With the death toll from Hurricane Matthew rising in Haiti to 1,000 up to yesterday, cholera spreading rapidly and the dead being buried in mass graves, 22-year old Trinidadian Hadassah Hector leaves bravely today for the ravaged country to assist in relief efforts.
Hector, a full-time volunteer with the NGO Is There Not A Cause (ITNAC) since age 13, leaves T&T with another member, Debra Dowlat, on behalf of the organisation. They will be followed later on by five others.
Hector and Dowlat will spend two weeks in Haiti, focussing on districts in the hardest hit southwest region like Les Cayes and Leoganne, where cholera has been spreading due to floodwaters left in the wake of Matthew.
They will carry small amounts of supplies with them and enough funds to buy medicine in Port-au-Prince to administer to those needing it.
Guardian Media Limited journalist Khamla Georges will also be travelling with the ITNAC to provide coverage of the aftermath of the hurricane.
He will be staying for five days, where he will provide daily reports for both CNC3 and the T&T Guardian and he will produce a 30-hour video diary of the recovery efforts on his return home.
Hector, niece of ITNAC head Avonelle Hector, said she visited Haiti after Hurricane Ivan in 2008 and that would be her sixth visit to the poorest country in the Americas.
They will stay at an ITNAC base and be taken around by a bus the NGO bought for relief work in Haiti.
She said the NGO already had a mobile medical clinic in Haiti and they would go around with Haitian doctors and nurses to areas to help take relief to the sick.
They are also working closely with Haitian cooks employed by ITNAC to provide cooked meals for those needing food. Hector said there was not enough time to be afraid of anything.
ITNAC has been partnering with NGOs, FBOs and companies to collect relief supplies for Haiti, including Guardian Media Ltd, the T&T Cricket Board, Bankers Association, EIL Industries and a group of past pupils of Tranquility Government.
T&T nationals in the UK, US, Canada and the United Arab Emirates have also been co-ordinating relief efforts with ITNAC.
Hector said they have gotten quite a lot of help for Haiti, especially in the form of food supplies, toiletries and children’s clothing.