When the now-infamous 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti on January 12, local organisation Is There Not A Cause (ITNAC) immediately sprang into action. Now, after two trips to Haiti, bringing medical and search and rescue relief, food, clothes, water and other supplies, ITNAC director Avonelle Hector-Joseph is hopeful that Haitians are capable of surviving this disaster. “What struck me the most was the determination of the Haitians to move on with some sense of normalcy,” she told WomanWise, adding that thousands of people have constructed ‘tents’ out of little more than tree branches and sheets to get shelter from the elements. But the fact is that a lot of the international aid sent to Haiti is sitting in locked warehouses because of bureaucracy, Hector-Joseph said.

“The process of getting aid to people needs to be simplified. There are a lot of NGOs who were on the ground in Haiti before the earthquakes, like ITNAC. So if some of these international bodies could give the aid to us and hold us accountable for distributing it, then a lot of their administrative headaches could be solved and people who need the aid will get it.” Anton Harris, an ITNAC member, teacher and photographer, also made ITNAC’s second trip to Haiti after the quake. He reported hearing a much more chilling reason for the unused aid than just bureaucratic red tape. An unnamed person told the ITNAC group that the government was deliberately holding back aid as a way of controlling the people. Harris quoted Hector-Joseph as saying that T&T PM Patrick Manning should ask for an account of how this country’s $5 million donation is being used to help the Haitian people.

“Everyone we met said that we are the first group who has come to them and offered aid, food water, clothing. And we went to five different places. I think there must be some way to measure or account for what is being spent,” Harris added. The ITNAC team not only visited Haiti’s ground zero near Port au Prince, but ventured out of the capital into surrounding towns and communities like Jacmel and La Gare (Saint Marc) to get aid to those who may not have been directly in the line of the earthquake’s destruction, but who still need food, potable water, clothes, medical supplies. Haitian women and mothers need sanitary napkins, diapers, wipes; adult underwear is also in demand. “Little children come up to the truck and say ‘Manjé, manjé” (eat, eat) which means they want food. These kids are not begging because they feel to beg. Obviously by what we’re carrying, what we wear, they know we are not from there. So they come and beg because they’re hungry.”

The ITNAC team did not experience any of the violent ‘looting’ that international media reports have been carrying out of Haiti, Hector-Joseph said. People are just hungry, thirsty, tired and desperate for help. “We stopped to fix a flat tire in La Gare on Carnival Tuesday, and hundreds of people crowded around. The team was a little afraid because we didn’t know what the mood of the crowd was like,” she said. “But we got them to line up, did an impromptu soup distribution and medical stop. We treated them like human beings, told them who we were and that we couldn’t help all of them today. We even got a little emotional with them. They eventually drifted off peacefully. We made a commitment to send money to the person in charge of aid over there, and that money went off last Friday.”

Another trip, ITNAC’s 29th to Haiti is being planned for the end of March. Devastated Haitians still need food, water, medical supplies, as well as building materials and expertise, said Hector-Joseph.
“Maybe it’s a good thing that this earthquake happened,” Harris said. “For years we’ve been saying Haiti needs help. Now the world finally understands the depravation and the poverty.”

Cash, food, clothes, medical supplies —
Doulos Concept Jardines Plaza, 96 Charlotte Street, POS (From February 1, 2010 Doulos/ITNAC moves to Elohim,
87 Charlotte Street, Port-of-Spain),
Fangle Dangle (Opp Fine Art) Rosalino Street, Woodbrook,
Global Revival Ministries at Bye Pass Road and Eastern Main Road, Arima.

To partner with ITNAC in helping Haiti
Call: 624-4162 or 350 9297
Email:  itnac.missions@gmail.com, itnac.missions@gmail.com
Facebook:
ITNAC TRINIDAD or ITNAC YOUTHS
Causes on Facebook - money can be donated on causes through ITNAC’s US partner Legacy Makers.
Direct deposit: First Citizen’s Bank acc # 1660410, Republic Bank acc# 510009446802
Drop off cash, food supplies, water and building supplies at Allison’s Variety, High Street and Royalty Plaza, San Fernando.

By Desiree McEachrane