25 February 2010: All around Haiti, on the many colourful buses in all shapes and sizes called tap-taps that I’ve seen while sputtering along in traffic, hand-painted messages on all sides celebrate Haiti’s deep spiritual faith. One love. Ave Maria. L’eternal est grand. Miracles. Patience. Benediction Divine. At night, I often hear groups of people singing. Or lively dance music. It’s this infusion of love, faith and hope that fools me into thinking everything in Haiti is fine.

Poverty does not steal dignity or joy. Nor does it keep a beautiful bride from her wedding. But it seems to create heart wrenching obstacles to the kind of peace and happiness that comes from feeling safe and secure.

Night fears

Everyone knows that Haiti had its complex societal problems before the earthquake, but now in the sprawling and sporadic tent camps setup near the vacant communities, more than ever, night-time is robbing women and girls of their right to personal safety.

The walk to the empty field or the port-a-potty (depending on the quality of the camp) is said to be the most terrifying. Many women and girls have taken to wearing their blue jeans at all times.

Plan action

The other day I spent the day with Andrinette, Plan Haiti’s health advisor, who told me that she’d been working on initiatives to protect women and girls from violence in Haiti for over 20 years.

I went with her to a meeting sponsored by the Ministry of Women’s Health. The topic of discussion was how all agencies in Haiti - government, police, and non-governmental organisations - could best work together to reduce gender-based violence in the camps.

In the car driving back to the office from the meeting, I asked Andrinette to elaborate on the nature of the violence in the camps, and she expressed her deep frustration that many men simply have the mentality that women and girls are only meant for sex. And these men are emboldened by the sad reality that most victims of sexual violence in Haiti do not speak up or stand up for themselves.

Safe spaces

Since the earthquake, organisations like Plan have worked to create hundreds of child-friendly spaces throughout the affected areas to help children sing, play and facilitate the process of recovery.
 
For Plan, these spaces are set to be multipurpose. At times when the children are not at play, they can become drop-in community centres for women: safe places for them to share with others their truth in Haiti as only they have experienced it.

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