Despite the huge efforts already made by charities working in Haiti, the organisations involved in the relief effort now face the new challenge of helping to recover communities, as well as providing ample measures to help the thousands of newly homeless people cope with the upcoming rainy season.

The situation is Haiti is gradually moving out of the emergency relief phase and towards establishing measures for long-term recovery.

Immediately after the earthquake, ActionAid distributed emergency food rations to 2,700 children. Since then, a rolling programme of food distribution has reached 14,400 of the most vulnerable.

Food kits are now distributed in cycles, with each family receiving enough food to last a family of six for 15 days.

SOS Children’s Villages are now approaching full capacity of 500 children living in their safe haven and SOS family houses.

Basic facilities including toilets, washing, cooking and sleeping accommodation is in place. Each family house which typically until a month ago had a mother and ten children in four bedrooms now has twenty children and several additional adults.

The additional children put into the houses are all the youngest ones. The situation is abnormal but quality of care is being assured – starting from proper clothing and shoes to a place to sleep, nutrition and health.

The focus now for SOS Children’s Villages is looking and planning toward some sort of education and “normal” structured activities for children.

Tents are placed on the village site to organise the care of children during the day with focus on learning and healing through play.

This movement towards rebuilding communities will be centred around the distribution points. Area leaders will be assigned to take responsibility for food distribution in each zone as well as supervise community leaders running food distribution points, which are set to become key areas for providing more advanced, sustainable forms of aid.

At the moment the “distribution points“ mainly function as basic aid spots (such as providing food for the children) but they are being developed to provide other services including day-time safe havens for children.

Another area that both ActionAid and SOS Children’s Villages are focussing their efforts on is helping families to cope with the psychological damage caused by the earthquake.

Dolyin Lymarie is part of a team of five SOS psychologists currently engaged in working with traumatised children in Haiti.

She works with a group of children from age 6 to 10 and has organised what she labels “emotional recuperation activities”.

In their interaction with the professional SOS psychologist the children sing together, play games and are asked to make a drawing of a teddy bear – all as part of an effort to provide them with a space to express themselves and learn about their own body parts, so that they have the language to explain where it might hurt. Also, it is important to give the children a sense of self-value and that they are part of the SOS community.

ActionAid meanwhile have been training volunteers from partner organisation COZPAM on how to provide psychosocial care and support to people.

These volunteers are now working in Mariani to reach 2,000 families alongside other volunteers who have been trained to help people get back to work and mobilize communities to form committees. It is hoped that these committees will play a crucial role in helping to decide how their communities should be rebuilt.

The most immediate concern that both charities have is providing shelter for families to protect them from the imminent rainy season

Daniel Gedeon, ActionAid’s Emergency Response Manager in Haiti, said: “The rains have started in Port-au-Prince and people will find it very difficult to cope without tents or tarpaulin sheets. It is extremely important that the people get plastic sheeting or tarpaulins to waterproof what little shelter they have, otherwise they will find it very hard to cope through the next few months.”

Both charities are working to ensure that the hope that they have provided through their efforts since the earthquake struck is not washed away by the rainy season.

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