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Listen the interview with David Dandres, head of Tdh programmes in Haiti (in French)
Two years after the disastrous earthquake in January 2010 and the terrible cholera epidemic that struck the island a few months later, Terre des hommes (Tdh) carries on with its commitment to help the most underprivileged Haitians. Present in Haiti for the past twenty years, the first Swiss organisation for child relief continues with its support for more than 15,000 vulnerable children, separated from their families, exposed to the risks of abuse and exploitation, suffering from malnutrition or with no access to clean drinking water.
Care and prevention
At the beginning of 2012, when many organisations are closing down their engagement here, Terre des hommes carries on working towards the country’s development by supporting the Haitian authorities and local associations. In the past two years, Tdh has been involved in the largest humanitarian operation in its history, bringing aid to the victims of the earthquake that destroyed part of the country and caused the death of nearly 250,000 people in January 2010, and also to the people hit by the cholera epidemic that struck the country a few months later, infecting some half a million persons.
Together with other Swiss and international organisations, and with the support of the Health authorities and the Haitian civil protection, Tdh worked to set up health centres for taking in patients with cholera. The organisation distributed soap, buckets and chlorine tablets to about 35,000 people so they could protect themselves better from the risks of infection.
Mobile Tdh teams travelled to remote villages to inform people about the ways the disease was transmitted, to chlorinate the water points and disinfect places contaminated when a case of cholera was identified, so as to minimise the risk for other members of the family. Specialised teams for water and sanitation renovated hand pumps and constructed latrines to slow down the spread of the bacteria.
Today, Tdh carries on informing and protecting communities against this disease, which now, according to experts, seems to have become endemic in this country. Tdh also continues its work in over forty institutions for children (nurseries, orphanages, boarding schools) to avoid new sources of disease appearing.
For over 20 years, this Swiss organisation has been watching over the health and protection of children and their families in this country, one of the poorest on earth. Since the 12th January 2010 earthquake, some 10,000 boys and girls have been checked up for their nutrition and amongst them, 2,600 given treatment. Advice, food supplements or hospitalisation were suited to the degree of the children’s malnutrition. Near the epicentre of the ’quake, a unit for diet stabilisation, built by Tdh, looks after dozens of children suffering from severe malnutrition with complications every month. In the Department of the South, a similar unit run by Tdh treats sick children, in addition to the six local health centres supported by the organisation. Teams from the Foundation, together with staff from the Ministry of Health, continue to keep the communities informed about the best practices to ensure good health: they tell the mothers of families how best to give their babies and children a balanced diet and show how to prevent diarrhoea and other childish ailments.
Protect and guarantee the children’s wellbeing
For the thousands of Haitian youngsters on their own, living on the streets, in institutions, abused, exploited, forced to work and deprived of schooling, living conditions in this country have always been especially tragic. But after the earthquake, their problems increased and even more youngsters were hit. Separated from their parents after the ’quake, there were thousands more in the makeshift camps or living as refugees with relatives, subject to violence, living in promiscuity, lacking hygiene, and with no access to health services and so forth.
Others live in private child institutions, where more than a third of them are still hoping to find their families again. In direct collaboration with the Haitian Ministry of Social Affairs, Tdh is doing this job and checks that, in the meantime, the children are treated well: “Many suffer from emotional deprivation and are at risk of various forms of abuse; others disappear onto the market for international adoptions or into the nets of traffickers”, deplores David Dandrès, in charge of Tdh’s programmes in Haiti. “We do our best to re-establish the links between these kids and the members of their families. Our teams have already made it possible for over 380 youngsters to get back with their relatives, and a further 80 should soon be able to be with their families again.” This was the case of Rose, whose story is told in this video and what she went through when her father, having lost everything and unable to look after her, was forced to put her into another family’s care (extract of the film Comment protéger les enfants?).
Tdh also strengthens the mechanisms for child protection, collective or communal, so as to support the Haitian state system, weakened by the earthquake and a chronic lack of means. In partnership with training centres, communities, sports or leisure clubs, Tdh brings technical and material aid to the staff and facilitators to ensure the best protection for the youngsters there, for example by alerting and taking appropriate measures in case of violence or maltreatment.
Tdh helps local associations to become organised and be active, with the aim of strengthening the civil society in Haiti. Each week, 1,800 kids take part in activities and psychosocial activities to boost their self-respect and their trust in others. At the same time, mothers are told about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding and about sickness prevention; young single mothers are given advice and support for looking after their children. Tdh directly supports the most vulnerable families by setting up income-generating activities so they can look into the future with greater hope. “By listening to people’s needs, Terre des hommes is far from abandoning the Haitians”, concludes David Dandrès.
More information about the work of Terre des hommes in Haïti
