Haiti Herald

Since so many of you are interested in continuing news on Haiti, I will try to post whatever news we see in the newspapers here or what is printed in the Haitian press. I will try to intersperse these posts with continuing news on the Dominican mission.

It was reported in the Dominican press that a barge of food in Barahona, DR was looted by Dominicans. The barge, loaded with donated food, was waiting to be loaded into trucks to be taken into Haiti. A large group of Dominicans ran off with the food and when someone asked them why they were doing this one man answered, "Everyone says there is so much poverty in Haiti, but there is a lot of poverty here, too."

The Haitian government is starting mass vaccinations, especially of children. There have been some cases of rubeola and they are worried about a mumps outbreak. Only 28% of the Haitians were vaccinated before the earthquake.

It has also been reported that there is a dire security problem, especially in the tent cities. Many families lost husbands and brothers who were the family "protectors". The problem now is a severe rise in the number of women and young girls being raped in these camps.

There are several reports of abuse of the donated humanitarian aid. One UN food distribution center was shut down when it was discovered that the people waiting in line were using counterfeit coupons. Each coupon gave the person the right to receive a 25 pound bag of rice which should feed a family for two weeks. It has also been reported that anyone caught trying to sell donated items will be sanctioned or jailed.

The UN has also warned that it will stop its shipments of free medicine to some of the Haitian hospitals that are now beginning to charge patients for care and for donated medicines. The UN sent in about $1millionUS worth of medical supplies, all donated from their warehouses. Also, it is not necessary for the hospitals to charge patients in order to pay the doctors since the medical personnel are also being paid with donated money.

Clean-up crews have been working around the city. The goals are sanitation, shelter and schooling. Poor sanitation is causing illnesses and also is harmful for people coming out of the hospital (especially to those moving in to the tent cities). Doctors now have to deal with untended or infected wounds. Shelter is also a concern as there are still not enough tents to go around. They also want to get people into more stable housing before it starts raining - hurricane season is coming! The Haitian government will also have to decide what to do about the schools, about 75% of the schools in Port au Prince were destroyed.