By John Kisimir
John Kisimir is a World Vision International relief communications expert from Kenya based in Los Angeles, USA. Here he writes about the challenges of humanitarian intervention in Haiti’s urban environment.
The Haiti earthquake emergency intervention is proving to be one of the most challenging humanitarian situations in modern times.
Most humanitarian organisations are used to supporting major interventions in rural areas, where communities do have functional social structures that make it easy to mobilise people and provide aid.
Haiti is different.
The city of Port-au-Prince is a fully packaged urban environment – from the suburbs to the sprawling slums of Cité Soleil. Its people are not peasant farmers whose lives have been spanned by a hurricane. Some are professionals whose homes and jobs are no more. Some are families who lost a loved one they depended on. Some are folks who abandoned their homes – too scared to live under a concrete roof. Some are criminals who mugged and stole even before the earthquake. You can also count among these prisoners who walked to sweet freedom when the quake brought down some jails. Also, do not forget unaffected people who pose as survivors in an attempt to receive free stuff – sad but true.
Compassion and hard knuckles
The Haiti earthquake presented one of those rare moments where aid agencies have embraced the support of the military in providing armed protection at aid distributions – an interesting combination of compassion and hard knuckles.
If you want to know how this combination is working, you should probably meet Dr Debebe Dawit, a veteran aid worker for World Vision. His experience includes massive humanitarian interventions like the Asia Tsunami and others in Pakistan, the Southern Africa food crisis, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Angola, Rwanda, and now Haiti.
Dr Dawit comes to Haiti with a heart and the expertise to move things fast. Yet, he sees the risks behind every makeshift camp in the city. Life is hard and residents are restless for all the suffering they are going through. Anything done wrong can cause distress and possibly a riot.
Today, Dr Dawit woke me up at 5am to visit one camp to provide tents to those who do not have any shelter. The plan is to go early and make sure that only those who live in the camp get the help they need.
With a crew of 20 World Vision staff and United Nations peacekeepers from Nepal, we arrive at the sleepy camp. Some residents were sleeping in cars, while those who slept under the stars, have started to stir.
As the peacekeepers take position, World Vision staff swings into action, erecting a security barrier at the entrance of the camp. Camp leaders are quickly located and word passes from tent to tent. Sleepy camp residents appear, holding coupons they received from their leaders a few days ago. The elderly, the disabled and the sick get into line first. The young and the strong jostle for position at the end of a growing line.
Sharing of resources transparent
A truck carrying the tents pulls over and the distribution starts. Hawk-eyed Dr Dawit gives instructions to his staff. Every detail matters; there is no room for mistakes – from security to the recording of names on the register. The soldiers are on guard, stopping those without coupons outside the camp from getting into line. Often there are scuffles and arguments, but the tension subsides once the beneficiaries realise that the process of sharing resources is transparent.
“It is human nature to have conflict when in distress. My job is to make sure that those who deserve help get it. I must also keep our promise to each and every person who gave even a one-dollar donation to Haiti,” Dr Dawit says.
Today’s distribution is over and another one is planned for tomorrow, and the weeks and months to come.
Since the earthquake struck, World Vision, with the support of the World Food Programme, has given food aid to more than 864,000 people. Non-food items, which include 2500 tents, 9400 blankets, 11,400 cooking sets and 5200 mosquito nets, have reached 65,000 people in the camps to help make life just a little bit more bearable.
