Haiti Earthquake: Field Diary by Tamar Hahn

Please find below a field diary from Tamar Hahn, UNICEF spokesperson in Haiti. Images are available of the children mentioned in Tamar's report (images credited to UNICEF)

LONDON, January 21 - One week has gone by since an earthquake turned what was already a
desperately poor part of the world into a full-fledged humanitarian emergency
and the race against time to bring relief to the people of Haiti continues.

Supplies continue to arrive daily by land and by air and distribution of
clean water, food, hygiene kits and other life-saving provisions has greatly
improved. Still, every day continues to bring new challenges. Hundreds if not
thousands are leaving Port au Prince, their belongings tied up in bundles or
squeezed into suitcases which they carry on their heads as they make their
way to the countryside.

But thousands still crowd together in spontaneous camps in squares,
schools, even a golf course. These camps have become microcosms of survival.
A man has brought a generator which he uses to charge hundreds of cell
phones, women cook whatever food they manage to forage over open fires, some
camps have even set up a committee to coordinate their needs. Despite the
looting and violence that is taking place in some areas, what I have mostly
witnessed is enormous resilience on the part of people here.

Today UNICEF and its partners dispatched 140 water trucks which delivered
water to over 140,000 people despite fuel shortages. Supplies were also
delivered to an orphanage where 50 children are living and 50 more are
expected to arrive shortly.

Looking for orphaned and separated children

Today we went out to try an ascertain the situation of separated and
unaccompanied minors who will be taken into the interim centres being set up
by UNICEF to house, feed and care for 900 children who have found themselves
alone in the midst of this emergency. It is a time consuming task as just
getting around town takes hours but a clearer picture of the situation is
emerging and UNICEF is taking action to provide a solution.

The first place we went to now that the interim centres are up and
running was the tent hospital, where we first met Sean and Baby Girl. I came
here again with our regional Child Protection adviser, Nadine Perault, to
take these two children as well as nine-year-old Sandie and six-year-old
Medoshe to the centre.

But doctors advised us that Sean and Medoshe were not ready to leave,
their wounds still not healed enough and at risk of infection. Sean and
Sandie have become fast friends and a woman whose 15-year-old son was lying
by Baby Girl has become her surrogate mother. She feeds her, rocks her and
tickles her and Baby Girl is smiling for the first time since she came in. We
felt that it would be cruel to separate Sean and Sandie and that it was best
to take all of the children together.

For the next couple of days, until they are all ready to leave the
hospital, the children will all be together at the far end of the tent, right
by the resting space for the doctors and nurses. The reason for keeping them
here is that it enables the medical personnel here to keep a close eye on
them as several people have attempted to take the children out of the
country.

Illegal adoption was an issue of concern before the earthquake. Amidst
the chaos that followed it has become a concern for Haitian authorities who
fear children may be taken out of the country without proper legal procedures
being followed

While adoption can be a viable option for many children who have lost
their parents, only seven days after the earthquake it is still reasonable to
think that many people are still out there looking for their children or the
children of their relatives. To prevent the illegal departure of many
children UNICEF is deploying two specialized staff to control documentation
at the airport.

Nine-year-old Marie Yolene Milord arrived at the hospital yesterday with
a broken arm and she is a good example of why we need to ensure that we do
what is best for children who are without parental care in Haiti. Marie is a
restavek, one of the almost 200,000 children who were given away by
impoverished parents to relatives or to unknown families hoping that they
will be able to provide them with a better life. The reality is that these
children are forced to work as domestic servants, kept out of school and
subjected to violence and abuse.

Marie Yolene was out fetching water when the earthquake struck. When a
falling slab of concrete broke her arm, the family she was staying with
brought her to the hospital and left her here on her own. Now all she wants
is for us to take her back to the village of Les Cayes in the south of the
country where she was born. "My mother is dead, but I think my father is
still alive," she says. "If you take me there I could recognize my house. I
just want to go home."

UNICEF receives no funds from the DEC nor from the UN budget. It relies
on voluntary contributions which can be made at www.unicef.org.uk or
on phone 0800-316-5353.

About UNICEF

UNICEF is the world's leading organisation working for children and their
rights in more than 190 countries. As champion of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF works to help every child
realise their full potential. Together with our partners, UNICEF delivers
health care, nutrition, education and protection to children in urgent need,
while working with governments to ensure they deliver on their promise to
protect and promote the rights of every child. UNICEF relies entirely on
voluntary donations from individuals, governments, institutions and
corporations, and is not funded by the UN budget. For more information,
please visit www.unicef.org.uk.

Note to Editors:

Pictures accompanying this release are available through the PA
Photowire. It can be downloaded from www.pa-mediapoint.press.net or
viewed at www.mediapoint.press.net or www.prnewswire.co.uk

For more information, please contact: Terry Ally, Senior Media Officer,
International Programmes and Emergencies, UNICEF UK, Tel: +44-(0)20-7375-6014
, 24-hour Press Line: +44(0)20-7336-8922

For more information, please contact: Terry Ally, Senior Media Officer, International Programmes and Emergencies, UNICEF UK, Tel: +44-(0)20-7375-6014, 24-hour Press Line: +44(0)20-7336-8922