Update from Mark Fried
This is Mark Fried from Oxfam calling from Port-au-Prince in Haiti. I apologise for the noise but the city is noisy in the morning. As grim as things are, in the week that I've been here I guess there's been a bit of improvement. Now Oxfam is delivering clean water and sanitation to about 80,000 people and soon we're gonna reach 100,000 and people really appreciate it. Yesterday I went to visit the general hospital where Oxfam has installed a water bladder to service the kitchen, the laundry and the morgue. There are a lot of foreign personnel medical personnel there thousands of patients, thousands plus patients in tents outside. It's quite a scene but these people seem to be getting good care from the from the many medical personnel there. Unfortunately, although there were clean smocks and clean sheets now, they didn't have water. When Oxfam first arrived there a week ago there simply was nowhere to wash and nowhere to clean up at the morgue. The stench of death is still there around the morgue where bodies were piled, not yesterday, but they had been piled. The people working there were absolutely delighted to have a way to clean it up. You have no idea of how much better it is. The paving stones there are still greasy - you can see it from the piles of bodies that had been there in the sun, but the workers insist that it's just a small residue of what it was before. One other bit of news that I'd like to share, Oxfam built a set of 30 latrines up at the golf course. There's a golf course called Petionville Club where about 45,000 to 50,000 people are camped out. We built a set of 30 latrines and one of them is specially designed for handicapped access, and I'm going to go and visit that today and will report back on that later. For now, this is Mark Fried for Oxfam in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
This is Mark Fried from Oxfam calling from Port-au-Prince in Haiti. I apologise for the noise but the city is noisy in the morning. As grim as things are, in the week that I've been here I guess there's been a bit of improvement. Now Oxfam is delivering clean water and sanitation to about 80,000 people and soon we're gonna reach 100,000 and people really appreciate it. Yesterday I went to visit the general hospital where Oxfam has installed a water bladder to service the kitchen, the laundry and the morgue. There are a lot of foreign personnel medical personnel there thousands of patients, thousands plus patients in tents outside. It's quite a scene but these people seem to be getting good care from the from the many medical personnel there. Unfortunately, although there were clean smocks and clean sheets now, they didn't have water. When Oxfam first arrived there a week ago there simply was nowhere to wash and nowhere to clean up at the morgue. The stench of death is still there around the morgue where bodies were piled, not yesterday, but they had been piled. The people working there were absolutely delighted to have a way to clean it up. You have no idea of how much better it is. The paving stones there are still greasy - you can see it from the piles of bodies that had been there in the sun, but the workers insist that it's just a small residue of what it was before. One other bit of news that I'd like to share, Oxfam built a set of 30 latrines up at the golf course. There's a golf course called Petionville Club where about 45,000 to 50,000 people are camped out. We built a set of 30 latrines and one of them is specially designed for handicapped access, and I'm going to go and visit that today and will report back on that later. For now, this is Mark Fried for Oxfam in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
To view a fullsize photograph click the thumbnail below.
Posted by: Mindy 2 years ago
Your Cousin, Mike
Posted by: Michael Fried 2 years ago