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BLOG
HAITI : After three months
since the earthquake struck the country |
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Day 1 – Sunday 11th
April 2010
My flight was from Manchester at 10am getting me
into Heathrow with plenty of time to grab a coffee,
or so I thought! I arrived at terminal five and made
my way to terminal three. Sadly a lady jumped in
front of the train in an attempt to commit suicide,
later, I learnt that she had died on impact. At the
time I was silently panicking, the whole itinerary
was so tight that if I missed one connection there
was no way I would have got the Haiti connection as
planned.
Next was my Virgin airlines flight to Washington,
sitting next to an eighty something year old
eccentric but amazing and very humorous lady. To my
left was an advisor to the President of Georgia, yes
the President of Georgia was on board! As soon as we
touched down in Dulles, secret service men made
their way forward , however the elderly lady was
completed oblivious to who they were asked one of
them to open the overhead bins and pass down her
handbag, “youngman it’s a little cream one”, I could
hear little sniggers around the aircraft! By the
time I got to the hotel and to my bed it was 2am UK
time.
Day 2 – Monday
12th April 2010
First stop Haitian Embassy
Meeting with the Ambassador of Haiti His Excellency
Raymond A. Joseph. Ambassador shared with us his
anxieties and hopes for the Haitian people, “if
there is a silver lining to this tragedy, it’s got
to be that the International Community has its focus
on Haiti”. We were given a letter supporting our
visit and had it not been for a dinner coinciding
with our fundraiser on the 15th May, the Ambassador
said he would have accepted our invitation to the
UK.
Day 3 Tuesday
13th April 2010
The flight from Miami is full of aid workers also
heading to Port au Prince with the first lady of
Haiti landing at the same time as us, after also
visiting Washington DC. We made our way out to be
met by our guide Robbie. “Is this everyone?” he
grabbed my cases and in a very military fashion,
“now listen carefully, there are people at the
gates, follow me when we walk out of the gates stay
close and straight to the white van”. Of course, I
was once again silently panicking. As we drove
through Port au Prince, I can sense a calm chaos.
Our hosts for our first day in Haiti are a pleasant
family: the Moniyihans. Patrick and Christina their
eldest is Robbie sixteen, Michaela fifteen, Tim
thirteen and ten year old Marianna. Together, we
head to the Louventure Cleary (LCS) also known as
the Haiti project where the Moniyihans also reside.
The drive showed me that the infrastructure in Haiti
was virtually nonexistent and was unlike anything I
had seen before.
LCS is a Catholic boarding school, selecting the
academic elite of the Haitian children as future
leaders, aiming to empower them for a better Haiti.
Patrick Moniyihans runs the school.
As we are shown around the complex, we are told that
the girls’ dorms have been deemed unsuitable and
immediate works are required. Furthermore, one or
two other buildings have been seen to be unsafe.
When speaking to the children, they recall that on
the day of the earthquake they were in school and
thought it was Armageddon, screaming and crying
throughout the nightmare. To this point, they are
not over the fear of the earthquake, choosing to
sleep outside even though some of the buildings have
been declared safe. The trauma suffered by the
earthquake victims is still so apparent, and it
would seem that almost everyone we spoke to was
still reliving the devastation, destruction and fear
on a daily basis.
We were shown around various programmes. The “Ti
Moun programme”; Ti Moun means little people in
Creole. Patrick explained, that after the
earthquake, gangs began appearing around the area of
the school trying to take control of the area. The
Haiti project embarked on the Ti Moun initiative
which engaged the community. The Ti moun programme
has approximately 50 children aged between two and
five years old. Each day the children arrive at the
school, they are guaranteed three meals a day,
activities and rest time. The aim is to help the
mothers find some work whilst the children are being
looked after.
Day Four –
14th April 2010
We set of early to pick up our car from Hertz ,
supply and demand theory is in full swing. The price
we are quoted is double that of the USA, however we
have no choice but to take the car. BHR signs are
placed on the car, and ready to go.
We made our way to the first camp; Petion Ville
Club. It is host to 54,000 displaced Haitians. The
US army are patrolling the gates and there is a
heavy UN presence of peacekeepers from Japan, India
and Burma.
Sean Penn, the Hollywood superstar, is at the camp.
I am told he has been here since the earthquake with
on and off travelling back to the US. His charity,
JP HRO, is in-charge of camp management here. The
entrance to the camp is what must have been a
privately owned club, most definitely serving the
Bourgeois community prior to the earthquake. As we
walked around its visible to see lots of people
wearing JP (HRO) blue and white t-shirts. There are
people sat against a wall, waiting to get on the
buses which are in the large car park also being
managed by Penn’s staff and the US army. Later in a
quick chat with Penn he explained “these are the
people who are going to the new camp, its a mass
exodus because we have to evacuate all 54,000 people
from this camp before the monsoon season starts,
otherwise we will have another tragedy on our hands.
I am concerned with getting them moved to the other
camp and they have shelter, that is all we can think
of right now.”
Upon entering the camp I see people depressed,
stressful atmosphere, the heat and the only thing
came in to my mind was “how are the children coping
with this situation”. There are small shops made out
of tents, including internet cafes (without any
internet) and a hair and beauty salon. It seems the
Haitain people are trying anything to make this
situation as similar to ‘normal life’ as possible.
As we move through the camp, a small group of
children hug me and stroke my hair as my colleague
is taking pictures and stories. Those sat in the
surrounding tents smile if you smile...”Bonjour is
met with a pleasant reply of “bonjour ca va?”
Our first stop ...we visited Ange a young mother of
two and a girl Felix Fatima aged eight. The Haitian
women are amazing and very resilient. They are the
glue holding the family unit together, cooking
cleaning looking after the children whilst even
running little businesses or finding some kind of
work.
One thing did seem apparent was sense of acceptance
the current situation: “this is now our fate...the
tent city”. The previous day at the Haiti project,
we visited some of the homes around the periphery of
the school. The tents offered more protection than
these homes as many families were living in inhuman
conditions prior to the earthquake and it would seem
that they now have the added burden in some cases
having lost a loved one. The Haitian people are
traumatised beyond imagination in a lot of the cases
as adults and children do not want to return to
their homes.
We quickly realised there is an urgent need for some
kind of relief for the children. The heat was
unbearable, with young children crying. The visit
made me constantly aware of how lucky my children
are, and the facilities they have access too. All
these children want is a piece of grass and a
football or a cricket bat and ball. We soon came
across a group of children who had taken advantage
of an empty taupin, running around bare feet.
Another group of children had utilised what looked
like an empty carton, the lids were wheels and a
piece of string to pull this makeshift car. Others
had a rope and were skipping. Fatima Felix stood out
like a little Broadway star, older than her eight
years of age. Fatima has lost her father in the
earthquake and is one of six siblings.
The children for me are of paramount importance,
they are the future. Some green grass for boys to
kick a ball, art classes for the girls, reading and
just being able to watch a Disney movie, is all
these children ask for. Education and parental
support programmes would be all that it would take
to drive these families to a better future.
Our guide was Andre Mackenzie. Andre was in charge
of 300 jobs which had been created within the camp
for the residents. Each week he would rotate people
so that every one was able to work and pay for the
food. Food distribution had ceased and at least one
person in each family was required to work in order
to pay for the food: if you don’t work you don’t get
any food. The obvious is there are 54,000.00 people
and 300 jobs. That leaves a lot of hungry people.
Andre told me there are 100 desperate families who
have not had any assistance as due to their
circumstances, they are unable to work. They receive
£11 per day to feed them.
On leaving the camp, our next stop was the UN
compound. Here we registered with the relevant
cluster group and picked up various documents.
With no internet or phone service, it has felt as
though I have been cut off from the world for a
lifetime. Firstly, I telephoned the UN contact to
recommend a hotel with internet access and somewhere
safe. The recommendation was claimed to be “not
brilliant, charges are extortionate, but there is
internet in the lounge area and its wireless!” When
arriving at the hotel, the Coconut Villa, I was
surprised that it was still standing as surrounding
area has suffered irreparable damage.
Day Five –
15th April 2010
I spent most of the day on the intermittent internet
sending information for basic human rights website,
disseminating all the information ready for reports.
Most of the journalists are staying at this hotel,
and ex pats also.
We visited the surrounding area, speaking to locals
and taking photos of the destruction. So many
buildings were in ruin and unsafe with no signs of
anyone coming in to make it safe. There was no
yellow and black tape as one would expect, saying
“keep out”. With so much destruction, it seems
impossible that Haiti will ever recover from this,
but hope is all this nation has got to hold on to.
Everyone I spoke to kept speaking of this situation
as the ‘last chance’, claiming that “if it doesn’t
happen this time, it will never happen.” The
desperation to have a better future for themselves
and their families is for all to see.
Day Six – 16th
April 2010
We went to see the cathedral in port au prince. When
the cathedral collapsed and four senior members of
the Catholic church were killed as a result of the
earthquake, the Haitian people thought this was the
end of the world. They could not reconcile that this
was an earthquake which had shaken them to the very
core. The emotional impact of the cathedral
collapsing is a very difficult one for such a
religious nation to accept.
“Blanc Palace”
- The White
Place
The presidential palace lies in total ruin. We were
informed that some attempts had been made to begin
work on the Palace, however the officials were
advised that while Haiti lay in ruins, to begin work
on the Palace would most definitely see an uprising
of the people in some form of riots. Directly
opposite the palace is another tent city. We
interviewed a few families.
We came across a group of children shovelling water
away. When we asked them what they were doing, they
replied, “every time it rains, we have to clear the
water away so we can play football.” One young boy
stood out, and when I spoke to him, he told me that
his favourite football player is Messi. He wants him
to win the world cup; he pointed to his t-shirt and
kissed it saying this is what Messi does when he
scores a goal. When asking him what he wanted to be
when he grew up, without hesitation, he replied, “a
footballer.” But for now I want to go to school.
There is only half day school so that they can cater
for all of us. I go in the afternoons, others go in
the morning.” His message to the world: “please
we just want a chance, help us to help ourselves”.
I set straight off to the airport: Miami, JFK then
London. I arrived in Miami early morning with a
flight to JFK. I did not have an idea of what was in
store. As we touched down at JFK I noticed a horde
of cancellations for all flights to Europe, that was
when I realised that my journey home may just be as
difficult as my journey throughout my time in Haiti.
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HAITI BLOG:
Blog written by Anjum Tahirkheli – CEO of
BHR (Basic Human Rights) a UK based charity
(registration # 1133308). She is in Port au
Prince, Haiti currently to assess the needs
of the people affected by the earthquake in
January 2010 |
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©2010- Basic Human Rights |
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