• Built 10,600 transitional shelters

• Provided 10 million meals to more than 1 million people

• Organized medical teams that performed more than 1,000 emergency surgeries and conducted 71,000 outpatient consultations

• Helped workers crush enough rubble to fill almost 1,800 dump trucks

• Hired more than 12,000 people in temporary cash-for-work programs

See all of the great work your support has made possible in Haiti over the last 2 years.

Two children standing in front of a CRS-built transitional shelter in Haiti. Your support of Haiti is helping rebuild the country for the next generation. Photo Robin Contino/CRS

Robin Contino joined CRS in 2006 and worked in as the country manager in Nepal. She is a licensed clinical social worker with a background in responding to emergencies and trauma. After the earthquake, Robin was sent to Haiti to offer crisis intervention and support to all of our staff in Haiti. Since then, she has continued to support Haiti from headquarters and continues on as the Haiti advisor supporting CRS’ Haiti country program in all aspects of its work.

Robin sent this first-hand account of what it was like to wake up in Haiti on the 2-year anniversary of the tragic Haiti earthquake:

Its January 12, 2012 and I wake up to the sound of what I think is a mass loudly and passionately coming through the windows from somewhere down the hills from where I am staying in Peggyville. People are singing and sharing together. I can feel the deep compassion and its flowing through the streets.

This is my 8th trip to Haiti since the Earthquake, and every time I come I see change — real and significant change. And its amazing. You’re work and dedication is commendable beyond my words. People are moving and settling back into their neighborhoods, and they are grateful for the support of CRS staff and programs. You have uplifted lives and brought families out of unspeakable despair.

I encourage you to take a moment this day, and everyday, to remember those lost and to renew your commitment to supporting Building Haiti Better hand in hand with Haitians.

You Inspire Me and I am grateful for all that you do!

Humbly,

Robin

See how your support has helped Haiti rebuild after the earthquake 2 years ago.

“After decades of work in Haiti, CRS knows hurricane season is a real threat to the Haitian population,” said Luke King, CRS country representative in Haiti. “We were ready for the worst and praying for the best.”

Haiti is especially vulnerable to rainfalls because of extensive deforestation, poor infrastructure and the devastation caused by the January 12, 2010, earthquake in Port-au-Prince, where thousands of people still live in tents and under tarps.

In order to prevent and respond to damage caused by tropical storms, CRS has been taking practical measures, such as building up an emergency response team and advanced delivery of emergency supplies to key locations.

Catholic Relief Services has resources in place to respond to any storm related crisis in this quake-ravaged country where 600,000 people are still living in tents and under tarps.

“The hurricane season poses a major threat to Haiti, one we have been preparing for since the first weeks after the earthquake,” said Luke King, Haiti country representative for CRS. “Historically, we know that Haiti is vulnerable to hurricanes and that even tropical storms or just heavy rain can cause serious damage in areas unaffected by the earthquake as well as in the camps, which are acutely vulnerable.”

Last year, CRS carried out assessments in at-risk camps and neighborhoods, digging drainage channels, sandbagging hills, building walls to decrease runoff, and moving the most vulnerable populations to safer locations.

“We have created an emergency response team made up of 45 people who are experts in various sectors of a response, including shelter, food security and health, and can deploy in a moment’s notice,” King said.
To prepare for storms like Emily, several samples kits have been designed and some contingency items have been stored at key locations. In Port-au-Prince, for example, CRS has delivered 5,000 shelter, hygiene, kitchen and cholera kits.

Last year, flooding from Hurricane Tomas helped spread the cholera epidemic in Haiti.

People living in camps are at a greater risk of contracting cholera during the hurricane season. Cholera is mainly spread through water, heavy rainfalls and flooding pose increase risks.

CRS has a major cholera response which started just one day after the outbreak was confirmed. The response included distribution of soap, water purification tablets and hygiene training to more than 22,000 families.

“We have a lot of infections in Haiti but we don’t always have access to labs. Our approach is empirical, based on symptoms and previous experience,” said Romaine Nephtalie Mesidor, one of six Haitian physicians who were selected for the Institutional Strengthening program, a postgraduate training for Haitian physicians in infectious diseases and HIV/AIDS.

The first class of the Institutional Strengthening program spent January through April this year taking advanced courses at the University of Maryland.

From left, Wilson Dorvilus, Jude Jean Jacques, Benetty Augustin, Franck Valery Turenne, Marie Eugenie Desir, Romaine Nephtalie Mesidor. These Haitian physicians are the first class of the Institutional Strengthening Program. Photo by Philip Laubner/CRS

“We had access to the best [physicians] in each specialty such as HIV, malaria, tuberculosis. We had lectures, tests, presentations and we also visited patients. It was intense,” said Franck Turenne, a family practitioner in Haiti.

The specialized training in infectious diseases will allow doctors to identify diseases more accurately, while working within the limitations in the country’s health system.

Mesidor explained that the main limitation is the accessibility to laboratory tests in Haiti.
“When patients come to the doctor in the United States, the physician does a lot of exams and bases the diagnosis in the lab results. In Haiti we don’t always have the labs first,” Mesidor said.

Her classmate, Turenne, said that studying a variety of tests results as part of the training helped them confirm the accuracy of their observations and think of new approaches to diagnosis.

The Institutional Strengthening program is a partnership between Catholic Relief Services, the Université of Notre-Dame d’Haiti, the Hospital St. Francois de Sales in Haiti, the University of Maryland School of Nursing, and the Institute of Human Virology, which is part of the UMD School of Medicine. It also has a shorter training for Haitian nurses.

The group of physicians is currently in Haiti finalizing the second part of the program, when they will become trainers for future classes of Haitian doctors.

“The best way to make sure you learned something is being able to transmit it to someone else,” Mesidor said. “Our colleagues in Haiti have faith in us. They know we can do it.”

Alsy Acevedo is a CRS communications officer covering Latin America and the Caribbean. She is based in Baltimore, Maryland.

CRS staff Thomas Awiapo interacting with the engineers and community members building the bridge for the people of St. Jean Du Sud in Les Kayes – Haiti. Photo by Kim Lamberty / CRS

As the saying goes, “No Man is an Island.” Unfortunately, the people of St. Jean Du Sud, Haiti, were completely isolated from the rest of Haiti when a bridge connecting them to school, market, and hospital collapsed.

The situation became unbearable during the rainy season as social and economic activities came to a complete halt.

Educational and health facilities became inaccessible to community members. At this point, the leaders of the community cried out for help and I am glad to let you know that CRS Haiti came to their aid. With $200,000 from CRS, complemented by communal labor and other contributions from the community, a very solid bridge is near completion.

This project when completed will link about 35,000 people to the essentials of life such as school, hospital and market, and restore normalcy to their lives. An impressive aspect of the project was the fact that 80% of the unskilled labor was hired from the community and thus providing temporary jobs for members of the community and infused a lot of cash in the community.

It was nice visiting the project and chatting with the people working so hard to finish the bridge before the next rainy season. I commend the community of St. Jean Du Sud for being so proactive in seeking support for its people and praise God that CRS was able to assist them. The truth is, CRS was in the position to help because the generous support of the American people. Ultimately, the credit goes all who gave generously to Haiti through CRS.

- Thomas Awiapo
As a child in Ghana, Thomas Awiapo was a beneficiary of CRS school feeding programs. Now, as an adult, he works for CRS Ghana and travels to the U.S. annually to tell his inspiring story to American Catholics at schools, parishes and communities. Thomas will be a featured guest blogger and will be reporting from Ghana about the issues he witnesses firsthand.

Watch the video: Empowered for Life: The Thomas Awiapo Story.

The famous genuine and provocative question everyone now asks is, how come 13 months after the earthquake the city of Port-au-Prince is still covered with rubble and millions still living in tents? Why is the promised rebuilding of Haiti taking so long? As an outsider who has spent just 10 days in Haiti, toured the city of Port-au-Prince, seen a lot and asked lots of questions of Haitians and non-Haitians, this is my attempt to reflect on the question above and please forgive me if you don’t agree with me.

First of all, it is impossible to wrap one’s head around building houses for 2 million displaced people in one year. A lot of long term strategic planning, dialogue with government and civil society and collaboration among actors and stakeholders has to take place in order to pave the way and lay the ground rules for the job of rebuilding to begin if the job is to be done well. It’s not an easy task and will take some time. Yes, I agree, lots of money has been donated and we want results right now; we want quick fixes. Unfortunately, this is one of the situations that quick results and quick fixes will not work.

The majority of the people still living in tents in Port-au-Prince were renters prior to the earthquake. The issues of land and house ownership need to be resolved if peaceful resettlement of families and communities has to be ensured. After the earthquake, all major constructions were halted until a standard national building code, which is to ensure that basic earthquake proof criteria is designed, is passed into law. Brilliant idea! How could one ignore this and start rebuilding?

Come to think of it, in the spirit of subsidiarity, aid agencies can only help the government and the people of Haiti to rebuild their country. Most ministerial offices were destroyed by the earthquake thus rendering political systems and structures somewhat hampered. To tell you the truth, no wise aid agency will ignore all the above outstanding issues and forge ahead with the rebuilding process. I know CRS is ready and eager to start the rebuilding process but obviously careful not to put the cart before the horse. Like most major aid agencies, CRS is working with the government of Haiti, the UN, and other international and Haitian organizations to resolve reconstruction issues.

In the meantime, it would interest you to know that CRS intervention in the immediate relief and recovery stages of the earthquake prevented further loss of life. Believe me, it could have been worse; many more would have died after the earthquake. CRS continues to improve the lives of the most vulnerable survivors by providing temporary shelter packages, food aid distribution, water and sanitation services, and educational programs to get children back in schools. I have never been more proud of the work of CRS. Let me take a moment to honor the roughly 700 CRS staff, both local and international, working so hard in a tough terrain and under difficult circumstances to improve lives in Haiti. It’s a great apostolate. Keep it up.

To the American people, I know you do have more questions than answers regarding the work in Haiti through CRS. With absolute confidence, I say to you, let your hearts not be troubled. CRS has made a solemn promise and commitment to account for every single dollar you gave for the rebuilding of Haiti. I have been in Haiti for the past 10 days and I can vouch that CRS, guided by the principle of good stewardship, is working diligently and judiciously with every dollar you have sacrificed for the Haitian people.

- Thomas Awiapo
As a child in Ghana, Thomas Awiapo was a beneficiary of CRS school feeding programs. Now, as an adult, he works for CRS Ghana and travels to the U.S. annually to tell his inspiring story to American Catholics at schools, parishes and communities. Thomas will be a featured guest blogger and will be reporting from Ghana about the issues he witnesses firsthand.

Watch the video: Empowered for Life: The Thomas Awiapo Story.

The White House recognized the work CRS and other faith-based organizations have done to help the people of Haiti rebuild and recover from last year’s earthquake.

Cardinal Robert Sarah, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, assured Haitians on the one-year anniversary of the Port-au-Prince earthquake that they are not alone in their sufferings. Photo by Alsy Acevedo/CRS

CRS communications officer for Latin America and the Caribbean, Alsy Acevedo, filed this report from Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

There’s a solemnity in the air of the streets of Port-au-Prince, today. Businesses and schools are closed, but people hurry to get somewhere, anywhere, where they can pray.

At 9 a.m. about a thousand people had gathered to attend Mass in the center of Port Au Prince. Behind them, the ruins of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de L’Assomption stand as a testament to the damage caused by the earthquake that shook the Haitian capital a year ago.

Most people, dressed in white, the color of mourning in Haiti, talked softly and cried quietly.

The first anniversary of the earthquake was not the remembrance of a tragedy that occurred twelve months ago and has already passed. The seismic event is still very present in the streets of Port Au Prince where damaged structures, buildings, rubble, tents and collapsed houses coexist.

The anniversary was a moment to mourn the thousands of lost lives and to look beyond the ruins and the political instability into the future of the country.

During the homily Cardinal Robert Sarah, President of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, praised the resilience of the Haitians. He quoted the word of Jesus in the cross “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” and assured the Haitians, they are not alone.

Cardinal Sarah, who was sent by the Vatican to preside over the Mass, commended the solidarity so many countries have shown the Caribbean nation and the humanitarian work of Catholic Relief Services, as well as other humanitarian institutions.