Orphans of the Quake

By: Clifden Kennedy
Topics: Field Notes

(CBS)

Arden Farhi is a CBS News digital journalist based in New York. He's been reporting from Haiti since Thursday.

Their faces don't always tell the story of what's happened here. You see smiles on their faces, their youthful ignorance on display.

Haiti's Orphans

Some day these orphans will understand the tragedy that befell their home. For now they're at the mercy of the aid workers.

Complete Coverage: Devastation in Haiti
Haiti Quake: How You Can Help

The orphanage we visited Sunday received a delivery of food and drink from the Red Cross as we arrived. Still, they only had enough water on hand for one more day. Since the earthquake the orphanage has received 10 new residents.

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Today we met 78 more orphans, stricken to the sidewalk after their three-story, concrete home could not withstand the earthquake's tremors. 56 children died.

So far the surviving orphans have yet to receive aid.

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by Renemore January 21, 2010 10:06 AM EST: I was in Haiti to teach English 4 years ago. I KNOW firsthand there is NO infrastructure. SO, I agree with Dave, let's have some American ingenuity! How about cargo planes filled with ATV's that medical personnel can ride in with supplies to designated sites that are remote or NOT being helped. Rural places are forgotten, though hard-hit. (A friend has communicated from Tabbare) Also, what about using other small ports --- small helicopters, small boats. The U.S. is thinking TOO BIG and concentrating too much on security, rather than saving lives.; Reply to this comment


by casey_abbott January 20, 2010 9:06 PM EST: Come on, let's get cracking.; Reply to this comment


by shadows1177 January 19, 2010 4:35 PM EST: Nothing would my husband and I happier than to adopt or foster some of these children but we cant because of our governments red tape. We would make perfectly wonderful adoptive parents for these kids and strive to make sure that they know and understand where they came from. Its so hard for us to have to watch from the sidelines with nothing that we can do to help them. If anyone knows a way around the red tape, let me know so that we can do something!; Reply to this comment


by bw_la January 18, 2010 9:54 PM EST: In spite of what Defense Secretary Gates claims, not everyone will riot & rush supplies if they are parachuted in. Some undoubtedly will, while others will wait out of level-headedness or plain weakness.

His response would be that the danger of crushing is too great. This would be true only so far as crates of supplies CANNOT be broken down & MUST ABSOLUTELY be delivered ONLY by the whole crate. Out of the hundreds of thousands of Haitians, can't several hundred be found scattered though out the country, without broken bones, who can cart little wagons of water, MRE's, first aid kits, etc. ?
Grade school kids, after being fed & hydrated, can be taught to rubber band toy parachutes to 3 or 4 bottles of water which can then be dropped from aircraft as they leave Haiti to resupply. Other kids can bubble wrap bundles of MRE's ? with the number of MRE's in each bundle limited by how many can fall on a child's head & cause no harm.
A parachute made out of MRE's & strapped to a small bundle of water bottles, can also be tried.
Male adults, equipped with a GPS walkie-talkie, can pull small wagons of supplies as far as they can walk & call in whenever they need resupply or are too exhausted. If they are too tired, they can ask anyone, able & willing, to carry on.

Any ?system? should have these common traits :
A modular, defined purpose ? in this case deliver water & food,
safely & quickly to where ever it's needed.
The modular part overlaps adaptability but differs in intent -
elements of one system can & will be used in another.
Adaptability ? expect to change the system according to circumstances,
over time. Unfortunately, we've adapted in the wrong things
since Katrina - poor communications. The Emergency
Communications Response Vehicles ( over 8 in Alabama ) weren't
available to help much in Louisiana and haven't been deployed in
Haiti.
Scalability ? Can what works for 10, work for 50, 500, 5000 ? In this
case, can, what doesn't work for 1 big crate be changed ? like
breaking the crate into smaller units ?
Accountability ? Have you accomplished what you intended ? If not,
what needs to be changed ?
This part is often left off or ignored if present. Other times
it's intentionally bloated into a bureaucracy so that the
intended purpose is seldom realized - in this case horribly
delayed.
In this case, the mindset of a centralized distribution is
getting in the way distribution. I am not promoting dropping
water directly on the ground but I am suggesting using the
natural distribution "system" already in place ( however
broken )- the people of Haiti - in the safest & quickest ways
possible.; Reply to this comment

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