Watching the news every hour. Watching Tomas the Hurricane downgraded to a tropical storm and then back to a hurricane again. The label almost doesn’t seem to matter. Soon we will know the classification…regardless, how do you prepare a tent for such winds and rains? How do hundreds of thousands prepare their tents for such winds and rain? When you are living on rubble, where can you go?
It is hard to believe that less than two weeks ago cholera hit Haiti. Primarily up country in Saint Marc in the Arbonite Region. At that time, I spoke with our Country Representative Madsen Gachette about the communities that Canadian Feed The Children is working with near the affected area – communities where we support farmers and run health clinics and support the building of latrines and cisterns. These areas include Goyavier in the mountains east of Saint Marc, Cameau in the valley south on the way to Port au Prince. The good news is that these communities seem not to have been affected by the cholera outbreak, and hopefully will not be. And we will continue our efforts to keep providing the essentials in nutrition, health, education and livelihoods to support the children and families living in those communities.
However, with Tomas no one can know what the impact will be. I do know that Canadian Feed The Children will be there to provide ongoing support to the communities we have been working in, and that we will continue to be committed to supporting their development beyond the emergency relief phase. We applaud the efforts of agencies such as UNICEF, Oxfam, World Vision, Plan International, Save The Children, Medicins Sans Frontiers and so many others large and small as they work on the front lines to stem the tide of cholera and address the impact of Tomas on Haiti.
Ten months after the earthquake there is still so much to be done. A link with photos of Haiti 10 months later was sent to me. They are eye opening. Even more so when you think of what will be added by the impact of Tomas.
Debra Kerby has an interesting perspective on the world. As Executive Director of Canadian Feed The Children, she moves between her Toronto office to Haiti or Africa or Bolivia to keep a keen eye on how the agency is helping children thrive.
