Dress the part – guest blog by Cecilia Bijos

You normally read about Haiti and you automatically feel sorry for its people; natural disasters, poverty, racial discord and political instability have plagued the small country throughout its history. After the riot that took place in 2000, the country received aid from different countries and, when UN established MINUSTAH (UN Stability Mission in Haiti), Port au Prince was full with foreign citizens. MINUSTAH and the Haitian Government worked together to restore the flow of food and medical supplies, public services, foster economic growth and poverty reduction while facing numerous challenges, including the endemic criminality and gang violence.

On January 2010, a 5 seconds quake changed the lives of the population. When you stop to think about it, 5 seconds it’s nothing. How can you react to a 5 seconds/7.3 magnitude quake? You can’t. More than 200 thousand people died and half a million were left homeless. What was bad became worse; no water, no food, no medical supplies, no sewage system, no electricity… How can you live like that? They did and they still do… With the only thing they have… Faith.

I was invited to accompany a delegation of 14 people as an interpreter to a 10 day mission in Port au Prince. My main duty was to establish communication between the team and the population, but mostly translate for the doctors during consultations. We treated more than 700 patients with the most various symptoms and distributed medications accordingly. However that’s not even enough. The lack of sewage system leads to numerous diseases and infections and, although we talked about hygiene, they do not quite understand the need to use the actual toilette… a hole in the ground it’s more than enough. 99% of the women that we treated had vaginal infection and among them there was a young mom who had a baby girl of 11 months that had vaginal infection. It made me wonder what future holds for that girl… she’s 11 months old and already has a disease. That and other cases made us want to stay longer, help more and make a difference. After the medical appointment, we gave each patient a change of clothes and a hygiene kit.

During my time there, we worked in two different neighborhoods: Delmas and Corrail Camp. Delmas is located in the center of Port au Prince while Corrail Camp is located in periphery, far from the city centre. It took us 20min to drive 1km in the same neighborhood. Why? Because the streets look the same as they did 3 years ago, after the earthquake, if not worse. The government did not bother to repave the streets. But Petionville, the rich part of the city, has perfect roads, electricity and sewage system, clean streets and it’s the base of all embassies, resorts, hotels and the home of Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières volunteers. Corrail Camp doesn’t even have asphalt. The construction the NGO did last year stands alone in the dark among the house tends of the local population. During the construction, instead of taking workers from Brazil to do it, the project supervisor contracted local workers and taught them how to build a proper wall. If they did it wrong or crooked the wall, he would let them finish and, in the end of the day, he would tell them to break it and do it again and again until they got it right. They will often say: “This is fine for us. We don’t have to do it perfectly” and the answer they got was “you have to learn how to do it properly! Just because you have nothing, it doesn’t mean that you have to accept the ‘more or less’ job when you are about to get something”. After 45 days, the building was ready and flawless, and Valdeir taught at least a dozen Haitians how to build a proper building.

Although we stayed for a brief time, I think we touched some lives and made some friends, not because we offered free medical appointments, medicine and clothes but because we sat on the floor with them, shook their hands and took time to talk to them, get it personal. All the white people in Port au Price are foreigners and are there to help but that doesn’t mean they know this people. More than 50% of donations given by countries after the quake never reached the ones that needed. Corruption is everywhere and, the lack of affective human contact, make the Haitians hate some of the foreigners there. Instead of just dropping stuff there, we take time to talk and choose the clothes of preference to each one of them and give the exact medication to their problem. The reputation of the Brazilian military is more than excellent and that grant us a free pass to walk at the market or street without being harassed (they automatically think that if we are white, we have money).

The Haitians are bigger fans of Brazil than we Brazilians, so if you go to Haiti, wear a Brazil national soccer team shirt. It does the trick.

 *Cecilia joined the Embassy in 2011 as Visits and Translation Officer. She is currently doing MBA in Project Management and Creative Projects, has a background in International Relations and a master in International Law. She worked previously in Itamaraty and Ministry of Finance. She pretty much likes everything but is passionate about Foreign Policy, Trafficking in Persons, Defense and Crime. Her main hobbies are running, traveling, rallying and reading.