Sit Rep from Haiti. Week 1

No this isn’t you Finn, but having you makes me think of all children differently, thanks for that.

How lucky we are!

Just thought I’d drop you a line from Haiti. It might sound a bit weird, but although this might be many people’s idea of a hellish place (and it is very hellish), it feels a bit like going on a working holiday. A chance to do something other than negotiate with the increasing monotony of moaning of Fassi workers, or neighbours and…though it shames me to say it, to get a full nights sleep…most nights at least, despite the snoring, farting and general noise of 6 people sharing a tent. And then, to awake slowly...and off to work!

Don’t get me wrong my beautiful boy, I love your coming in to see us in the morning, it’s just, well, it’s just a change for a while.

The world and his wife are here, everyone banging down the flag...no shortage of work for the forseeable future, not that I’m looking for any. Like I say, it’s a nice change here, but I’m looking forward to coming home and being with you, finishing what we are doing…and getting rid of the workers! However Haiti should drain the coffers of development/emergency workers for years. Let's hope Chile doesn't need anyone else over there....I've heard that it's affected the earths' axis!!!

Dusk at Camp Hilton….Can you see the ‘copter flying overhead?..Very MASH.

There are over 400 Red Cross delegates alone here,(that's expat workers in normal parlance) from all over the world, Spanish, French, German, Israeli, Iranian, Turkish, South Korea and Japan. I’ve even met a guy from Sefrou, Moroc, just round the corner from us. We've got a Rwandan and a guy from Guinea Conakry in our team.

Like everyone we’re struggling to get bodies over. But it’s packed with UN, OXFAM, SCF, from the biggest agencies to the smallest..everyone! We live in a huge tented camp that bears no little similarity to MASH. It's based in what was supposed to be the Haiti Hilton...not any more!

UN Vehicals in the street.
4x4s roar everywhere, fluttering the colours of this agency or that, 'copters woosh loudly over head, large humvee and other military vehicals, filled with US/UN troops roar bullishly by outside and there’s a general air of low level, almost, but not quite hidden, anxiety at the fact that too little is being done too late, amid fears of madding crowds, that bear every chance of being realised, if for no other reason than the humanitarian community hasn't distributed the basics (shelter, NFIs, household kits etc), for fear of the potential for rioting it might cause in the aforementioned madding crowd. Self fulling prophesy? I'm sure the US troops here are counting their lucky charms.

Whatever the mess here, it must be better than Kandahar!

Personally I'm quite excited by the prospect of a month trying out development tools in an emergency. I've two large camps to try to develop hygiene promotion in, which is to say, various health education initiatives, but most importantly latrine, water source and environmental maintainance and trying to promote communities to take charge of the management of these resources. That’s the most interesting part of the whole process.

In the end it's all about politics. Gender, age, class, less legged, more black or white, my team or yours, politics. Trying to distribute and maintain access to resources. Trying to identify how we can best meet the needs of the communities we're working with, with the resources available and most importantly ensuring that we do this with the greatest participation and involvement of these people. It's not something that many agencies are good at at the best of times and in emergencies...generally forget it. But dialogue, local ownership, participation, it's the only way forward....

Oops, was that my soap box I tripped over?

Camp Scene…lots of work to do here.

We're working in two camps one has 15,000, the other 40,000 people living in them. We are only supposed to be working with 20,000 maximum. We’re over stretched but what can you do about it, but get on. The conditions in both camps are terrible, filled with misery and the complications that come with diverse communities from within a country in which the rule of law was at best tenuous before the earthquake, being forced to mix and reorganise after major trauma and with such limited resources.

I’m no expert, but I have to say that even after as little as 5 days I feel that just by treating people as people, rather than a potential mob, we could go a long way. However, especially in the larger camp, there is a very real fear that not so carefully hidden amongst the civilians are some very unsavoury characters, a reflection of the gang culture that permeates Haiti.

Of course this is almost certainly true. Take 40,000 people from any society and herd them in to the most basic of conditions, and there will be difficult characters to manage, let alone given that there are hundreds of former gang members and escapees from the prison that collapsed during the quake, potentially hidden within the camps.

That said, we are here as Humanitarians. The people we are here to support have rights and we do no one a service if we fail to treat them with anything but the utmost respect, whatever the situation.

Committee Meeting at La Piste.
I've been in meetings with "committees" trying to ensure transparency, dialogue and partnership...all good development things, but also tools learnt in Somalia to ensure that you get the "bad guys" as far on your side as possible. I was informed by a woman working here for a while, who spoke perfect creol, that many of the guys in the room where well known gang bosses, but that they controlled the camps. Which means that they share the shite...so let's just get on with it

Personally it all feels a bit like a Somali/Congo mix, little working state and lots of gangs/tribes vying for control, currently suppressed by the weight of US and UN military blanket. It has to be said tho that as long as we can ensure service provision, we should be fine. It's great also as it all feels so natural...sort of like riding a bike. Are yes, I recognise this, off we go!

The Red Cross is an interesting animal. A house with many rooms and levels, each requiring some sort of special procedure to meet it's culture, yet integrally connected to the other. It's hierarchical, very hierarchical..I'm not good at hierarchies, doffing my cap to authority just because I'm meant to, has never been my strongest card. We'll see how that works out...can I manage it for a month?

The place is filled with people who have been in the organisation, at various levels, for years. Of course they know the system, but I like feeling that I am outside of that. Infact the more I see, the more I am glad that we are developing our own independent means of income, so that we can choose if and when and how close we get to such bodies.

Street Scene Port Au Prince.

Clearly the program here will run for years. Haven't seen anything of Haiti yet aside from Port Au Prince, which as you can imagine is a mess. Might get out to a beach on Sunday...back to 6 day weeks I'm afraid, which is made more bizarre, as we've got a 18.00 curfew..more humanitarian anxiety. Camp Hilton the open prison....what did I do wrong officer, surely it wasn't me..Mafish Anna! Sound familiar…In my soul, I know I’m a sinner…that catholic priest told me so, over and over again, when I was your age Finn….Let’s keep you safe from that harms way….oops, I digress!

We're not supposed to walk anywhere, but I've managed to break free to find some amazing street restaurants....umm Haitian food is glorious, lots of flavours, beans and veg, meat and fish (crab and prawns), but all mixed together, which is a shame, tho’ what amazing taste, and the juices are to die for…yum, yum, yum!

It’s so refreshing eating in a street restaurant, surrounded by people doing normal things, eating, chatting, laughing. There are moments that you forget that the place has literally collapsed, that almost everyone you see, speak to, rub shoulders with has incurred the most terrible loss and trauma.

My Haitian Dinner Ladies.

Between you, me and everyone else here, the camp food is attrocious, lots and lots and lots of carbs, bread, potatoes and pasta..food for big bellies! Few vegitables or fruit. Thus added reason for my escape to the wonders of the dinner ladies of the Haitian streets, not that their bellies are any smaller...very naughty, very nice!

The conditions in which people are living are horrific, and that's those who are receiving any assistance. There are thousands, tens, maybe hundreds of thousands who are receiving nothing, god knows what is happening to them. We get populations coming up all the time asking us to help, but we can't we're already swamped...everyone is swamped, the humanitarian life boat is sinking with all passengers aboard..like I say, let's hope Chile doesn't need too much...let alone anything else happening!

Help us.

I've never seen so many agencies in one place. You pass these tent cities, some not even that, hundreds of dwellings, built of cardboard, metal sheeting, a bit of plastic here, maybe a tent there. Pitiful. And on a sheet strung up from a tree, or in a message sprayed on a wall, somewhere, anywhere, where it might get noticed, a plea; “Help us, anyone. We need food and water”…and so you drive past, to a camp that you are woefully capable to maintain, to do a bit to try to improve something of the lot of this sea of desperate need and mounting anxiety.

Anyway, lights fading , reports awaiting and a shower calls…yes that’s right, public showers and very, very cold in the morning…brrrrrrrrrr….but at least we have them, unlike the hundreds of thousands living outside.