boys from the neighbouring camp played football on the newly flattened fields. American soldiers lounged in their humvees. The officer from the International Organization for Migration kept staring nervously at his watch.
Finally, the buses containing the new camp residents arrived. The media followed. Everybody started filing out. A little boy walked through the dust mounds, each little hand small inside the bigger hands of two women by his side. Someone told me the President was there, but I couldn’t see him through the hordes of media, soldiers and NGO workers.
I was wandering around the registration tents, where the residents were getting information about their new places to live. I introduced myself to people with cameras. Wherever the President went, so went the cameras.
A little while later, CNN and al-Jazeera asked me to give an interview. The cameraman asked me to take off my sunglasses. When I did, I almost stumbled backwards as my eyes adjusted to the light. I’d been wearing them all day against the blinding sun. Thank goodness for wrap-around polarised sunglasses, which protect your eyes from the light and the dust.
Saturday was an intense day, but I was really proud of Oxfam. Earlier that week, we’d issued a press release with World Vision and CARE, protesting the last-minute way the site was picked, and the lack of planning and co-ordination. We worked long hours to get the site ready on time, and we are so proud of our engineers, who toughed out those difficult conditions. At least we know that the people in this camp have clean water, and sanitary, safe toilets and showers.
More on Oxfam’s Haiti earthquake response
Haiti: keeping up the good work (a video report from Oxfam’s Humanitarian Director Jane Cocking)