Camp Visit, Port au Prince (c/o American Refugee C

Today a colleague workign with the ARC provided the oppurtnity to visit one of the camps they are currently involved with. ARC's current concern is cholera and on arrival it was noted that the cholera treatment area had just been increased to help treat cholera within the camp. The camp also provides a health service for occupants, this helps any sickness to be recognised early and especially with cholera helps to manage the success rate in treating patients effectively. The camp also has a number of tents and stuctures housing temporary schools, a nursery and womans welfare faciliies. There are two comittees within the camp, originally the men formed a comitee to address camp matters, to which the women formed ther own opposition.

From my understanding I think the men offered to fom a joint comitee with the women, but the women declined prefering to do things there own way. A aprt of there comitee they have access to computers and internet one evening a week.

The camp is situated on the land owned by one of the eight big famillies of Haiti. The site is the wasteland if the industiral warhouses adjacent. The photo shows where before the last big downpour a bridge once linked to sections of temporary shelters, this has now completly disappeared, it is hoped that a new bridge will be put back at some point. The occupants of the camp come primarily from the surrounding neighbourhoods, which are heavily built up where buildings where heavily effected by the quake. With the rubble remaining and there homes gone they have moved to the camp, but where they cannot stay as the land is not there's and at some point the owner will want it back. They are not permitted to build anything permanent, and so live in temporary shelters, with an uncertain future.

As we walk around the camp we learn more about the work that is being done there and it is startling to here and see the uncertainty of life in the camp. Prior to Hurrican Tomas, a large amount of occuoants lived beneath a large existing rubbage mound, which loomed behind them. A cash for work scheme, where occupants where able to complete work a round the camps for money, enabled coordinators to include the camp occupants in the development of new drainage systems. This enabled them to drain a prior flood prone site, allowing them to move the occupants adjacent to the rubbage heap prior to a land slide caused by the heavy rains.