Hope in the Ruins - Page 7

We do workshops for a group from Action Aid, an international humanitarian organization, and for a local NGO called Cozpam ("My Cause") that partners with Action Aid. The next day, we do a workshop at an IDP camp in Mariani called Foyer Monfort. The nun who runs Foyer Monfort tells us after the session, "Life stopped for many people after the earthquake, and today you helped us regain hope." The experience of making an immediate difference brings with it a sense of profound connection and gratitude on both sides.

On our last day, we have a meeting at the feminist IDP camp affiliated with SOFA (a solidarity organization for women). Three leaders of the Haitian feminist movement were killed in the earthquake. We're told that the incidence of rape (already high in Haiti) is rising sharply, since women have no ­privacy when they shower and aren't safe at food-distribution points. The Women's Feminist Platform is coordinating the work of a range of women's groups to increase security and gain more equality for women and their families. When we thank one of the coalition leaders for meeting with us, she says, "Don't thank me, just come back soon."

In each place we work, we describe the training programs we'll be initiating when we return in July. Without exception, every group is interested in participating, and one psychology professor from the UniversitŽ d'ƒtat d'Haiti says he wants all 35 of his students to attend the three days of training. Clearly the demand exceeds our initial plan to train 60 Haitians in TRM-C. We're now planning additional trainings, if we can find funding.

We leave for the airport in a downpour that began during the night. People are hurrying along, drenched, muddy, and miserable looking. I hand my poncho out the window to a young woman, and she gives me a smile so big it's as if the sun has come out. I don't want to imagine what will happen to the crowded, flimsy sheet camps when the rainy season begins in earnest. How much can these people take? Why is there no evidence of more substantial housing being constructed? Where is all the aid money going? There's a limit to how long people can get by on faith and their natural resiliency.

Having seen so few signs during our time in Haiti that the outpouring of worldwide humanitarian aid is reaching the people who need it, we can only hope that it soon will. There's a Haitian proverb: Tout bet jennen mode—Animals in poor shape will bite.

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