Haiti: A new roof

Masseleine Dorwilus sits in front of her house and soaks up the last sunbeams of the day. Her youngest son, Dave Raphal, sits in her lap. He was born just after the earthquake and spent the first months of his life on the street between rubble and dust.

“Before the earthquake, we lived in a blockhouse with two rooms. We even had a tin roof,” the 34 year-old mother explains. But like millions of other Haitians, Masseleine’s life was cruelly interrupted that January afternoon. “It was a terrible day. Our house collapsed, muggers took our belongings. But no one died.”

Masseleine has four more children, aged 4 to 12. She used to sell vegetables, but now she struggles to buy food or pay school fees. “In the mornings, they see the other kids leaving for class. It makes them cry. I try to keep them distracted, but it’s hard.”

Another daily struggle is water. Masseleine has to walk for an hour to get to the nearest water point, and she can hardly carry enough for the whole family, even if the older children help out. So she goes three times a day. Ever since the first cases of cholera were reported in Carrefour, it is even more important to maintain a minimum level of hygiene.

Even faced with so many daily hardships, the transitional shelter still lifts a major burden off Masseleine’s shoulders. “It only took two days to construct it and I am very happy.”

The shelter’s surface measures 18 square meters and Masseleine and her husband have added some features. They set up a covered front porch with the help of plastic tarps and put up a lace curtain to make it more inviting. Inside, everything is neatly organized. With seven people in one room, everyone needs a lot of discipline.

Setting up transitional shelters is no easy task. Land has to be cleared, material procured, and land ownership defined. It’s also difficult for families to move back to neighborhoods where everything has been destroyed, including water wells and latrines. After the first round of shelters had been built, CARE will look into ways to set up latrines and water facilities.