There is a river flowing between Grand Goave and Leogane, the epicenter of the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. It’s not a huge or very deep river; in fact, it’s usually more of a stream going through a river bed. There used to be a bridge going over this mini river, but the earthquake collapsed it, so now cars and trucks full of people, animals and supplies have to drive directly through it. This is usually not a big deal, except when it rains.
Yesterday, coming back from Grand Goave with a few friends, we came across a long queue of backed up vehicles at the river bed due to a tap tap (pick up truck with a metal cage built on the back used as public transport) that was stuck on a steep incline trying to get out of the river bed. I watched as people pushed and the tap tap heaved back and forth to no avail. Finally, a few of us jumped out and joined in the pushing and finally it made it over.
To preface this, I should point out that the group I was traveling with was made up of mostly of international volunteers. One thing I observed that stood out to me was that the ones who jumped out to help push were all people who had responded to multiple disasters and emergencies before - thus this made me pause to think of the correlation of Emergency Responders compared to Development Workers. The ones with emergency response experience were the first ones to get impatient and jump out to push whilst the more recently arrived volunteers stayed in the truck. Maybe it’s a silly one-off observation; maybe it was just a coincidence. One can be both an Emergency Response and a Development Worker (often lumped together and called an ‘Aid Worker’), of course, however preferences tend to lean one way or another.
I have been having multiple conversations with my ‘disaster chasing’ friends and colleagues lately as the situation in Haiti turns more and more into a long-term development project and less of an emergency situation. The unique thing about Haiti, however, is that since the initial devastating earthquake, there has been a cholera outbreak (that continues to grow and is now an epidemic) last October, a hurricane last November and election violence. As we start to head into hurricane season and the rains get heavier, cholera continues to increase; so we are almost in a constant state of textbook emergency, but in reality, I’ve heard it referred to as a ‘complex emergency’, but we are definitely no longer in a constant emergency phase, but are we in mid-term recovery? Haiti has a way of blurring lines long established by institutions and experience.
Some of us who prefer emergency response; perhaps it’s the fast paced environment and the immediate needs that are easier to fill; perhaps it’s the adrenaline; perhaps it’s the sense of adventure that fuels our altruism, I’m not entirely sure myself, as a self-proclaimed ‘disaster chaser’. So, here I find myself still in Haiti, working on projects that much more long-term sustainable development-orient than emergency disaster response. I have grown to love this country, a friend once said that it has a way of getting under your skin, and got under my skin, it has. Yet I also find myself perpetually antsy. I crave the fast paced environment, the immediate needs that can be filled and the adrenaline, and I am not alone.
By no means am I trying to insinuate that emergency response is better than development or vice versa; I believe in the acute and fundamental need for both and for people who are passionate and willing to work during each phase and both phases. One cannot exist without the other. For the moment, though, I have come to conclusion that I prefer the former to the latter.
Yesterday, a simple observation in a river bed in Southwest Haiti, caused me to start a deeper reflection on this.
