The Worst & The Best in Haiti

Note:  WFR Relief is working with Dr. David Smith to just feed some of the people in Haiti.  The plan is simply to give the minimum about of food to as many people as possible in order to save their lives until harvests can be made, businesses re-opened and government aid arrives.  For many, this will be too little too late, but we will save "one more child". Don Yelton

Nov 02 - Haiti News:

22Oct2008-Haiti News:

Tony Hill forwarded this article which emphasizes how important the aid that HCDP has been blessed to collect and give to the people. He and I eagerly anticipate our trip on November 6 to assess the work being done.

“International food aid reaching the community is clearly insufficient in quantity, unsuitable for the nutritional needs of young children, and is being distributed in a way that excludes single mothers. There is still no clear strategy to identify the needs, nor implement a proper nutrition response.”  -- more below

David E. Smith, MD

Heart Clinic Arkansas

10100 Kanis Road

Little Rock, AR 72205

PRESS RELEASE

October 13, 2008

Haiti's Hurricane Victims Facing Homelessness and Food Shortages

MSF Denounces Inefficient Emergency Response in Gonaïves

Haiti 2008 © Gregory Vandendaelen /MSF

GONAÏVES, October 13, 2008 – Five weeks after a series of hurricanes struck Haiti, people in the city of Gonaïves are still deprived of essential services, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today. Since early October, families have been evicted from schools and churches where they had sought refuge after the storms destroyed their homes.

With no alternative housing available, MSF estimates that approximately 10,000 people—out of a total population of 200,000—are living on roofs, in tents, or in fragile shacks made of wood debris and bed sheets. Other families are crammed into abandoned buildings by the dozens, or staying temporarily with relatives in overcrowded conditions that increase the risk of poor sanitation and domestic violence. In addition to this, electricity and running water have yet to be re-established. 

While it has not rained in more than ten days, many roads are still flooded. Mud is more than three feet deep in some parts of the city, making it extremely difficult to get around. “It’s as if a cyclone passed through here just a couple of days ago,” said Vikki Stienen, MSF project coordinator in Gonaïves. “The coordination of relief efforts is extremely chaotic.”

“Usually after natural disasters MSF can reduce it activities after the first month,” Stienen said. “Here, it’s the opposite; we’ve had to reinforce our teams and our intervention.”

So far in Gonaïves, MSF has distributed 3,000 family kits (including plastic sheeting, soap, and jerry cans) and is distributing 2,000 more beginning today. Moreover, MSF is planning to distribute another 5,000 kits to cover the needs of as many people as possible in the city. Additionally, MSF is providing the majority of clean drinking water distributed in Gonaïves, a total of one million liters per day.

MSF is also witnessing an increase in the number of malnourished children admitted to its hospital. MSF re-opened the hospital in Gonaïves only 10 days ago and seven severely malnourished children have already been admitted. This number is expected to grow as people hear about the re-opening of the hospital. Haitians already face chronic food crises and nutritional deficits. The recent hurricanes destroyed crops and killed significant numbers of livestock, making people all the more vulnerable.

Haiti 2008 © Gregory Vandendaelen /MSF

International food aid reaching the community is clearly insufficient in quantity, unsuitable for the nutritional needs of young children, and is being distributed in a way that excludes single mothers. There is still no clear strategy to identify the needs, nor implement a proper nutrition response.

Despite the significant presence of international organizations, the people of Gonaïves have yet to see much benefit. Hurricane season ends in late November. If another storm were to strike the region with more heavy rains, inhabitants here would once again pay a heavy price.

MSF urges international organizations and the Haitian government to immediately re-examine their emergency aid response, and to prioritize housing and nutritional support for the youngest of the flood victims.

01Oct2008-Haiti news

Pictures and news from Bob Valerius' trip to Haiti

 

30Sep2008-Mia Farrow travels to Haiti

21Sep08-"After 25 years spent working in Haiti and having grown up in Florida, I can honestly say that I have never seen anything as painful as what I just witnessed in Gonaives.“

Paul Farmer, MD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_farmer)

On the other hand (dy):

Today was a great day for the people of Gonaives/Poteau.

About development (Haiti Christian Development Project) and the impact on our people:

First, we borrowed money from the Micro-loan program to give to the people!!! (They keep the principle of their loans in the FONKOZE bank). With all of the banks in Gonaives still closed until next week, we have struggled to find money. Then, I remembered this source. Pacius and some men of the church traveled about an hour away and returned with the money last night. Today, several hundred church members of Gonaives, Poteau and Bayonaisse received enough money to buy a meal of rice for about 10 days. We will send more money for about 20 days soon. For those members of the micro-loan program, the forced savings account will be distributed to the participants within the next week or two. What a blessing. I just wish that we had even more people involved. I am sure the demand for this opportunity will soar as others see what a lift it will be giving to those folks.

Many ask “what are the government and relief agencies doing.” Pacius said that they have a crazy way of giving aid out. It is given out at 11 p.m. He said most people are afraid to go then. Only the strongest get the food. He said that if he went then, thugs will hurt him and steal the food. He is not strong enough to withstand their strikes. Tickets are handed out at 2 a.m. in the morning. Again, only the strongest get the tickets.

Secondly, potable water has been plentiful in the city (Gonaives)—less so in the villages. Pacius goes about gathering up the empty bottles. He then takes them to the people of Poteau and Bayonaisse. Oneal Tankersley (development teacher at Harding who created the videos using Haitians speaking Creole as the actors) taught them how to put water in the plastic bottles, paint the bottom black, and then use solar energy by leaving them in the sun for several hours. Even water that was muddy settles, and then the water is OK to drink  

Haiti, Struck and Struck Again, Stunned by New Suffering

Times Article & Video

10 September 2008 - Please watch the video and follow the threads to other news articles about the damage tropical storms are doing in Haiti.  Maybe we can't help all the needy people in the world, but we can help just one more.  DY

09 September 2008 - Video taken in Gonaives, Haiti where Christians have lost homes and everything poverty could buy.