A mother rests with her child in a makeshift shelter in Place Saint Pierre. There are an estimated 5-6,000 refugees taking shelter in the square. CARE is distributing water, jerrycans, and mattresses to the affected population©Evelyn Hockstein/CARE

by Patrick Solomon, CARE USA SVP, Global Support Services

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Yesterday, the CARE staff went to the Place Saint Pierre in Pétionville, extremely close to the CARE office to do pre-work for today's distribution of hygiene kits. The team did an assessment and registration process to identify pregnant and elderly women to make sure they were recipients of the distribution. Today, the team ensured that these women were given priority in the distribution process.

The distribution was a joint effort between the local police, the municipality and CARE. It went flawless. The process was ordered and the recipients were so glad to receive the kits. This was especially gratifying not only because CARE was able to deliver, but the fact that needs were being met.

There was a woman, who gave birth the day of the earthquake, and came this morning with her newborn in hand to receive a hygiene kit. Another woman, who gave birth two days ago and, thus, could not be registered yesterday received the kit directly from CARE staff instead of having to stand in line.

As a footnote, we just felt another aftershock today. People ran out of the building – and it took many of them a long time before they came back in.