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Haiti

The IRC's Roxanne Paisible and Pierre Clavens Jean Marie during an activity
One of the groups working on sexual violence issues develops talking points
The IRC's Anne-Carine Larèche (left) with representatives of Kay Famn Limye Lavi
Serge André-Louissaint of CHREDHU and Cleanne Louissaint of SOFA present
Natalie Parke shows Haiti advocacy workshop
A group presentation on gender based violence advocacy strategy.
The group gave the workshop high marks. One participant said, “We like the IRC approach because it reinforces local efforts and works in partnership with them.”

Advocacy in Haiti

Haiti
02.17.2011

In January, the IRC hosted an advocacy workshop in Port-au-Prince for our local partners and their Haitian staff members working on clean water, health, and women’s and children’s issues. The workshop was part of an IRC initiative that seeks to bolster Haiti’s civil society organizations.

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The most important prevention is to provide clean drinking water. The IRC provides water in several camps around Haiti.
It is also important to disinfect water once it is collected since many people are using buckets that are already contaminated. IRC teams stand by water collection points and squirt pre-mixed doses of chlorine into people's buckets. This is one of the most effective ways to prevent the disease and ensures that water is safe right up until people drink it.
At each camp where IRC works, the teams check the chlorine levels of drinking water in people's homes to make sure that they are drinking safe water.
Haiti receives a lot of rainfall and unfortunately this increases the spread of the disease. As you can see, many of the channels and water run-off canals are clogged with waste and litter.
IRC teams are also working on clearing these canals.
IRC sanitation teams also build latrines in each of the camps to make sure that human waste is deposited in closed collection areas that cannot infect water supplies.
At the IRC clinic, patients are screened for diarrhea and dehydration. Patients are also instructed in how to prevent diarrhea and how to treat dehydration.
In each camp, the IRC has constructed bright yellow kiosks. This is where residents can come to get oral rehydration solution for sick family members. They receive small rehydration packets filled with minerals and sugar to mix with water. For someone with dehydration, this simple liquid will replace their lost fluids and save their life.
In a cholera epidemic, there is often panic, superstitious rumors, and misconceptions about the illness. One of the most important things that IRC teams are doing is intensive health education in each of the camps. Crowds gather around the IRC educators and are taught clean water handling, mixing rehydration fluid, hand-washing, and the importance of using latrines.
Hand-washing is a critical way to prevent the spread of the disease. IRC teams give a detailed demonstration on how to aggressively clean your hands to make sure you don't catch or spread the disease.
These smiling children have escaped the cholera outbreak and if they keep IRC's health education messages in mind, they will be free from this disease until the epidemic is over.

Cholera after the quake

Haiti
01.12.2011

IRC cholera response teams are working in 30 camps throughout Port-au-Prince, Haiti teaching earthquake survivors about the deadly disease, how to treat it and how to prevent it. 

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Oservio Janvier walks up concrete steps to his in-laws' house to pick up Genald.
A smiling Genald is glad to back in his dad's arms
Genald looks around his relatives' home one last time as the adults do paperwork
Oservio and Genald walk toward the IRC car for the ride home
Oservio rests his hand on his son's head as they walk back to the IRC car
An overjoyed Genald and Oservio are back at home in Oservio's tent.

Family reunion in Haiti

Haiti
11.24.2010

After losing his wife and his home to January's devastating earthquake, Oservio Janvier lost touch with the relatives who found and cared for his son in the chaos that followed. Nine months later, an IRC family tracing team's detective work brought an overjoyed Oservio and his little boy, nine-year-old Genald, back together.

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A man constructs a coffin in a camp for earthquake survivors in Port-au-Prince
A dirty stream runs through the Cite Cabrit camp in Martissant, Haiti
An oral rehydration kiosk in Cite Cabrit camp in Martissant, Haiti
cholera response log sheets in Haiti
Children sing a song about washing hands with soap to prevent the spread cholera

Taking cholera very seriously

Haiti
11.17.2010

Earthquake survivors living in crowded camps in Port-au-Prince are taking a deadly outbreak of cholera — Haiti's first — very seriously. The IRC has trained community members to educate their neighbors about ways to avoid getting sick.

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Small girl and her baby sister after Hurricane Tomas hit Haiti
A canal dug before Hurricane Tomas hit helped protect this tent
Churchgoers after Hurricane Tomas
Laundry hangs out to dry in the sun after Hurricane Tomas
School books dry in the sun after Hurricane Tomas
This home had been flooded by rain -- now dried to mud -- after Hurricane Tomas
Children's shoes dry in the hot sun After Hurricane Tomas
Decorations were still up from a party celebrating last month's start of classes at this small school in the Etienne 2 camp, Tabarre. The bright blue sky made it hard to believe that, just over 24 hours earlier, Port-au-Prince had been bracing for a potentially devastating hurricane.

After Hurricane Tomas

Haiti
11.06.2010

Susana Ferreira was part of an IRC team assessing damage a day after Hurricane Tomas battered parts of Haiti still struggling to recover from January's earthquake. She took these photos in three of the camps the team visited in Port-au-Prince.

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Children fly kites made of plastic bags in a camp for quake survivors in Haiti
Children fly kits in strong winds that as Tropical Storm Tomas approached
A woman in Haiti prepares her tarp home for Tropical Storm Tomas
A woman in Haiti prepares her tarp home for Tropical Storm Tomas
Venel Nelson, a primary school teacher and camp resident, holds his prized dicti
Camp residents in Villambetta prepare for Tomas

Tomas Threatens Haiti

Caribbean, Haiti
11.04.2010

Earthquake survivors living in tent settlements in Haiti brace for Tropical Storm Tomas as IRC teams go door-to-door helping families prepare. IRC communications officer Susana Ferreira shared these photos.

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This weekend in Delmas 60 (one of two camps in Port-au-Prince the IRC provides with water), our environmental health team met the delivery truck to verify water quality. (Photo: Susana Ferreira/The IRC)
First they filled up two yellow bladders for the approximately 350 families in the camp and the surrounding community. (Photo: Susana Ferreira/The IRC)
Then they took a sample from the water point and tested the levels. The water was chlorinated and safe to drink. The truck driver had added chlorine solution to the water in his tank, and with the motion of driving over Port-au-Prince's rocky, rubble-filled streets, it mixed well throughout. (Photo: Susana Ferreira/The IRC)
Delmas 32, a camp where the IRC is the only international aid agency operating. Delmas 32 has no camp management, and more importantly, no water. There is a reservoir, but water trucks cannot pass through the camp's roads, so it sits empty. When the 1,500 residents here want water, they must go to a nearby kiosk and pay -- for non-potable water. With no water, no ready latrines and an ever-growing pile of garbage, this camp has a serious sanitation problem. (Photo: Susana Ferreira/The IRC)
To address the sanitation problems in Delmas 32, the IRC's environmental health team is building latrines. The IRC has also trained Community Hygiene Promoters who are chlorinating people's water until a more sustainable fix is implemented. (Photo: Susana Ferreira/The IRC)

Safe Water

Caribbean, Haiti
11.03.2010

The IRC is working to prevent the spread of cholera by making sure Haitian quake survivors living in crowded tent settlements have safe drinking water and  latrines.  

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The IRC’s Stephane Barsalou shows members of the environmental health staff how to chlorinate water with a syringe. The IRC is testing and chlorinating water in 30 camps in Port-au-Prince. (Photo: Susana Ferreira/The IRC)
The IRC’s Fritzner Pierre-Louis checks the chlorine levels at a water source in a Martissant camp. It will need to be chlorinated to be safe to drink. (Photo: Susana Ferreira/The IRC)
For every liter of water, between 0.5 and 1 mg of chlorine is needed for it to be safe to drink. The darker the shade of pink on the testing kit, the more chlorine is present in the water. (Photo: Susana Ferreira/The IRC)
IRC’s environmental health team teach a group of Community Hygiene Promoters how to treat water for households in the Teleco camp. (Photo: Susana Ferreira/The IRC)
First they make a chlorine solution. (Photo: Susana Ferreira/The IRC)
Then they treat each bucket of water with a syringe of the solution. (Photo: Susana Ferreira/The IRC)
Two boys from Teleco camp watch as a group of Community Hygiene Promoters learn how to chlorinate drinking water. An outside group trucks in water for the camp several times a day, and residents have complained that it is not clean to drink. (Photo: Susana Ferreira/The IRC)
Heavy afternoon rain turns parts of downtown Port-au-Prince into a river. (Photo: Susana Ferreira/The IRC)
Frequent flooding of streets and camps during storm season is a source of worry, as the water mixes with waste, potentially spreading bacteria and disease. (Photo: Susana Ferreira/The IRC)

Preventing Cholera

Caribbean, Haiti
10.29.2010

The IRC is responding to a cholera outbreak that threatens the capital Port-au-Prince. Our prevention activities are in full gear in 30 settlements where we work assisting some 100,000 earthquake survivors.

Photos by Susana Ferreira/The IRC

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The IRC assessed 13 sites in the Tabarre commune, near Port-au-Prince. In some camps, one in ten homes were completely destroyed, and in other camps nearly half the homes experienced severe damage. Over 100 families were identified as needing urgent help with shelter in the Villambetta camp. (Photo: Susana Ferreira/The IRC)
IRC staff assess damage after a major storm and distribute tarps to those most affected in Villambetta, a camp of displaced people in Tabarre, near Port-au-Prince on Saturday, September 25. (Photo: Susana Ferreira/The IRC)
IRC staff distribute buckets and hygiene kits at Le Refuge, a camp of displaced people in Tabarre, near Port-au-Prince, after a major storm tore through camps for Haitian earthquake survivors on Friday. (Photo: Susana Ferreira/The IRC)

Storm Rattles Haiti Quake Survivors

Caribbean, Haiti
09.27.2010

The IRC responded after a major storm in the Port-au-Prince region of Haiti on September 24 saw high winds and heavy rains wreak havoc on tents and temporary shelters. 

Photos: Susana Ferreira/The IRC

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