27 January 2010
Christian Aid’s Sarah Wilson has been in Port-au-Prince since 16 January. She reports from a food distribution by our local partner organisation Garr.
It is now more than two weeks since the earthquake, and vital supplies of food, water and medicines are getting to some of the people that need them.
Garr began distributing weekly food rations to 105 families on Saturday 23 January, and reached another 95 families on Tuesday. They chose 11 different locations in Port-au-Prince where they already had contact with local committees, so that they knew the food would be distributed fairly.
The ration included 25 kilos of rice, a gallon of oil, six dried fish and five pounds of beans, which is designed for an average family of six.
Until this food was distributed in the Delmas 33 area of Port-au-Prince and in Saloe, most people had been sharing what little they had with neighbours.
Both distribution days ran calmly and smoothly. A key reason for this was that local community leaders were fully involved with the process.
In one area in Delmas 33 they identified 141 families sleeping under canvas in a former metalwork yard because everyone was afraid to sleep indoors, even those whose houses had not been destroyed because of the fear of more aftershocks.
Garr worked with a local committee to identify the 25 families most in need of rations. Jean Elysee Augustave, 40, was one of those.
He will share his food with his eight-year-old son, his mother and two sisters who formerly shared his one room house. He is a stonemason and hopes to work in reconstruction as soon as it begins.
Augustave will also share with his neighbours who didn’t receive a ration as they helped him over the previous two weeks.
Jean Derilia, 34, also received one of the Garr rations today in her district of Saloe.
Her brother Ralph suffered a broken leg when rubble fell on top of him and had to be driven to the Dominican Republic by a friend for treatment. She spoke to him last week and he is hoping to come back soon.
Patrick Camille of Garr said that they could easily provide food for ten times as many families and hope to scale up their operation now that their first two distributions have gone off well.
Christian Aid has already sent Garr £31,000 to fund initial distributions, and is working with them to scale up funding and activities.
