Rural Haitians Say Aid Is Still Lacking

PETIT GOAVE, Haiti (Feb. 8) -- Every morning as workers clear the rubble in the town of Petit Goave, a quiet fishing town 40 miles from Port-au-Prince, residents gather in front of the only wall left standing of Our Lady of Assumption, a 300-year-old Catholic church destroyed by the Jan. 12 earthquake.

"Wherever we go, we have to tell people how great he is! God is great!" dozens of townspeople sang in French Creole as the priest, Boniface Sena, led them in song and prayer against the dramatic backdrop of the crumbling church facade.

In Petit Goave, officials estimate 1,000 people died in the quake and its aftershocks, and about half the buildings have been destroyed, including the schools, radio station and churches. Two American doctors who worked at an ophthalmological and dental clinic were among those killed in the quake.

Sena, a native of this fishing town with its abundant sugar cane fields and lime trees, said he hoped the international community, including emigrants of Petit Goave, would step up to help.

"We need solidarity, fundraising from everybody from all over the world -- especially the Haitian diaspora, anyone especially who was born in Petit Goave," he said.

But despite such pleas, residents say they are not getting basic needs like water, food and tents, and they complain they have not received enough assistance from international aid groups. They say most of the international aid is going to the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, and not filtering through to other towns.

Mayor Yves Lindor, whose office and house were both destroyed in the quake, said 26 international organizations such as Oxfam and Medecins du Monde have visited the town in the past several weeks, but he feels they do little.

"They come, they evaluate and then leave," he said.

Lindor estimated more than 170,000 people live in Petit Goave and its 12 surrounding villages. He estimated that an additional 20,000 people, mostly refugees from Port-au-Prince, have migrated to the town since the quake, further adding to its woes.

"Petit Goave isn't prepared for all these people," he said.

Ludger Hyacinthe, who now lives in Tarzana, Calif., but came back to help his native town, said he lost his voice Friday breaking up fights between thousands of people over 40 tents delivered by U.N. workers.

"It's killing me. I don't see a dollar going to them, and my people are dying," he said.

Hyacinthe then turned to a crowd of people and said in French Creole:

"Did those [aid workers] do something for you?"

The crowd angrily shouted back:

"NO!"

Stephanie Bunker, a New York-based spokeswoman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA), said that more than 600 relief organizations are in Haiti.

She said the World Health Organization also has set up 12 "health clusters" in metropolitan Port-au-Prince and another 40 at sites elsewhere in Haiti. "Mobile kitchens are in the process of being set up in Petit Goave and elsewhere," she said, but she had no specific information about how many and when they are expected to be in operation.

"700,000 to 800,000 people throughout Haiti are receiving water," either in bottles or large tanks, Bunker said.
In Petit Goave, OCHA has received reports that the water network is working.

But she said any estimate of how much money is going toward Port-au-Prince as opposed to other areas of Haiti affected by the quake would be very difficult "if not impossible to figure out, especially at this stage."

But not one U.N. worker was spotted during a walk through of the town, and the residents said they haven't seen many.

The U.S. military has been patrolling the town, and members of the Spanish Navy arrived Friday aboard the warship Castilla. The ship will be stationed in Petit Goave for three months.

"We are ready to clean the rubble and make the water ready to drink," said Aurelio Soto, an officer for the Spanish Navy standing amidst the prayer meeting. Soto said the group has brought 28 nurses but could not comment specifically as to whether sufficient aid was coming to the town.

In the meantime, people in this tight-knit community have organized themselves to deal with the crisis. Every morning, a group of women is charged with sweeping the streets. At night, dozens gather at the home of one person with an electrical generator to charge their cell phones, chat and play dominoes. They sit under the only lightbulb in the neighborhood -- powered by the generator -- to pass the night away.

"Watch the candle!" resident Maggy Fontin said, cautioning her guests to not step on the lit candles set up across her yard where her children, mother, sisters and nieces sleep on mattresses at night.

Right before bidding good night she said, "We pray to Jesus for light."

The only light many Haitians find themselves looking at these nights comes from the sea of stars overhead. Most do not sleep inside their homes for fear that the weakened structures might fall on them.

Charles Dady, 18, said he doesn't know if he'll ever be able to sleep indoors again.

The Petit Goave native lost his mother, father, sister and brother in the quake.

"I came home from school; I wasn't able to see them because they were under the rubble" he said.

His damaged school remains closed. With nowhere to go but a tent, he spends most of the days playing basketball at a court nearby the camp where he stays.

"I come here," he said, '"because it makes me forget about my pain."