By Ann M. Augherton
Herald Managing Editor
(From the issue of 12/16/04)

Post-storm reconstruction is difficult under normal circumstances, but in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, it can be a delicate process of dealing with local violence, a lack of resources and coordinating with other aid agencies.

When Tropical Storm Jeanne hit the tiny island nation in mid-September, the inland flooding and mudslides that resulted caught people off guard. There was nowhere to run.

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) photographer David Snyder, stationed in South Africa, went to Haiti after the hurricane and brought his moving stories and photos to Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Arlington earlier this month.

"Poverty is the root of all evil, at least in the Third World," Snyder said, adding that Haitians live on an average of $2 a day and 80 percent of the population lives below the poverty level.

"People needed everything," he said. "Imagine if your home was washed away, you would need everything."

Even the hand tools were washed away, Snyder said, pointing to a photo where a Haitian man in Gonaives fashioned a rake from pieces of lumber to move the mud from inside his home to outside, where three- to five-feet of mud already stood.

"It will take years to clean up the mud," he said, adding that there is very little heavy equipment. One man was straightening nails with a hammer to re-use them.

Some of the greatest needs are for housing reconstruction. At one point, 600 Haitians gathered on the second floor of a school where they stood shoulder-to-shoulder, no one able to lay down. There they waited for three days while the waters rose above the first floor, as they heard and saw people being swept away in the floods. The smells of bodies and sewage forced many people to wear masks.

These people lost everything, but they all agreed, that 38 of them were even more destitute, including one woman who was dying of AIDS.

Because of the psychological trauma, Doctors without Borders held group counseling sessions, and children did art therapy, where they drew "horrific pictures." Snyder said most of the help is short-term until another emergency drags staff away, but the needs in Haiti are long-term.

"Unclean water is a serious risk," Snyder said, adding that a person needs 15 liters a day, a little less than four gallons, for bathing, drinking and cleaning. CRS distributed clean water from two temporary warehouses.

CRS staff in Haiti works with American staff and the local church. The U.N. acts as an umbrella organization, and CRS coordinated with other aid agencies constantly.

The CRS process begins with assessing families in the affected areas to see what they need. "It is extremely complicated and a delicate situation to hand out supplies," Snyder said.

There are many security problems in Gonaives. In one neighborhood, CRS staffers chose not to carry a big clipboard that would call attention to their work and instead wrote people’s names on their hands. The people were invited to a "special Mass." The distribution process begins at 4 a.m., when the trucks are loaded at the warehouse. The people come on foot or are brought by public transportation, given their supplies, and are home by 6:30 a.m. This prevents the people from being out on the streets with their goods during the day, making them targets for thieves.

Because the women are "more willing to go along with the plan," they are the ones who come to get the supplies, making it safer for the volunteers.

"Nothing attracts a crowd more than a crowd," he said, adding that Gonaives has many gangs, many weapons, many unemployed young men and much anger.

Snyder believes that success for a rebel group 10 to 15 years ago was to act up to get publicity, and then make their case before the U.N. "Now relief workers are shot and killed.

"You can’t help others if you can’t keep your staff safe," he said. Random attacks targeted vehicles, where the driver was shot and the supplies were stolen.

Once Red Cross vehicles were attacked, they pulled out and other agencies, like CRS, followed.

Snyder laughed at the cycle where protesters would throw rocks at relief workers, who would then pull out, and the protesters would say, "Wait, why are you leaving, come back."

Snyder returned to the capital of Port au Prince. He said even though relief work and food aid are political, relief workers "must be seen as neutral and transparent.

"War in some ways is much easier to work in," he said. "You know where the front line is and you know where the dangers are."

For more information on CRS efforts call 1-800-736-3467 or go to www.crs.org.