[Haiti-London-Konbit] Fwd: Social Structures Form in Haiti's Tent Cities

[Haiti-London-Konbit]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Charles Arthur <tttnhm at aol.com>
> Date: 8 March 2010 18:35:13 PST (CA)
> To: undisclosed-recipients:;
> Subject: Social Structures Form in Haiti's Tent Cities
>
> MARCH 8, 2010 - Wall Street Journal
> Social Structures Form in Haiti's Tent Cities
>
> As Homeless Settle in for the Long Haul, Committees Lobby for Aid  
> and Keep Order; 'There Is No Government but Us'.
>
> By MIRIAM JORDAN
>
> PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti— Hairdresser Yasmine Beaupin has found a new  
> calling in the wake of the earthquake that ravaged this city:  
> running the affairs of a teeming tent city.
>
> The quake left nearly 1.3 million Haitians homeless, more than  
> 750,000 of them in metropolitan Port-au-Prince, and paralyzed the  
> government, reducing ministries to rubble. Nearly two months after  
> the Jan. 12 tragedy, relief still hasn't reached many needy people.
>
> Inside the many tent cities now home to hundreds of thousands of  
> people, a rudimentary social order is beginning to emerge as  
> committees agitate to secure food, water and supplies in high demand  
> from international aid organizations.
>
> "We knew we wouldn't receive any assistance unless we formed a  
> committee," says Mrs. Beaupin, 38 years old, president of the  
> Impasse Osseille encampment, home to more than 2,000 people.
>
> She presides over an executive committee of six members, who oversee  
> three smaller committees that represent each of the sprawling camp's  
> divisions. They handle everything from getting people to sweep  
> outside their tents in the muddied terrain to ensuring that the sick  
> and injured get treatment.
>
> "There is no government but us," says Mrs. Beaupin, seated on a  
> rusty metal bench outside a large brown tent that her family of four  
> shares with 15 other people.
>
> The executive committee coordinated a census of the entire community— 
> 2,136 people in all—and produced a list with each family's last name  
> and the number of members, which they have delivered to aid groups.
>
> Aid groups often prefer to deal with the committee leaders in tent  
> cities because they believe that supplies might be distributed more  
> equitably and efficiently.
>
> When representatives of a charity called Our Little Brothers and  
> Sisters International showed up, Mrs. Beaupin handed them the roster  
> of families and a printed list of requests for the camp, including  
> food, bed sheets, kitchen supplies and cleaning agents.
>
> "She told me 'I'm president. I have this many families here. Here's  
> what we need,' " recalls Dortje Treiber, director of country support  
> for the international group. It plans to start a food program for  
> the children in the tent city.
>
> "There are natural leaders out there," adds Ms. Treiber, who has  
> encountered such committees in all nine tent cities she has visited  
> in Haiti.
>
> Many Haitians are reluctant to return to houses that weren't  
> completely destroyed but whose walls are lined with cracks and  
> holes. For some, the temporary settlements may become home for the  
> long term, and many encampments have started to issue identification  
> cards to their inhabitants as well.
>
> Some camps are struggling because they have no leadership. There is  
> little oversight of the committees. Some tent-city dwellers have  
> accused their leaders of stealing food and other donations,  
> international aid organizations say.
>
> In at least one tent city, there have been reports that a committee  
> hoarded food coupons instead of distributing them to residents.
>
> Ms. Beaupin says her committee is acting appropriately. "I know my  
> responsibility," she declares. "I'm president."
>
> When a vehicle from World Vision stopped by on Friday, Mrs. Beaupin  
> rushed over and demanded tents that the organization had hoped to  
> get her for families still living between sheets propped up on sticks.
>
> "We don't have any tents available now," World Vision official  
> Claudy Saint-Jacques told her. But he promised to deliver shovels,  
> rakes and pails so members of the low-lying encampment can dig  
> ditches for water drainage ahead of the rainy season.
>
> The U.N.'s World Food Program is delivering food to 40 communal  
> kitchens in Jacmel, a quake-hit town in southern Haiti. Each group  
> has organized itself to identify who will receive the food, prepare  
> it and distribute it.
>
> "The communities are managing themselves," said a WFP spokeswoman.
>
> Among the more vital tasks of tent-city leadership is keeping the  
> peace in the crowded, informal settlements.
>
> The committee at a camp adjacent to the capital's airport enlisted  
> 40 inhabitants to work shifts as security guards. They sport T- 
> shirts with "Securité" stamped on the back.
>
> At a recent committee meeting, 11 members voted to stop a local  
> entrepreneur from setting up a booth to sell Internet access there.
>
> "He was trying to build for his own interest," said committee  
> spokesman Jean Jacques. Families still waiting for tents will need  
> the land, Mr. Jacques explained, and "who needs an Internet here,  
> anyway?"
>
> When the would-be entrepreneur reported the committee's president to  
> the police for blocking his venture, the tent city's committee  
> called on a young lawyer living in the tent city to help solve the  
> problem.
>
> Ultimately, the police told the entrepreneur to leave the area,  
> according to Mr. Jacques and Jude Cadet, the lawyer.
>
>
> _______________________________________________________
>
> Sent by the Haiti Support Group - A British solidarity organisation  
> supporting the Haitian people's struggle for participatory  
> democracy, human rights and equitable development - www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org

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