Jennifer Lang, Program Manager, October 28th 2011
It was 8pm when Father Max, Hope for Haiti’s long-term partner and regional education contact, called. “Torbeck is flooding,” he said. “Please help. The water has started coming into the neighborhood’s houses.”
The next morning, before the rain had even stopped, Hope for Haiti staff responded to the emergency with 80 Survival Buckets for the community. The buckets were designed following the 2008 deadly hurricane season and can help keep a family of five alive for one week.
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| View from car window on way to respond | Flooding outside the Hope for Haiti office in Les Cayes |
Flooded roadway on the way to Torbeck |
Two days later, Sister Flora of the L’Oeuvre Saint Francaise orphanage on Ile a Vache called panicked. The government food program which supports the facility’s 73 orphans failed to arrive that month due to the heavy rains. Though Hope for Haiti does not support a formal food program, through the supply provided by Kids Against Hunger of Southwest Florida we sent 500 meals the next morning – capable of feeding the orphans even with no other resources for the next 11 days. The team also sent cholera educational cards supplied by our partner the International Organization for Migration as well as IV fluids. The Hope for Haiti water system had been serviced the previous week, and the Orphanage had previously benefitted from a gift of 3 chlorine buckets to help maintain sanitation. Sister Flora’s staff was able to use the supplies to feed and wash the handicapped children despite the heavy flooding that occurred on the island – 25 minutes by boat from any other healthcare options.
Back at the Hope for Haiti – Les Cayes office, it rained for four days straight. There was a dramatic resurgence in cholera, especially in rural areas where roads to healthcare were inaccessible due to flooding. Our team was personally touched by the cholera epidemic this past week. Long-time friend of the Education Program – handicapped 14-year old student Paulin Marius– brought his blind father to the nearest hospital by walking. Unable to pay the hospital bill, Hope for Haiti staff intervened on behalf of the family of 9 by transporting him to the Cholera Treatment Center within the city.
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| Hope for Haiti staff Jennifer explaining the use of the chlorine bucket to Paulin |
A handicapped child drinks clean water at Ile a Vache Orphanage |
The Center was harrowing; resources are stretched to the limit. There are more beds than patients, so sick persons and their caretakers squeeze together on school-benches. While Gerard remains in the Center recovering, Hope for Haiti provided Paulin’s household with a chlorine bucket to disinfect drinking water and clean bedding to thereby halt the spread of the disease.
Now that the rain has stopped, more calls have started. Hope for Haiti provided tarps to schools in the rural communities of Ravine Sable and Cotes de Fer to use as temporary walls. Young Paulin will be given water bottles to transport potable drinking water from the Hope for Haiti system installed at his school, College Saint Laurent, to his brothers and sisters at home. We continue to pray for his father and we thank you for your continued support of Hope for Haiti’s Emergency Relief Program to respond to crises.