Their homes destroyed, Haitian World Vision staff work to aid surviviors
PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI—Only two of the 400 people World Vision employs in Haiti still have homes that are standing. "They've all been demolished," said World Vision president Dave Toycen in a live conference call from Haitian capital Port-au-Prince yesterday.
"It's a new reality when your national office as an organization is at the epicentre of an earthquake. One [staff] said to me 'I've spent my life as a helper, helping victims. Now I'm a victim myself.'"
Miraculously, no World Vision employees lost their lives. They are working feverishly amid the rubble to distribute water, medical supplies, blankets, water purification tablets and cooking sets to people struggling to survive in the region devastated January 12 in a massive earthquake.
Toycen, who flew to Haiti 24 hours after the initial shock, says graphic media reports flooding the airwaves are not exaggerating the desperate reality on the ground.
"When you look at the multi-storey buildings that have collapsed, including schools, you begin to understand the numbers of people who were killed in this earthquake," he said. "Until there's full excavation we'll never know how many people were killed."
On Thursday, World Vision is organizing its first major food distribution, giving people enough food to survive for 30 days.
Children at risk
World Vision take particular interest in the safety of children. Next week Toycen said they hope to begin setting up safe areas where children can play and sleep in security. Specialists will be on hand to help children deal with the psycho-social trauma.
Children have been reportedly walking back to their home villages alone.
"There is a history here of abuse of children, so we're really concerned that there be protection in place for them," Toycen said.
Working together
Every church Toycen has seen that is still standing is doing something to help others, he said, many turning sanctuaries into medical clinics.
Aid agencies have divided up the regions, with a priority agency assigned to each area. Other faith-based agencies on the ground include Health Partners International, Samaritan's Purse, Compassion Canada and The Salvation Army.
Christian Blind Mission (cbm) is working with two partner hospitals in Port-au-Prince, paying particular attention to the needs of the most vulnerable: children, pregnant mothers and people with disabilities.
Toycen says he won't be satisfied if relief and recovery efforts just bring Haiti back to the place it was before the earthquake. "Most of the people I've interviewed at our camps and distribution centres have been unemployed for years," he pointed out.
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Haitians in Montreal wait and pray
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