With plastic and cardboard, Haitians build communities

Despite the strong sentiment of abandonment expressed in the open-air camps, officials and some relief workers insist the kinks in supply delivery are being ironed out, with medical supplies especially getting out as the bottlenecks of the first week are cleared out. And US officials say the situation will improve further as more US military and reinforcements for the United Nations peacekeeping mission arrive.

US-UN coordination still a problem

Still, coordination of the massive international relief effort – especially between the United States and the UN – remains problematic enough that the US and the UN again on Thursday took a stab at defining roles and responsibilities. US and UN Representatives in Port-au-Prince signed a new “statement of principles” – a response in part to recent controversy over the US military’s management of the Port-au-Prince airport.

Some foreign governments and relief organizations have complained of too much priority given to US military flights.

The “statement of principles” also stipulates that the Haitian government has “primary responsibility” for response to the earthquake. Making that point officially seemed aimed at reminding both the world and Haiti’s citizens that Haiti has what the State Department calls a “sovereign government.”

But no one seems to believe the fiction that the Haitian government, with its devastated ministries and undermanned police, is in charge. Certainly no one at Primatur camp does.

“The truth is that the government is still not up and running, so we had to get this all going ourselves,” says Joël Jean-Baptiste, a development specialist who has become Primatur’s unofficial manager. “You have to have organization when you have 4,000 people, and the government wasn’t up to it.”

Self-appointed organizing committee

Since the camp sprang up spontaneously the night of January 12, Mr. Jean-Baptiste and a self-appointed organizing committee has completed a census of the camp – taking special note of the children under 4 years old – and created a crude camp ID card. Volunteers have been rounded up to perform everything from the menial – litter clean-up – to the specialized, like the nurse and medical student manning the camp’s makeshift clinic. When petty theft became a problem, a citizens patrol was set up and a 10 p.m. curfew was set.

Jean-Baptiste – whose own home was not destroyed in the quake – says he hopes to spread the idea that when the government doesn’t function, the people become the government.

“This is state property and we respected it, “ he says, “But once there was a disaster and the government vanished, it became the right of the people to occupy this property and use it.”

Short term, he says Primatur despite its shortcomings might serve as a model for other refugee camps. Singling out the “spirit of community” he sees sprouting here, Jean-Baptiste says that “perhaps in a small way we can also contribute to the whole new way of thinking Haiti will need as we rebuild it.”

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