Oxfam blog: public health problems must be addressed

In a few days I will officially be a year older than I am now. Time is passing. The bulldozers in the centre of Port-au-Prince which was badly hit, are working hard to clear the piles of collapsed buildings and start preparing for a new beginning.

I still have no idea what happens to the bodies that are being excavated along with the rubble. They will not be in good shape by now. As we return home we see a foot sticking out of the debris being scooped up by our house.

The warnings on the radio of further quakes have been adding to the hysteria of listeners. We talk to people in a new camp that we will work in. They are not considering returning home for a long time yet. They are afraid.

Rainy season is rapidly approaching. We ask what support they would need to return to their homes. They need building materials like sand and cement and cash to pay carpenters and masons to help with reconstruction.

Read previous Oxfam blogs from Haiti

A building specialist has been flown in for a few days. He is trying to decide how we can best demolish our damaged office without it falling on the part of our workplace that is still standing. Thankfully all the staff homes still standing that he inspected were proclaimed safe to return to.

We are continuing with our water distribution and latrine digging. I am responsible for evaluating new sites. Most of the large camps now have organisations covering the water and sanitation needs but there are still tens of thousands of affected people staying in their communities or smaller camps who are yet to be reached.

The needs are so great it is still impossible to reach everyone immediately but every day we reach more people.

I have noticed a huge increase in flies over the last week. They pose a public health risk that we need to work on. I end the day returning to a camp I visited yesterday. There is barely room to pass between the makeshift wood and sheet shelters.

One corner of the camp has children playing on it rather than these haphazard constructions hanging on it. It is the rubbish heap. Covered in flies and smelling bad.

We have ordered a skip and I have taken shiny new wheelbarrows, shovels and protective clothing so that 10 men and 10 women can work for three days to clear the waste. We will then be able to construct latrines in the space that they clean up.

Popping into one of the women’s bathing spaces that we have created, Karine my colleague is greeted by over 30 women washing themselves. They just keep saying “merci, merci”, “thank you, thank you”.

The security situation remains tense. A colleague was robbed at her house this morning so she is staying with us tonight. A woman was held at gunpoint in her car outside our office earlier this week, she had her handbag stolen.

Driving back from an assessment today I pass a guy lying on the side of the road with his T-shirt pulled over his head, I imagine he was killed for stealing.

I find it intriguing that the traffic lights are still working but the electricity system has been severely damaged. We rely on the generator at home but most nights by 10pm the power runs out.

It looks like it has been snowing on our street but the bushes are covered in beige dust not snow.

The combination of sweat from being out in the field and the powder held in the air, by the end of the day I resemble a scarecrow more than a humanitarian worker. Am still dreaming of a nice warm shower!

As I leave the field to come home a young girl in a green glittery dress and her beaming friend tell us in perfect English, “I love you very much!”.

It is good to know that the most important English words are being spread across the world.