'The uplifting hope, sheer will and blind

tenacity of the Haitian people has utterly

and completely confounded me'

17/02/10

“Trundling along a steep, cracked and rutted track, the sky changes from light grey to pale yellow pronouncing the arrival of a new day in the displaced camps of Port au Prince, Haiti.

Entering through a fallen wall into a chaotic collage of blankets and broken poles that provide the inhabitants with some dignity as well as shelter from the sun’s powerful rays, I survey the site before me. The camp I’m in is Bobin in Petionville, a suburb of the capital. The population is estimated to be 15,000 – but no-one knows for certain.

I step over human excrement, strewn rubbish and sleeping people as I move through the flimsy shelters to determine how best to organise food coupon distributions. I am part of the GOAL team responsible for getting the coupons to the most destitute people affected by the catastrophic earthquake that devastated Haiti, leaving an estimated 230,000 dead and millions homeless.

My primary tasks involve carrying out surveys of displaced camps, assessing people’s needs and ultimately delivering aid to Haiti’s poorest. I coordinate a dedicated team that gathers information on the number of families in the camps, the demographic breakdown of the displaced population and the numbers of vulnerable members in the communities (particularly the elderly, pregnant women and unaccompanied children).

All this assists in determining the best response to meet the people’s basic needs. Once this information is compiled, I then project manage the distribution of the coupons for GOAL.

I have experienced so many things since my arrival in Haiti a few weeks ago. These range from the expressions of desperation on a young mother’s face as she worries how to provide food for her children, mixed with the angry tension of those who feel that their government has failed them. It certainly creates a challenging atmosphere to work in.

I’ve lived, worked and thrived in difficult places, but Haiti is different. Yes, they’ve had their political, social and economic problems, but widespread violence hasn’t affected this country as much as it has in other parts of the world.

What is very obvious though is the cruel hand that nature has dealt the Haitian people. Year after year, deadly hurricanes batter the country and cause untold suffering and hardship to an already deprived and desperately poor nation.

On 12th January, 2010, at exactly 4:53pm local time (9.53pm in Ireland); nature demonstrated her immense power in seven merciless seconds. In an act which was even more devastating than any of us could have imagined, the earthquake killed thousands of people and flattened an entire city.

This natural disaster will leave a permanent scar of the minds of young and old alike for decades to come. The physical impact is evident and immediate. The emotional, psychological and social impact is harder to quantify and may take a long time to raise its ugly head.

The work here is difficult, challenging and long, with 100-hour working weeks the norm for myself and the rest of the GOAL team. Working as part of a diverse team of professionals, including doctors, engineers and project managers, as well as drawing on local resources for on-the-ground knowledge, this is a fascinating and fast-paced environment to be in. Developing a common objective is vital in ensuring the job gets done and the people who most need our help receive it.

Witnessing the plight of the survivors in the camps pulls at every emotional sinew in even the hardest of individuals. It’s impossible not to feel compunction, empathy and solidarity with the people of Haiti in this, their darkest hour.

Despite this, the importance of remaining objective and positive is vital. Seeing people returning with food to the displaced camps after changing their coupons for food with smiles of relief is truly rewarding and it highlights one thing for me.

Haiti has been battered, bashed and dragged through the garden brambles. There’s a very long road ahead and the obstacles are immense and daunting on every level. But the uplifting hope, sheer will and blind tenacity of the people here has utterly and completely confounded me.

Seeing this shows me the future for Haiti is bright; that we can learn much from its people, and that no-one should ever give up hoping, dreaming and working towards a bigger, brighter and better future. A future that places social goals ahead of shareholders’ dividends; where people stop to chat to strangers on the street and where we all support one another in times of need, irrespective of colour, creed or country.

The Haitians have been knocked down yet again, but their unquenchable energy, boundless positivity and sheer determination will ensure that they gather themselves and rise out of the country’s rubble to rebuild their lives."

- Stephen Kelly