Disaster Response Haiti Project #4562

CHF - Helping Rebuild Haiti

by Global Communities

Project Report | Mar 9, 2010
Capacity Building Even in Emergencies

By Natalie Taggart | Communications

From David Humphries, CHF Communications Manager-- One of the key concepts that CHF works by is what we call ‘capacity building’. What this means is training the local people in a country so that by the time CHF leaves, they are able to continue the same level and quality of work – without us. Even in an emergency situation we practice this, and I had the good fortune this morning of visiting our heavy machinery technical specialist, Dale Lawson, training 12 Haitians in how to operate Caterpillar vehicles. One of the problems Haiti has faced before is a dearth of skilled labor so CHF has already undertaken a joint training program with Caterpillar to train Haitian operators (see [link to the public private partnerships piece]). But now, after the earthquake, demand for skilled operators has increased even more. I met Dale and his team on their first lesson. They were focusing on safety. The next stage will be basic maintenance – oiling, checking all the parts to make sure the vehicle is in good condition. Then they will start to get behind the controls. Our aim is for the trainees to reach international standards. Dale said: “In the west, they’d do all these basics at first in a parking lot. Here, they’ll be learning in a real environment.” Although my French is extremely rusty I was able to chat with the group of trainees, who were aged between 18 and 42. It was their first time working with CHF and despite most of them being very young, some had up to four children. After a while they asked for a basic English lesson. One of the most popular statements was “I want to go to Miami!” but at the end one of them grinned and told me: “We want to always work for CHF!” I hope they always work operating heavy machinery. Not for CHF, but for the private sector in Haiti, as it recovers from this earthquake and directs its own development for the future.

Links:

visit our website for more information on our response in Haiti

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Feb 26, 2010
Port au Prince: A Race Against Time

By Natalie Taggart | Communications

Six weeks after the earthquake struck, David Humphries, Communications Manager for CHF International, is in Haiti. He will be producing daily blogs of the situation on the ground.

Port au Prince has changed since I visited last November. The hotel where I stayed has been obliterated. The shop where I bought food and water is now a pile of concrete. Colleagues’ houses where I enjoyed dinner are now pancaked.

Driving from the chaotic and crowded airport, internally displaced person camps are immediately evident. Large numbers of white tents — from relief efforts — are visible, but something else was visible — dark clouds.

In November the sun shone every day, but today the clouds are a sign of something to come.

Within a few hours, as darkness fell, torrential rain struck, like nothing I have seen in Europe or the US. In just twenty minutes the tropical rain had swamped roads. Of course, this was the moment when our car developed a flat tire and we had to rush for shelter while we found another vehicle. But this small inconvenience was just the briefest taste of what people living in tents were experiencing and will experience. ‘Tent cities’, whether made up of donated tents or makeshift can be seen everywhere. They are on roads, football fields, any open ground. Many families are camping in tents outside thier houses or on the side of a road; where one would expect to see a car parked, that’s where a family is living.

The rain storm was over soon and most of the rain evaporated from the roads. But this was a harbinger of what is to come. The rainy season will come soon — it begins as early as March — and is followed by the contiguous tropical storm season which lasts until November. Flooding will cause sanitation hazards and disease.

CHF is embarking on a project to produce over 5000 transitional shelters for families; building or improving temporary homes to allow Haitians to live in safe, sanitary conditions for up to several years as the major reconstruction takes place.

Looking at the rain, we all know it’s a race against time.

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Feb 23, 2010
US Deputy Chief of Mission Visits CHF Projects in Petit Goave

By Natalie Taggart | Communications

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