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NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > RESCUE WORKERS FINDING HAITI “ICKY AND GROSS”
RESCUE WORKERS FINDING HAITI “ICKY AND GROSS”
January 18 2010
Port-au-Prince, Haiti – The tragic events that have so devastated Haiti in the last week are still likely to get a lot worse before they get better. As help finally begins to arrive, the true scale of destruction is now being uncovered. Still, disease and social 
disorder are omnipresent dangers, threatening to further the misery of the people who have already suffered so much. Even when the crisis passes the survivors will still be faced with great trauma, with family members and friends gone and their lives in chaos. For the people of Haiti it will be a long time indeed before recovery is possible.
For rescue workers as well the horror is very tangible. The heart-breaking reality of patients that can’t be helped, the growing danger of looters and rioters, and the sheer overwhelming destruction that has been visited upon the country are all things that ensure it will stay their collective memory for a long time, likely forever. Now, amidst all the chaos and tragedy that has befallen the country, many rescue workers are complaining about the growing difficulty of the working conditions. Surprisingly though it isn’t the long hours or the flying bullets, but rather the growing ickiness and grossness of the city of Port-au-Prince as bodies continue to decay and showers are no closer to being rebuilt.
“It’s awful, really just awful here. We are trying to do the best we can but the conditions are just awful. We have no supplies, I haven’t slept in over a day, there’s almost no food and the people here, and they just keep coming. It’s a total tragedy here and it just doesn’t seem to be getting better,” said Marie Johnston, a Red Cross worker from Shreveport, Louisiana. “The worst part though is this like layer of grossness all over everything. It’s like this layer of sweat and mud and smell. It’s just so icky and I can’t wait to get rid of it. Really, I need a shower but all of them were destroyed in the quake. Frankly as much as I like helping people if this situation continues I’m just going to have to leave. I can’t stand this anymore.”
Johnston also echoed the complaints voiced by many of her co-workers over the smell of the thousands of decaying corpses lying under the crumbled buildings.
“There’s little doubt that if these conditions existed in the United States the entire operation would be shut down, even in the face of a tragedy. Injured sure, tired fine, even dodging bullets is something most Americans are used to but the icky and gross nature of what is going on there is something totally unacceptable by virtually all working standards,” said Scrape TV Labour analyst Mika Borman. “Only in Haiti would this be allowed to go on. Even if you look at Katrina and the aftermath in New Orleans showers were provided. The agencies responsible for the clean up here really need to take a look at this and make sure that the conditions are cleaned up, and quickly.”
United Nations workers have reportedly been diverting water from drinking supplies towards their employees to take sponge baths though it’s not believed that that situation will be tolerable for long.
“There’s really nothing like a long, hot shower to really refresh and make you ready to take on the day. That is something many of these workers are used to having and exactly what they are being denied. It’s the little things that make workers happy and something like a shower would go a long way towards making happy workers,” continued Borman. “You have to remember that most of the workers there are not native and thus are used to a little different standard of living and that includes the occasional shower. If they don’t solve this situation quickly you may have a totally new level of unrest in the city which wouldn’t do anyone any good.”
Most workers we talked to would prefer to not wear nose-plugs, stating that it would be better for the smell to ‘just go away’.
Emil Uliya, International Correspondent
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