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Haiti’s Orphanages
To survive after quake, the desperate target Haiti’s orphanages
By Stephanie Chen, CNN Author
Food, water and other supplies for children have made orphanages like Maison de Lumiere targets for looters.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- 20 men attacked Maison de Lumiere, an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, aid workers say
- A U.S. advocacy organization is tracking attacks on Haiti’s orphanages
- Getting food, medical supplies and security top challenges faced by orphanages
- “If people think you have food then they will come after it,” one official says
(CNN) — Haiti’s orphanages have become targets for people desperate for food, water and medical supplies in the aftermath of the devastating magnitude 7.0 earthquake.
On Wednesday night, Maison de Lumiere, an orphanage caring for 50 orphans, came under attack from a group of 20 armed men, aid workers told the Joint Council on International Children’s Services.
A neighboring orphanage sheltering about 135 children has been robbed several times over the past few days, they said.
Meanwhile, aid workers said a third orphanage caring for 17 orphans reported that townspeople are trespassing and tapping into the water supply that is reserved for the children.
“It was calm at first, but the situation is getting more desperate,” said David Beck, pastor at Child Hope International, the nonprofit that oversees Maison de Lumiere. No shots were fired in the attack on the orphanage, and security guards were able to drive off the marauders, he said. But one orphanage worker was hit in the head with a rock, he said.
“If people think you have food, then they will come after it,” Beck said. The orphanage is rationing what food and water it does have, he said.
Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere, and experienced high rates of poverty and disease even before the quake. The quake has made the situation far more desperate.
Looting is becoming a big concern for the orphanages as fear and frustration mount and help is slow to arrive, said Tom DiFilipo of the Joint Council on International Children’s Services, a U.S.-based advocacy group for children in need of families.
To protect the children, some orphanages are on lock-down, according to volunteers working with the relief agencies.
“When bringing in supplies to an orphanage, you can only bring in a day or two day’s worth,” said DiFilipo. “If you bring more than that, the locals come in.”
This week’s raids are included on a growing list of difficulties facing orphanages that is being compiled by the Joint Council on International Children’s Services. DiFilipo said he expects the challenges of food, medical aid and security to continue affecting the orphanages for weeks.
For every Haitian orphan brought to safety in the United States and elsewhere, thousands more are left behind to face the primitive conditions resulting from last week’s earthquake. There is no accurate count of how many orphanages have experienced looting and other attacks.
Since the quake, the Joint Council on International Children’s Services has received dozens of phone calls, text messages and e-mails from orphanages reporting problems ranging from food shortages to security threats.
The agency is in touch with about 50 orphanages in Haiti and the reports are updated daily. The group is also working with members of Congress, the Red Cross and other aid agencies to relay the messages.
Before the quake, Haiti had 380,000 orphans, according to UNICEF. It is still too early to determine how many children were orphaned by the quake.
The people of Haiti have grown desperate for food, water and assistance since the quake decimated the capital last week, toppling buildings, cutting power, contaminating water supplies and ravaging roads.
The conditions for children in Haiti are bleak, aid officials said. Orphans are sleeping outside or in makeshift tents. Facilities are running low on food, water and medical supplies. Some orphanages have already reported deaths.
Ruuska Village, an orphanage in the Bon Repos section of Port-au-Prince, was looted several times during the first few days after the quake, said volunteer Cherie Shropshire.
Security was inadequate after 80 percent of the building was damaged, she said. The locks were broken and people stole food, clothes and supplies, but the orphanage was able to keep its generator protected, Shropshire said.
“Another aftershock that woke us so roughly on Wednesday morning and a wall tumbling down on our heads, children starving, the orphanage being looted as the frustration continues to grow regarding the delay in distributing supplies, children dying from sickness. …,” wrote an American adoption service provider in Haiti in a blog run by the Joint Council on International Children’s Services.
Reporting crimes to police is nearly impossible for officials at the damaged orphanages. Many Haitian police officers were injured or killed in the earthquake. Help from private security officers also is hindered by unreliable communication and poor transportation.
Security needs to be made a higher priority, said Daniel Kaniewski, deputy director of George Washington University’s Homeland Security Policy Institute. On Tuesday, the United Nations Security Council approved a proposal to send an additional 2,000 soldiers and 1,500 police officers to Haiti.
“Providing security resources is as equally important as providing all of the other kinds of aid in the country,” Kaniewski said. “Without security, you won’t be able to effectively distribute to the most needed areas in Haiti.”
At Maison de Lumiere, where looters raided on Wednesday night, Beck sees both sides of the story.
“On one hand, the people around the orphanage have been incredibly gracious and mutually supportive since the earthquake,” he said.
“On the other hand, last night’s attack reminds us that there are a few aggressive people whose growing desperation can drive them to attempt to take others’ food and water by force.”
Haiti
As most of you are well aware, the devastation in Haiti is enormous and the people really need our help. Help needs to be sustained over a long period of time so please consider donating small amounts over months or even years if you are fiscally able. We at OrphanAct have set-up an emergency fund, to combat the atrocities that are happening to these kids, as stated in the CNN information posted above.
A coworker of mine went to Haiti the Sunday before the earthquake hit to help missionaries in Northern Haiti. Although he was not in Port-Au-Prince when the earthquake hit, he was affected by the devastation. He was supposed to fly out this past Monday, and with a little help from a medical supply air company, they were able to fly out Wednesday on a DC-3.
Getting a plane out of Haiti is not the amazing part, getting to the airport was. The group he was with was 70 miles from the airfield in which they were to fly out. The missionary and guide living in Haiti for the past 25 years thought it may be to dangerous to travel on the main roads, so they took a Toyota Land Cruiser, loaded with 14 people and set out for the jungle. Through calf high mud and steep terrain they managed to make it those 70 miles, and it only took them 9 hours and 1 punctured tire. At one point they had to get out and walk about 2 miles because the terrain was so steep for the Land Cruiser to make with the weight of 14 people.
Please help in any way that you can; donate, volunteer, pass the word. Just get out and help.
Haiti
http://mollyinhaiti.blogspot.com/
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010802289_webmolly15m.html
I came across this article in the Seattle Times and wanted to share with everyone. Please forward to your friends.
The family of 22-year-old Molly Hightower, of Port Orchard, was told early today that searchers found the young woman’s body in the wreckage of the Haiti orphanage where she worked as a volunteer.
Causes has set up a special donation area for the Haiti victims, please keep in mind that the initial donations are great, but they will still need help in 6 months, a year, or even two years from now.
