Hi there friends. Life continues on in Haiti - Port-au-Prince should be renamed Tent City as everywhere you go, wherever there is a small space of land it is now covered with tents. The ones who are in tents are the lucky ones, as we are worried that by the end of February the rainy season could come and this would be disastrous. Even with the tents the situation will still be difficult, as they will not cover them completely, from not only the rain, but also from the floods that accompany the heavy rains we have in Haiti. Normally the rains come in March, but last year they came earlier during Carnival time which was towards the end of Feb. so we pray that they won't come until March when Haiti might be a bit more ready for them. If you know any companies that could send tents down to Haiti then please beg for their assistance as there are thousands without cover.
The other aspect for the tents is the situation regarding schools. A leading economist Kesner Pharel, whom I listen to regularly on Sundays on the radio, and who is extremely practical and has so much common sense, was saying that because the Dept. of the West which is the Capital area has the biggest population, and including Jacmel and Leogane etc. 47% of the total of schools have been affected by the quake!! Most of these schools have suffered damage, if not collapsed completely. This of course means that in the beginning there were no proper building codes for the schools because anyone can build and run a school.. So most of the schools have not been built safely!! Now they have to check those that are still standing to see if they are safe to let kids back into them for this scholastic term. But the majority of the kids will have to have school in tents!! So once again the tent situation is critical.
He also said that sadly a whole generation of young people have been badly affected and this will now affect the Life Expectancy figures. Many thousands of young people and children died in the quake. Plus the Universities were affected by having lost many students - the future leaders/business people of this country. Many professors died as well, as the Universities were in session at the time of the quake.
He counselled the leaders of the country not to talk, but to listen and learn from the situation - to listen to the people and to rebuild the country along much better lines.
A school up in Fermathe, beyond the Baptist mission, over in the mountains, lost part of their roof and many kids died in the area because their parents had built poorly constructed houses - due to their poverty. We are trying to see how we can raise funds to help these people in this area which has not yet been receiving aid. There are many scenes of people criticizing the aid people and the government because they haven't yet received any help, but imagine the vast need of all these different little pockets of people around the capital and in Jacmel, Leogane and Petit Goave.
In Petit Goave there was a beautiful old house dating from the mid 1800's which was the previous house of Emperor Soulouque (King Faustin 1er) and in the 1980's and 90's it was turned into a wonderful hotel called the Relais de l'Empereur. It was renowned at that time for receiving the Jetset of the world who came in to enjoy Haiti's beautiful beaches etc. Sadly it collapsed in the quake killing the owner and many people who were holding a political meeting.
Keep Haiti in your hearts...
J....
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