Despite looting and logistical hurdles, World Vision relief workers are hard at work in Haiti, distributing emergency kits and helping the World Food Program supply food to thousands of people devastated by Hurricane Jeanne.
Heavy rains from Jeanne - at the time, classified as a Tropical Storm - pounded Haiti's northern region and sent deadly mudslides through towns and villages on Sept. 18-19. The government puts the death toll at around 1,600 - most occurring in the hardest hit city of Gonaives.
World Vision has been concentrating on delivering more than 2,200 emergency family kits, which include water containers and purification tablets, along with mattresses, cooking utensils, soap, towels, toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs and other personal items.
On Oct. 1, the Christian relief and development organization airlifted $900,000 in medicines and medical supplies from Miami. Donated by MAP International, the supplies include antibiotics, syringes, bandages, painkillers and disinfectants. World Vision has contracted with another aid group, Clean Water for Haiti, to provide 300 bio-sand water filters, each capable of cleaning one liter of water per minute for flood-stricken neighborhoods.
"The situation in Gonaives is still very desperate," says Kate Scannell-Michel, communications officer for World Vision in Haiti. "There are around 300,000 people in that city who are homeless. They are still in need of food and water, and there are serious health concerns, mainly because of the stagnant water that's lying around the city."
According to Scannell-Michel, water supplies are contaminated with mud, debris from the streets and bits of people's homes. It's also been carrying dead bodies the last two weeks. "For many people," she explains, "that water is the water they have been drinking, and the water they cook their rice in - if they have any. It is the water they've been washing their clothes in and their bodies in."
Such conditions can lead to diarrhea, dysentery, malaria and typhoid. Last week Scannel-Michel met a family whose children are suffering from skin infections caused by the dirty water.
"Please pray for the people who have suffered from the flooding," Scannell-Michel adds. "Pray that they will be comforted in their loss and their grief, and for the relief supplies to get to the people as quickly as possible in spite of the logistics and the security concerns. It's a very difficult job right now to get things to the people who need them. We ask people to pray that God will make a way for that to happen."
Among other challenges, aid trucks have had to battle a three-foot-deep lake to enter the city. In addition, World Vision's efforts have been marred by looting, which, unfortunately, is one of the reasons aid agencies haven't been able to respond as quickly as they would like. "Obviously, we don't want any of our staff or the people helping to be in any danger," explains Scannell-Michel. The United Nations has sent peacekeeping troops to provide security for aid efforts.
Scannell-Michel has lived in Haiti for the past year and a half. But her employer has been working in the country for the last 25 years -- in two areas: long-term development and emergency relief. Some of the key areas are supported through child sponsorship. "People can support community work by sponsoring a child," says Scannell-Michel, "and help that child go to school, help the community get clean water, grow crops, and have access to health care."
Haiti's World Vision office also participates in an emergency food aid program that is funded by the U.S Agency for International Development. It is designed to help vulnerable people such as malnourished children, pregnant or breastfeeding women, and the elderly obtain extra food.
"This is a disaster that is in the eyes of the media," Scannell-Michel points out. "It has been for the last week or two. But the work needed in Haiti is long term. We need people to stick with us for the next 10, 20, 30 years - and that's the only way we'll see a difference here. Yes, this is a big disaster, but there is underlying poverty that we need to respond to."
Donations can be made online at www.worldvision.org; by mail at Tropical Storm Jeanne relief, P.O. Box 70288, Tacoma, WA 98481-0288; or by phone toll-free at 888-511-6422.
