"Here I don’t have anything for my twins"
With people still trapped under the rubble after January 12's earthqueake, a new aftershock struck Haiti on January 20. Ten of thousands have died or lost their homes. Those who have survived are living in make-shift camps being treated or waiting for aid supplies, like Mirlene.
Mirlene's story
Mirlene, her husband and their four children — including 2-month-old twins, Kervens and Kerveson— they are sheltering at a makeshift camp on the grounds of a church near downtown Port-au-Prince. The camp, which formed spontaneously after the earthquake, has no sanitation facilities suitable for newborn babies, and hygiene conditions are poor. Mirlene says she cannot wash the babies as there is no clean water.
“My house has fallen down. I was at home when the earthquake hit, and I had to rush away with all my kids,” she says. “Here I don’t have anything for my twins. Some friends have given me clothes for them. But I have nothing to eat myself and I can’t breastfeed them properly. And with no water in the camp, I cannot wash them.”