By Elmano Endara Joseph*
Submitted to AlterPresse on July 15, 2024
Today, in 2024, crime and poverty are rife in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti.
Due to terror and other violence by armed gangs, Port-au-Prince, one of Haiti’s coastal cities, has been home to numerous camps for displaced people for several months.
Thousands of people live there in precarious conditions, struggling daily for survival in nightmarish conditions, in a landscape where, once, natural beauty and a pleasant environment prevailed.
Inaccessible, clean water remains a major challenge in more than 85 IDP sites in Port-au-Prince. This basic human rights need has become an unattainable luxury for many.
“We live in very small spaces. When it rains, we have to use acrobatics, especially in the evening, to be able to sleep with the children, because the rainwater comes in torrents,” says Evelyne, a single mother of 6 children, orphaned by their father, killed by armed gangs during the bloody attacks at Carrefour Feuilles.
Empty taps, empty bellies
It is 10:00 am (14:00 gmt).
There is no more water, which flows in the taps. The tanks are dry.
Only 10 meters separate the two sites for displaced people, on Christophe Avenue and Roy Street, not far from the National Institute of Administration, Management and Advanced International Studies (Inaghei) of the State University of Haiti (Ueh).
The health situation there is critical. There is a glaring shortage of drinking water.
For over a year, these places have lacked basic infrastructure, making access to drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities extremely difficult for residents.
“We have no water, no food. We have nothing. The country needs to change so that we can resume our regular activities,” Tania hopes.
A widowed mother of four, Tania is struggling to survive. Her children have been scattered, with the increase in violence by armed gangs, since February 2024, in the metropolitan area of the capital, Port-au-Prince. The father of her children was shot dead by gunfire from armed gangs.
“I have 4 children, but the armed violence in Port-au-Prince separated them from my arms. I don’t know where they are right now,” Tania whispers, out of breath, in a silence that eats away at the memories of her previous life with her children.
In mid-July 2024, several hundred displaced people have been without access to drinking water for more than 60 days in several camps in Port-au-Prince.
The daily lives of these forgotten people are marked by the harsh reality of a constant quest for water and the means to meet their most basic needs.
How long will a glass of clean water stop being a nightmare for displaced people in the metropolitan area of the capital, Port-au-Prince?
How long will the authorities listen to the cries of these displaced people, to respond to this humanitarian crisis by guaranteeing everyone dignified access to their basic needs?
Dissatisfaction of the most basic essential needs
“I am living in an extremely serious situation. I don’t know what to do. I can’t take it anymore,” Junia says, trying to contain her bitter words.
Residents, including dozens of children under the age of one, are forced to live in a state of miserable hygienic resignation. This situation risks worsening precariousness and causing oral diseases and other infections, according to specialists.
At least 1,000 children die every day worldwide because of unsafe water, according to the United Nations (UN).
This alarming statistic underscores the critical importance of access to clean water for children’s survival and health, a reality that is even more pressing in the displaced persons camps in Port-au-Prince.
Since 2023, more than 600,000 people have been forced to move from their homes, with terror and other violence from armed gangs in the metropolitan area of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
* Graduating student in social communication at the Faculty of Human Sciences (Fasch) of the State University of Haiti (Ueh)