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<font size=3><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.counterpunch.org/<br><br>
</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=2 color="#990000">January 28,
2010<br><br>
</font><h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4><b>On the Ground in
Port au Prince <br><br>
<br>
</i></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5 color="#990000">
Haitians are Helping Haitians
</b></font></h1><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=4>By BILL
QUIGLEY <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=6 color="#990000">H</font>
<font face="Verdana" size=2>undreds of thousands of people are living and
sleeping on the ground in Port au Prince. Many have no homes, their
homes destroyed by the earthquake. I am sleeping on the ground as
well - surrounded by nurses, doctors and humanitarian workers who sleep
on the ground every night. The buildings that are not on the ground
have big cracks in them and fallen sections so no one should be sleeping
inside.<br><br>
There are sheet cities everywhere. Not tent cities. Sheet
cities. Old people and babies and everyone else under sheets held
up by ropes hooked onto branches pounded into the ground.<br><br>
With the rainy season approaching, one of the emergency needs of Haitians
is to get tents. I have seen hundreds of little red topped Coleman
pup tents among the sheet shelters. There are tents in every space,
from soccer fields and parks to actually in the streets. There is a
field with dozens of majestic beige tents from Qatar marked Islamic
Relief. But real tents are outnumbered by sheet shelters by a ratio
of 100 to 1. <br><br>
Rescues continue but the real emergency remains food, water, healthcare
and shelter for millions.<br><br>
Though helicopters thunder through the skies, actual relief of food and
water and shelter remains mimimal to non-existent in most
neighborhoods. <br><br>
Haitians are helping Haitians. Young men have organized into teams
to guard communities of homeless families. Women care for their own
children as well as others now orphaned. Tens of thousands are
missing and presumed dead.<br><br>
The scenes of destruction boggle the mind. The scenes of homeless
families, overwhelmingly little children, crush the heart.<br><br>
But hope remains. Haitians say and pray that God must have a
plan. Maybe Haiti will be rebuilt in a way that allows all Haitians
to participate and have a chance at a dignified life with a home, a
school, and a job.<br><br>
One young Haitian man said, "One good sign is the solidarity of the
world. Muslim doctors, Jewish doctors, Christian doctors all come
to help us. We see children in Gaza collecting toys for Haitian
children. It looks very bad right now, but this is a big
opportunity for the world and Haiti to change and do good
together."<br><br>
<b>Bill Quigley</b> is Legal Director at the Center for Constitutional
Rights and a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. He is a
Katrina survivor and has been active in human rights in Haiti for years
with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. He can be reached
at:
<a href="mailto:duprestars@yahoo.com">duprestars@yahoo.com</a>.<br><br>
<br><br>
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