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Save The Children, Haiti November 2010
By mickielynn on 2010-11-06 21:49:14
“\..When I look at the world it fills me with sorrow. Little children today are really gonna suffer tomorrow. Oh what a
shame, such a bad way to live. All who is to blame? We can‘ stop livin’. Live, live for life, But let live everybody. Live life for
the children. Oh for the children. You see, lets save the children. Let’ save all the children. Save the babies, save the babies.
If you wanna love, you’ve got to save the babies. All of the children...”’ Marvin Gaye, 1971 on “What’s Going On”
I recently had the chance to read a book for young children called Eight Days A Story of Haiti, written by the wonderful
author Edwidge Danticat. Her expressive text about a young boy trapped under the rubble of his house in Port-au-Prince for
8 days before being rescued (and made even more vivid by artist Alix Delinois) bring to life the suffering of real human
beings after the earthquake of January 12, 2010. In the long media blitz leading up to the United States elections, and the
unprecedented spending of $4 Billion on campaign ads, most people haven’t been receiving news about the current situation
in Haiti after the initial 200,000 deaths and the displacement of millions of people. We may have heard in passing that more
than 1.5 million people are still living in tent camps around Port-au-Prince, and in the rural areas. Tents which are flimsy and
not weather proof and which exist on flood plains in conditions of overcrowding that increase crime and disease. We might
also have taken note of the continuing lack of rubble removal, blocked designation of land for more permanent structures,
lack of promised financial aid being delivered, continued lack of clean water, inadequate food, little access to health care and
other hardships faced by the adults and young children in Haiti, our neighbor in the Caribbean. Two recent events highlight
the lack of progress during the 10 months since the earthquake. The first is an outbreak of a virulent strain of Cholera, a
deadly intestinal disease that hasn’t been seen in Haiti or the rest of the Caribbean for at least 50 years. It’s now thought that
this strain of the disease matches bacteria found in Southeast Asia. A Nepalese contingent of UN “peacekeepers” is based
near the infected Artibonite River. Because of the lack of clean water people in this rural area of northwestern Haiti have
been drinking out of the river. As of this week, the cholera outbreak had caused 440 deaths and more than 3,300 confirmed
cases had been counted. The real fear is that the epidemic will spread to the densely populated slums and tent camps of
earthquake survivors in and around Port-au-Prince. As people travel away from the rural areas this danger remains high. A
spokesperson for the Pan American Health Organization said that in 75 percent of cholera cases, the carriers are
asymptomatic. That would mean the number of people who have the microbe may be closer to 12,000 and growing. The
outbreak of this deadly disease caused relief organizations to rush doctors and water purification equipment toward the
epicenter (the Artibonite, a rice-producing area about three hours north of the capital) but where was this aid before disease
struck? Meanwhile cholera cases had surfaced in two other areas: the island of La Gonave, and the town of Arcahaie,
moving closer to the capital. A California-based aid group, International Medical Corps, reported confirmed cases in Croix-
des-Bouquet. The threat of continued deaths and more carriers of the illness continues. Even so, no massive relief efforts to
improve living conditions or access to clean water are happening yet. The second (and unfortunately related) danger was the
threat of heavy rains and possible hurricane force winds from Tropical Storm Tomas. It was feared that the heavy rains
would cause massive flooding that would spread the cholera outbreak even faster. The Haitian government ordered the
voluntary evacuation of camps for earthquake survivors in low-lying areas, but most had nowhere else to go. Heavy rains
did hit the capitol and other areas of Haiti but fortunately the heavy winds missed Port-au-Prince although they struck the
north and west of the country. As a backpacker, accustomed to a lightweight waterproof tent who still got soaked in very
heavy rains I can only imagine what life during the continuing hurricane season must be like for the earthquake refugees!
Add to that the threats of disease and malnutrition and the situation is unbearable. If you missed this continuing disaster in
Haiti you may have also missed the suffering in Pakistan caused by two months of severe floods, where 24 million people
became homeless and massive malnutrition, which already existed, increased dramatically, especially in southern, Sindh
province. Malaria and cholera are currently raging in refugee camps, where people are living along the flooded streams.
Children and infants are now literally starving to death every day. And the US is spending millions on drone attacks in
Pakistan and nothing on humanitarian aid to the flood victims. Somehow in the face of all this human suffering it seems that
we’ve forgotten our common humanity and the interdependence of all people. If the United States continues to turn its back
on human suffering and instead spend billions on the “war on terror” what kind of relationship will we have with the rest of
the world?
