Kate Akhtar is in Haiti to help with proposal writing as CARE tries to raise around $100 million for a five year response strategy.
This is my fourth day in Haiti already. I haven’t really spent much time out of the office as my job is proposal writing and information management but I hope to get out and see at least one of the shelter distributions coming up in the next week or so.
Friday was the one month anniversary of the earthquake and declared a national day of mourning. CARE staff worked as usual but began the day with a short memorial service in the office compound.
The earthquake has affected so many lives here and many of the staff remain staying in the office compound either in tents or in the office buildings. CARE is providing food and lodging for these national staff as well as occasional daily labour in the form of office cleaning or laundry for the visiting expatriates.
Saturday marked the end of the mass food distributions which CARE, as a partner of the World Food Program has been carrying out in the Delmas area of town reaching around 119,000 individuals. Staff working on the distributions have worked non stop over the last two weeks starting at 3am and often not finishing until 7 or 8pm in the evening.
We had a small celebration to mark the end of the first round of distributions and to thank the staff for their hard work and dedication during this time.
Some of us in the office took a drive out at lunch time to the La Boule mountain to survey the city from the top. From there it’s clear to see the damage to the hills surrounding the city as landslides have cleared whole hillsides whilst the earth shook for just 30 seconds but changed the whole landscape here.
As it’s a Sunday many people were attending mass prayers, even where churches remain standing, they prayed outside. Many people are still afraid to enter concrete buildings.
