Volunteering in Haiti, post-earthquake

May 7, 2010 1:10:10 AM

Paul Clammer
Lonely Planet Author

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The earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010, is likely to go into the record books as the most destructive natural event of modern times. Around 250,000 people are thought to have died when a destructive force equal to that of the 2005 Asian tsunami hit a densely populated area barely the size of Massachusetts.

As the author of Lonely Planet’s Haiti guidebook and web coverage, I felt that it was important to return as soon as possible to help.

Paul Clammer as Haiti volunteer

Writing travel guides isn’t much of a specialist skill compared with medicine or construction, so I was looking for a project taking unskilled volunteers, preferably without a payment that might be sucked up by office overheads. I settled on Hands On Disaster Response, who had set up a base in Leogane, west of Port-au-Prince and close to the quake epicentre. HODR have run postdisaster projects in Peru, the Philippines and Bangladesh. Crucially for me, they also had Haiti experience, having operated in Gonaives after the 2008 floods.

Arriving in Leogane, where the earthquake either destroyed or damaged 80% of the buildings, I perceived the scale of the reconstruction challenge as almost insuperable. I’m reminded of the Haitian proverb ‘Deye mon, gen mon’ (behind the mountains there are mountains). The HODR base hums with activity, with dozens of volunteers rushing through lunch before returning to the day’s jobs.

As Marc Young, one of the directors, tells me, their volunteers come from a broad spectrum. ‘We’ve had 70-year-young grandfathers, college freshmen and families volunteering with their teenagers. There are attorneys who want to shovel rubble, architects who want to build and labourers who want administrative tasks.’ Some spend just a week, others seemed intent on staying until the project’s end in January 2011.

The volunteers Volunteers are divided into teams to tackle individual jobs as groups. Top of the list are the rubble-clearance sites, with everyone slapping on the sunscreen to wield shovels, sledgehammers and barrows to clear ruined houses. It’s hard work under the Haitian sun but immensely rewarding, and locals press in to help. Amid the concrete, there are constant reminders that the rubble represent smashed lives. On my first morning I recovered a set of someone’s wedding photos, which were carefully kept aside to be reunited with their owner.

When sites are cleared, rebuilding began, and as I left volunteers were rebuilding their first school. Other, more skilled, volunteers were working with the mayor’s office to survey and restore Leogane’s water supply. HODR have also started a cash-for-work programme for locals, deepening their ties with the local community.

While the road ahead is a tough one, my experience seeing the international volunteers and local Haitians working together puts me in mind of a more optimistic proverb. Men anpil, chay pa lou: many hands make the load lighter.

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Comments

13 May 2010 2:47AM justarikia Report this comment
Excellent piece, Paul! You're doing great work in Haiti, keep it up.
15 May 2010 5:50AM reliefworker Report this comment
Dear Paul,
I commend you for your efforts to help the Haitian people, but being a professional disaster relief worker, I can't help but feel frustrated that the Lonely Planet is encouraging disaster tourism.
Haiti needs aid from experienced professionals. And although I'm sure that your group did some great work clearing rubble, did you consider that if you had simply given the money you spent on your plane ticket, you could have hired 20 Haitians, who desperately need a salary, to work for 8 days?
Sorry to rain on your parade. I've been here since the beginning and I've seen a lot of people with very good intentions, do some pretty messed up things. Disaster relief is a profession. Not a hobby.
15 May 2010 6:52AM hujambo Report this comment
As a Humanitarian worker in Haiti I find it frustrating to promote volunteering in an extremely complicated and not always safe emergency response; do the volunteers have security protocols? given the resurgence of kidnapping; is there an accurate briefing provided on Sphere Standards and Humanitarian principles? Is there an understanding of the complexities of coordination; respecting the role of the Government as the lead; providing aid with humanity, neutrality and impartiality? Sure, donating money to a reputable organization with the skills and experience doesn't give you that same feeling of satisfaction or that nice photo for your wall, but it does enable professionals with the skills and experience to effectively implement their programs, without worrying about the 'disaster tourists' who may not realize that their good intentions, can leave a painful and long-lasting impact. I understand the motivations behind wanting to help, you just don't need to be in Haiti to do it:)
15 May 2010 8:36AM lorettalowe Report this comment
I get the concerns of disaster tourism. With HODR there is no "tourism" involved - just hard work. Sure, Paul's airfare may have employed Haitians, but volunteers spend money while there.
Unlike some "relief" organizations (with high level bureaucracies or religious motives), HODR is led by group of skilled disaster relief professionals and is open to receiving types of volunteers. It does provide aid with humanity, neutrality and impartiality.
Hujambo is right, volunteering in a impoverished and devastated country is is not always safe. HODR does not sugar coat this in an way (check their website).
I think it smacks of pure snobbery to imply that ONLY so-called "professionals" can be effective in disaster relief. (I've seen many professionals do some messed up things too). In Peru, we worked alongside professional brick layers and engineers – all volunteers. There was plenty of manual labor needed for those with no skills.
15 May 2010 8:38AM lorettalowe Report this comment
(continued)
In Pisco, when locals waited weeks for the "professionals" - the HODR volunteers were able to manually remove rubble so homeowners had a place to up a tent.
Don‘t negate the human factor. Giving support IS important - but so is human support. I spent time in the Pisco talking to the food stall vendors about their experiences during earthquake. (I remember the need to talk about it when I went through a big one). When you have an entire community experiencing post-traumatic stress, it can help to have an "outsider" to talk to.
Not everyone has a big bank account to donate money, so giving time is the next best thing. Volunteer work can leave a positive and long-lasting impact on those who participate.
You are right, there are some very bad organizations, but don't unilaterally toss out the good with the bad. Anyone thinking about doing volunteer work needs to examine carefully the organization, the potential negative impact, and the personal risk.
17 May 2010 11:20PM reliefworker Report this comment
Dear Lorettalowe,
I’m not saying that HODR and their volunteers are not doing a good job. What I’m saying is that their mode of operation makes me question their primary motive. Bringing in unskilled foreigners to do manual labour, when you’ve got millions of unskilled Haitians who are desperate for employment, makes no sense to me. I feel that if HODR's primary mandate was to help Haitians, rather than give foreigners that “warm fuzzy feeling”, they’d do some fundraising, and launch some Cash for Work programs to help locals earn money while clearing the rubble from their own lots. They'd get more work done, help more people, and inject a significant amount of cash into the destroyed economy. A couple of foreigners buying food and cokes is not cash injection.
17 May 2010 11:20PM reliefworker Report this comment
(cont) Don’t get me wrong, people can volunteer in disaster relief, but they should have some sort of skill to bring to the table (for instance, we have water engineers volunteering with us). It is not snobbery to insist that relief workers in positions of authority have professional training, and that unskilled workers be hired locally.
You say that there is no tourism involved in HODR. Well, an NGO more concerned with giving foreigners a rewarding experience, than making a significant impact; foreigners who have money in the bank for a plane ticket, but suddenly don't have the money if they can't come to Haiti themselves = disaster tourism.
18 May 2010 8:03AM ukvolunteer Report this comment
I understand the comments given by 'reliefworker'. Having just returned from the HODR project in Leogane I agree that some volunteers, particularly those coming into the project for 1 week were there for disaster tourism. Some did not understand how to deal with locals sensitively, they spent money in a way that had the potential to cause harm to the fragile local economy and spent much of their time taking photos and blogging about their 'experience'.
However, the majority of the volunteers at HODR are long-termers, there for the duration. Many coming from other HODR projects or various volunteer roles around the world. These volunteers work hard to form long-lasting bounds with the local community and understand that their primary goal is to work for the benefit of the people, rather than fulfilling some personal need for self-fulfillment.
18 May 2010 8:05AM ukvolunteer Report this comment
(cont.) Many are career volunteers, students in humanitarian and environment studies, or have previous experience working in disaster hit countries, or with children in third world countries. Many have construction experience, engineering or architecture skills.
HODR have implemented a local volunteers programme, providing work, food and interaction with other cultures. We work and eat together, sharing Creole and English lessons. The experience local workers gain from working with HODR means that many have gone on to work in paid positions with larger, better funded NGO's. They also gain a wider knowledge of English which further enhances their future work prospects.
I understand that the price of airfare for volunteers could go towards many other things, such as paying local volunteers. This did leave me conflicted I have to say. However, HODR volunteers are vetted to ensure that we come with vital skills.
18 May 2010 8:07AM ukvolunteer Report this comment
(Cont.) Key projects which were underway when I left included US engineers and engineering students working with the local community to map out the towns water system, which had been untouched and left in disrepair for at least 15yrs. UK and US architects designed school buildings which we were in the process of erecting on the site of previous schools. These sites we had previously cleared, with the help of local volunteers so these schools could be built.
Unicef miscalculated the amount of temporary school tents for the country and those earmarked for Leogane ended up staying in Port-au-Prince. As such we helped three private investors from the US who had designed and funded temporary shelters, design, assemble and erect school shelters, always with the help of local volunteers.
The HODR runners were essential staff in the field hospital, keeping all drugs and equipment stocked, providing essential support for the weekly rotation of new doctors.
18 May 2010 8:17AM ukvolunteer Report this comment
(Cont.) I visited a hotel in PAP, it was pretty fancy by any standards, never mind in Haiti. It was fully booked with UN staff. I thought 'Nice time your having here'. They wouldn't have last 2 minutes in the HODR base with bucket showers, sleeping on a hard floor in a sweaty tent, getting flooded every time the monsoon rains hit.
When Paul, the Lonely Planet writer arrived and announced in our nightly meeting that he was writing an article on 'volunteer tourism' he would shouted down by all present. We were not their for volunteer tourism or some kind of holiday. Its difficult to describe succinctly to anyone, on my return to the UK what it was like spending 4 wks in a disaster hit, third world country but it was by no means a tourist experience.
27 May 2010 3:51AM gentleg Report this comment
If you think just because people are there for a week that they are just there for a wall photo than you have no clue what goes on. I have been there for a month and plan on staying for the entire project and without those so called "tourists" this project would be dead to the world. The MAJORITY of people who come in for a week only do so because thats all their life allows them to. They have responsibilities at home and families to take care of, but at least they are taking 7 more days than MOST people in this world. So what if they get a wall picture and a warm fuzzy feeling out of it. Those are feelings, and feelings can't be controlled. They just come out of your heart, especially once you see whats going on first hand in leogane. They are out there for those 7 days busting their BUTTS! Working in the dead heat of the sun with no complaints, helping build schools, helping with ANYTHING they can.
27 May 2010 3:52AM gentleg Report this comment
Not everyone is there for the right reasons, but everyone there does bust their ass. So, if you call those short term people tourists, than by all means, bring on the tourists. Because such as life, its a numbers game, and for every 20 short term people that come in, 2 of them turn into long term people with essential skills to not only help on rubble and other physical attributes, but also help with the teaching of language, core values, and general love. You can't put a time frame on things in life. You can only focus on the now, and the people who stay for a short time can only give what they can, and thats a hell of a lot more than people who do nothing(which is the majority of people).
27 May 2010 3:53AM gentleg Report this comment
Maybe not everyone is a professional when they get there, but by the time they are done they are good at something. I'm sure you had your first experience somewhere? Stop being so pretentious and understand that maybe this is the first stop for people who yearn for this type of work, and HODR gives those people the opportunity to find their calling. I know I did. Focus on the positive, and stop playing devils advocate. That is all.
29 May 2010 9:07AM lusterwand Report this comment
@reliefworker: You are seriously underestimating the power of a well-directed volunteer workforce. Teams of international and local HODR volunteers can adapt to new tasks with a creativity and enthusiasm that even the best run cash-for-work program could never dream of. Experienced disaster professionals in Leogane have recognized this and regularly request our help with some of the trickier problems for which their traditional structures can't find solutions.
If you'd like to see for yourself the meaningful impact HODR is having here in Leogane, please pay us a visit at our base: Belval Plaza, Rue Belval.
4 June 2010 4:48AM island2island Report this comment
For what it's worth, I was recently in Leogane as a volunteer surgeon and found most of the HODR volunteers very helpful to have around as runners. When you are doing a clinic under a tarp 500 yds from your supply tent, you need folks who can take direction in English. I did find it helpful to directly hire some local personnel to do some other things and sure there were some kids who seemed to do an awful lot of standing around, but there were others that were invaluable (had been there helping longer than we medical professionals were going to be and helped with continuity) and there were plenty of mature professionals with HODR as well doing things like building inspection. You do what you can.
4 June 2010 7:58AM lorettalowe Report this comment
As you can see from the other comments, HODR's mandate is far from giving "foreigner's warm fuzzy feelings" -- but I wouldn't discount the value in personally contributing and the human connection. Saving a few dollars in airline tickets by instead donating to a charity, is nothing compared to the exponential value of the individuals who personally work alongside locals and return home with a firm conviction and a mission to do more than just donate $ to a celeb-ego telethon. HODR alumns who can't get away to help, develop a strong connection and commitment to the communities being deployed to. Whether it's donating frequent flier miles to get another volunteer there, fund-raising for HODR, or donating to other Haitian relief efforts - most of us do more than we ever would if we had not had some first hand experience being at an HODR disaster response site.
25 June 2010 9:27PM muderless Report this comment
I just Want to be a volunteer but they have denied me the eligibility. Why if I may ask? I am 24 years old may from Nigeria. Was once in the University. I filled the forms and submitted my application but have not gotten any reply or what so ever from you since then.
Warmate. warmate4whyt@yahoo.com
26 July 2010 3:21PM ronicolxuo Report this comment
A quick search on the web and I am sure you could find plenty of charities and NGOs, just contact them directly with your cv however the savings they would make by employing you (unpaid) will be minimal and may not e worth their while to obtain a work visa/permit <a href="http://acaimaxcleansewarning.com">Acai Max Cleanse</a>
26 July 2010 3:21PM ronicolxuo Report this comment
http://acaimaxcleansewarning.com
11 November 2010 3:12AM humbleworldcitizen Report this comment
Working closely with non-profits I have found that in many ways serving a community through money or volunteering resembles consumerism. Therefore, strategies to direct and increase response should resemble those of business owners.
First, a personal experience, interacting with the "product" will increase long-term brand loyalty. A volunteer who serves in Haiti, is more likely to continue contributing financially. They have an emotional attachment, they were inside, not just looking at pictures on the internet.
11 November 2010 3:12AM humbleworldcitizen Report this comment
(cont)
Second, those with real money want to see what they are investing in. A savvy business owner does not buy out another company without first investigating the books, personnel, clientel and, more subjectively, walking the property. Those with real money will want to be on-site. If they get dirty while they are doing it, even better (see point one).
Third, word-of-mouth is the best form of advertising. Emotionally enhanced word-of-mouth is even better. I have a nursing friend who was able to serve in Haiti immediately after the earthquake. His friends and family and co-workers are now somewhat vested and at the very least interested in Haiti relief. When there are fundraisers in the community, they are more likely to respond, especially if he is involved state-side.
11 November 2010 3:12AM humbleworldcitizen Report this comment
(cont)
It may seem disgusting, but if you want to direct the type of response, you should put your efforts into enhancing the experience of those who do travel to the area. Whether their intentions are supreme or not, they are better than not caring at all. Establish a relationship with them, educate them on the real need, and give them resources to do respond efficiently and to communicate with others how they can help.
30 November 2010 6:28AM ddriscoll225 Report this comment
@reliefworker: It's going on a year now and 1.7 million people are still living in tents or under tarps. What have all the "professional" relief workers been doing?
13 January 2011 3:05PM graftonreed Report this comment
12th January, 2010…….. One Year Later After just returning from a two week mission delivering IV medical devices to aid in the Cholera epidemic, I would first caution you that the country of Haiti is still in a horrendous state. The roads are abysmal, crime is rampant, disease is omnipresent and abject poverty remains unabated. My partner and I, for the most part, were on our own, as virtually all other support team members were gone for Christmas break. I've done Third World traveling for over 25 years and I assume those at this site are not just "arm chair" readers or the faint of heart, and know what they are getting involved with by volunteering. (Con't)
13 January 2011 3:06PM graftonreed Report this comment
(Con't) So my advice is tempered and directed for the audience at hand. If you want to volunteer……. yes, absolutely, they can use you. Volunteers are sorely needed, whether you're a trained specialist or just offering a pair of helping hands. Ignore the "nay-sayers" and if you feel the need to step up to the plate, where the "rubber meets the pavement," then you should go for it. While the dissenters of this thread all make excellent points, and I can't and won't dispute them, just follow your compass. Third World Travelers know theirs well!