On our last day we visited a Refugees Camp in Montrois run. The camp is run by a young man with a muscular frame and a scraggly goatee, named Diesmy. The camp has fluctuated in size since the Earthquake. Right now there are about a hundred people being sheltered, mostly families with young children and all of whom had their homes in Port-au-Prince destroyed by the Earthquake.
Another Bed-Stuy Volunteer Ambulance Corps Team visited the camp a month ago. They found that all of the children had conjunctivitis, some so bad they couldn't open their eyes. One of the volunteers happened to have a bottle of pure honey. They made eye wash with honey and water and in just a few days even the worst eye infections had cleared up.
Until yesterday, everybody was staying together in a large church, sleeping on the concrete floor.
The camp has since moved to a new location. There are ten large white tents donated by a church group from Canada, and ten thatch huts that the group helped construct. There is also a hut with a tin roof for cooking along and a well -- communal toilets are under construction. A nurse visits the camp regularly, and she's collected enough supplies for a small first aid area.
It's a big improvement but there are many perilous challenges ahead. There are still no cots or beds to sleep on and the rainy season is starting soon. And while the USAID is supplying rice daily, preventing starvation, the lack of adequate nutrition will lead to serious health problems down the road. Moreover, Diesmy would like the children to be able to go to school, but they have no money for uniforms or school supplies.
"There is no continuity," Diesmy said. "People come down and they do a small thing and then they leave."
We donated the first aid supplies that we had not used at the clinics in the past week and spent some time with the camp's nurse. She was taking care of a boy who had stepped on a nail. The wound wasn't very bad, but the nurse had no way to get a tetanus shot for him. She cleaned the wound thoroughly and emphasized to the boy the importance of keeping it clean.
I don't know how many refugee camps there are -- if there are hundreds, or maybe thousands -- but I do know that there are a lot of Haitians like Diesmy who are working hard to keep the country afloat. After a week, I feel that what we did was just a drop in the bucket. But I see a lot of other groups and people out there, together, making a lot of drops. BSVAC is committed to supporting Haiti for the long haul.
I'm an optimistic person, and so while I may be wrong, I hope I'm not. I think Haiti will recover from this disaster, and when it rebuilds it will be an even stronger, healthier and more beautiful country than it already is.