Solving a complex crisis requires time, creativity
Natural disasters often happens in an instant and are measured in universal terms, but recovery is much more complicated to gauge or quantify. Real recovery can take years.
One year after a magnitude-7.0 earthquake in Haiti destroyed nearly 190,000 homes and left more than 1.5 million survivors homeless or displaced, visible progress has been painfully slow.
But recovery is not a destination; it is a path.
Even before the earthquake, Haiti was one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. Rebuilding for lasting change must be based on the concepts of empowerment and self-help that have always distinguished Habitat for Humanity's work. The foundation for long-term, sustainable change has been built here. And hope is alive.
It is most evident in the faces of the Haitian people, who have resumed their lives with stoic resilience. Against a post-apocalyptic background, people sell fresh produce, spare tires, fried bananas and intricate wall sculptures made from discarded steel drums. Since the earthquake destroyed the university in Port-au-Prince, classes have been meeting under shade trees or in tents. Younger students march off to school every day in brilliant, perfectly pressed uniforms.
On Sunday mornings, the sound of hymns-hundreds of voices strong-wafts up the hillsides from churches that are still mostly rubble. In sanctuaries without walls, the worshippers are there to praise God.
"There is still a long way to go," says Claude Jeudy, national director of Habitat for Humanity Haiti. Over the past year, "I've seen desolation. I've seen devastation. I've seen people crying. I've seen strong people become very weak. I've seen families who didn't know what to do, where to go.
"But today, if you visit some villages where Habitat has provided some housing solutions, you will see families coming together, joking, singing, playing. It's a good sign of hope."
