The next rain will bring the next disaster

Most people here in Haiti have been literally living in trash ever since the earthquake. Thousands live cramped in improvised tents, the stench downtown is unbearable and there are hardly any toilets to be found anywhere. Up to ten people sleep under small tarpaulins, the heaps of trash are scavenging grounds for food. Living conditions are unhygienic beyond imagination. It rained again last night, even though the rainy season isn't supposed to begin until April, but it seems as though we might expect it to start raining very heavily indeed as early as mid-March.

The earthquake only lasted a few seconds, but the consequences are overwhelming. Now, there is a new threat, not as visible, but just as dangerous. The rickety tents will offer no real protection against the torrential downpours; epidemics of all sorts will be unavoidable in the countless tent cities. This is why our chief engineer and architect Francisco spends his days and nights pouring over the plans for temporary houses. None are here yet, but as soon as they arrive, Francisco and his team will put them up on already prepared foundations. In other words, the plans are here - all we need now are the actual houses.

Francisco is incredibly busy anyway. In theory, there is a school building annexed to the village, but it can't be used at the moment due to the fact that it is currently being used both as a warehouse for emergency supplies for the children and as an office for the emergency relief team. Francisco and his team are currently constructing a large warehouse to store the goods. Once it is completed, we will move our office to a group of tents, so that we can continue lessons for at least some of the children.