Jacmel Conditions Remain Dire

I spoke Monday night with a very tired Bonite Affriany, although she would never admit it. The situation in Jacmel, Haiti, the focus of Ridgefield Responds' efforts, is dire. They are very hungry. Today, Bonite cooked and fed more than 225 children very small portions at the center she runs there, and they are out of food. Any where she travels, people are very hungry. Her daughter, Myrlande, is not able to set up the aid sites as she had envisioned, because the situation is not allowing them to be as smooth in their operation as they had hoped. 

Bonite, who returned to Haiti on Thursday, traveled Monday into the center of town, and she said it was awful. Dead bodies still caught under rubble. The feeling of loss and desperation is tangible. Many are sleeping in the streets. Every where she goes, many look to her in great anticipation, hoping she has food or some form of help, including medical.  

We need to send them food ASAP. Tomorrow I will call Unitransfer to see if they are delivering into Jacmel. Bonite seems to think so. If they are, we will then need to buy a list of food that she asked to see if we could send to them. A hundred-pound bag of rice is what she normally goes through in a day to feed the 225 children. She had less than that today and more than 225 that came to eat. We need to get the word out about Ridgefield Responds and our mission and the funds need to start flowing so that we can help them.  

Bonite's second request is for a large tent. It rained today—not a lot, but the rain is coming. The tent will allow her to feed the children who are too traumatized from the earthquake to go inside to eat and also to use the tent to act as a school. From what I've heard from various sources most, if not all, of the schools in Jacmel are destroyed. 

An online travel column, the Chicago International Travel Examiner, said that initial United Nations estimates for damage in Jacmel were that 3,000 people were killed in the quake and that it also destroyed 1,785 homes, 87 businesses, 54 schools, 26 churches and 24 hotels. Another 4,410 homes were partially destroyed, leaving 5,730 families homeless, the article said.

We now know that these numbers are much higher. And we also know that many have traveled from Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, inflating the number of homeless. There may be as many as 80,000 homeless people in Jacmel! 

Bonite wants these children back in school. The tent will also help to keep the children warm and safe once the rain starts coming. Her friend Gerard has researched tents for her at one point and will get back to us with a few that we can look at. So our mission begins! The phone connection was not clear, so communications between Ridgefield and Haiti will not be fluid. One of the doctors traveling back into the states this coming Thursday is from New York, so he'll have pictures for Gerard who will then forward them to us. Myrlande was in another area when I spoke to Bonite. I don't think she has slept yet.