Day 2

Today was spent in deep immersion. The reality of camp life here is frightening. At our main camp site, Santmartin, we have between 16, 000 and 20, 000 people living in a soccer stadium... not as big as Hindmarsh. Next to it is the old DHQ building which is uninhabitable, our clinic, which is thankfully operational and one of our primary schools - also still running, but mostly outdoors.

Most of the people are living under tarpaulins. When the rains arrive, many 'homes' will wash away... that's if we can get the water moving. Reality is that drainage is very poor and there is a lot of stagnant water. Where there is stagnant water - there is disease. The camp committee were telling me today about TB and diahrroea (if that's how it's spelt at this time of night) but tomorrow we will visit the clinic to see what diseases are actually presenting for treatment.

We have prioritised sanitation and drianage and after dinner tonight were in discussion about where we can pool resources from. We have good partnerships with two other agencies that are helping in our main camp - Concern Worldwide, a big NGO with a big budget, and Viva Rio, a local NGO with no budget. We want to see more health education, too. I am also pushing for a move away from imported food toward micro credit to support local enterprise and stimulate the local economy where people buy there own food with money raised from their own enterprise. Of course, it is day 2 and I can't do much except float ideas at the moment.

The lady I am taking over from, Major Pat Kidoo, from the US, is a legend. She has been brilliant in her management of the camp despite little assistance. I am concerned that we have a top-heavy operation here (i.e. a lot of admin and no ops staff) but again, I am new, so I can't criticise until I know what the real deal is.

Going off to read reports now, and get rest before another day in the Haitian pre-monsoon (very humid and somewhere in the low 30s Celcius).