Inspiring hope for a new Haiti

Trócaire's Niall O'Rourke has been in Haiti since a few days after the earthquake struck on January 12. As he prepares to return home to Ireland, here he reflects on his time so far and the journey ahead for those who remain.

On arrival in Port au Prince about a week after the earthquake the immediate visual impact of what I saw will stay with me for a long time. The closest description that comes to mind is the scene one associates with a post-conflict zone, demolished buildings, rubble strewn streets, the downtown area of the city enveloped by clouds of dust. An ominous silence pervaded the places I visited, people shuffled around the rubble stunned by the sudden and brutal nature of the earthquake.

It is hard to fathom the scale of the devastation I have witnessed both in terms of the material destruction and the grief that people are experiencing as they try to come to terms with the loss of loved ones. With estimates that as many as 300,000 people perished in the earthquake, almost everybody you meet has been affected in some way. Landmark buildings such as the presidential palace and the cathedral lie in ruins whilst any available public space has quickly been filled by families living in makeshift settlements, their homes destroyed, they have nowhere else to go.

Before the earthquake Haiti was the most impoverished country in the western hemisphere with some 80% of the population living on less than US$2 per day. The people living in the spontaneous settlements dotted all over Port au Prince and the surrounding areas along with those who have been displaced all over the country, have already faced adversity on many levels.

As I prepare to return to Ireland some seven weeks after my arrival in Haiti, alongside the images of destruction resulting from the earthquake I am also taking home some incredible memories of the people I have met here. Amidst the devastation and the sorrow, the spirit displayed by individual Haitians to overcome their difficulties and the sense of solidarity I have witnessed have been sources of inspiration.

Haiti needed our assistance before the earthquake and if it is possible for anything good to come out of this disaster it must be that Haiti can be rebuilt in a manner that does not replicate the inequalities that existed in the past. Proud and dignified, the people I have met here inspire hope that a new Haiti can be rebuilt. There is an onus, a moral responsibility for all of us, the international community, the people and the government of Haiti, to ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated.