Life Hanging by a Thread

Loetitia Raymond
Port-au-Prince

At the fragile moment in time when a life enters the world, when a child leaves the warm, protective cocoon of her mother's womb, one gesture can change everything. It can transform what could have been a happy occasion into the saddest of all.

Wadneicia may never know how lucky she was to open her eyes on January 20 in Saint Pierre Square, on the ground, lying on old packing boxes. It was 9:00 am when Joane Kerez, 20 years old, gave birth to her first child under a cloth tarpaulin with only her mother assisting her. All around, people went about their business. Curious onlookers crowded around the small space just two metres square in size, making it hard for the young pregnant woman to breathe.

"There were people all around watching me. I would have rather been somewhere else, in a cleaner place without all those people looking at my body," she says, embarrassed at the lack of modesty. At least 6000 people "live" in this crowded square where every square inch of land is occupied by earthquake victims. Children play amidst the garbage and wash themselves in street ditches; women cook in pestilential stench since everyone urinates right in the camp due to the lack of toilet facilities. Joane's mother cut the umbilical cord with a non-sterile razor blade. The only water available was a tank that CARE had installed the day before. Five thousand litres of water was supplied to help meet the victims' needs.

"Thankfully CARE had installed the tank, otherwise I would have to have used water that comes out of the pipe at the end of the road."

No soap, no clean towel, no disinfectant, no doctor, not even minimal medical equipment in case of complications. No western woman could imagine even for an instant giving birth in conditions like these! And yet Joane's childbirth story is not extraordinary. Since January 13, hundreds of other Haitian women have given birth among garbage cans in the streets of Port-au-Prince.

Everyone complains of the lack of space and the suffocating heat that burns the little ones' skin when the sun is at its zenith. So they wrap up the babies in cloth and towels to protect them. The children are certainly too hot, and we know that when there is no water, dehydration is a real threat. Thankfully, our teams have distributed water purification tablets.

In a situation this difficult, pregnant women and infants are even more vulnerable. In seeing these women, life seems more fragile than ever, hanging by a thread that could break any second. Sometimes just the infinitely small things make it easier for mothers and children. That is why we will continue to distribute these basic goods and help strengthen the thread of life during the women's childbirth and the children's first steps.