PhotoPhilanthropy in the field: observations from Haiti

This week, PhotoPhilanthropy founder Nancy Farese is in Haiti, documenting the work of NGO’s as they provide disaster relief. She sent us this bulletin:

I am here shooting on behalf of the IRC (International Rescue Committee).  Their primary expertise in emergency response is water and sanitation, though they are quickly laying the groundwork for partnering with Haitian agencies to provide Gender Based Violence prevention programs in the settlements, child-friendly playing areas, and family identification databases to help people find their loved ones.

In Piste Camp a man collects rebar to straighten out and reuse.

There are approximately 500 spontaneous settlement camps in Port au Prince; people gathered out of the desperation of having lost everything in the crumbles of their house, or the simple fear of sleeping under concrete structures identical to those in ruins around them.  There was a 4.5 aftershock on Monday night, followed Tuesday by a 4.7 earthquake from a new source, that had us all running from our beds.

Spontaneous Settlement camp in Port au Prince

Spontaneous Settlement in Villambetta

The settlements are crowded and desperate; erected on every piece of available open land in the city  from parks to golf courses, out of any material at hand. Giant bladders indicate that the French Red Cross and UNHCR are supplying water, and  a cluster of people waiting in lines near a settlement indicates a distribution of tents or food vouchers.  The IRC and UNICEF are quickly building latrines with the help of campers where space is available, but they readily admit that the urban disaster constraints of this many people displaced in such tight confines is unique and challenging. Everyone fears the outbreak of disease if the latrines are not built quickly and used effectively, and everyone knows that each additional day spent in a camp means more resistance to a transfer to a safer, more physically intact location as communities develop and nearby jobs are secured. Everyone fears the onset of rain.

So what is going right?  The compassion and resilience of these remarkable Haitian people.  You can’t help but admire their strength. By far the most positive thing that we see is an openness, warmth, and a desire to connect. People want to talk with me, to tell their story, to hold my hand, to have a few words. There is much appreciation by locals for the help from people around the world.

Spontaneous Settlement in Villambetta

And children are playing in the camps; making kites out of plastic sheeting, toy trucks out of trash, playing soccer barefoot amidst the rocks and debris of an abandoned field.

In Piste Camp a man sells phone charging time, powered off of a generator.

Spontaneous Settlement in Villambetta, a girl takes a quiet moment to read. The schools are all closed, some physically collapsed in the quake killing hundreds of children.