Haiti earthquake
Five years after an earthquake rocked Haiti, a local charity is still helping the country’s vulnerable. Charles Raspin talks to founder Carwyn Hill and his patron, Downton Abbey actress Laura Carmichael
A woman is giving birth. Her agonising cries fill the room and her hands twist the bedsheets. This is not a hospital, but Lady Sybil’s bedroom at Downton Abbey. These are not nurses clustered around, but her anxious family. There is joy as the baby emerges, but, suddenly, concern. Something’s wrong. Her husband begs her to breathe, but there’s nothing he can do. Her sister, Lady Edith, looks on in horror as she dies.
100 years on, the fate of Lady Sybil in the popular ITV drama Downton Abbey seems a relic from the past. With modern medical treatment, problems like Lady Sybil’s eclampsia – seizures caused by high blood pressure in pregnancy – are simple to detect and prevent.
Actress Laura Carmichael, who plays Lady Edith, knows this only too well. On the night that particular episode aired, one of her friends suffered from pre-eclampsia. After a Caesarean section, both she and her baby were fine – but for many women in other parts of the world, the reality is starkly different.
Haiti 3
Some 63% of women in Haiti still give birth at home with no medical support, while those who do make it to hospital often face a total lack of resources. That’s why, in 2013, Laura became patron of Haiti Hospital Appeal, a Croydon-based charity that’s filling the gap by assisting the most vulnerable in an already vulnerable country.
She says, “Like many people, I heard about Haiti during the earthquake in 2010 but it’s easy to forget when it’s not the first headline any more. I met the Appeal’s founders through friends, and I was inspired.”
Surbiton’s Carwyn Hill is one of those founders, with his wife Reninca and friend Jonnie Horner. The three were students at Bristol University when they began the Appeal in 2005 after a visit to Haiti.
Carwyn explains, “We went to one of the country’s largest hospitals, based in the north of Haiti. There were amazing staff, doing the best they could, but the paediatric unit was just an old, decaying room. We saw an 11 year-old girl called Judy. She'd just passed away and the doctor said he knew exactly how he could have saved her; he just lacked the basic materials. We couldn't just come home without trying to help.”
Through their Appeal the trio established a community health centre in the same region, which now treats thousands each year. More children are being vaccinated in the country than ever before, and the Appeal’s ambulance services run across North Haiti. Carwyn himself has spent some time behind the wheel.
“After the quake, we went into emergency mode,” he says.
“We’d been there for years, so while the bigger agencies were still setting up, we were doing trips across the country distributing aid.”
Carwyn is at pains to emphasize how HHA works with Haitians. “Our aim from the beginning has been to equip the Haitian people with both knowledge and resources. To give an example – when we first started there was very limited understanding of spinal care in Haiti, so we set up a spinal rehabilitation unit. At this point it’s entirely run by Haitians, and injured people who in the past would have lived for just one or two years are now graduating from university.”
Huge numbers were left paralysed by buildings that collapsed in the earthquake, and the rehabilitation process can take months.
The Appeal’s unit offers care that crowded hospitals or emergency field centres are ill-equipped to provide.
“The unit was visited by Anne Strike, the paralympian,” says Carwyn. “She was brilliant: she’s a beautiful, articulate woman with a disability, which you could see challenged a lot of local preconceptions. There’s great stigma against disabilities in Haiti, so having someone as athletic and bubbly as her visit the unit was fantastic.”
The Appeal’s empowering strategy was very much informed by the founders’ initial encounter with Dr Paul Toussaint – the doctor who knew exactly what to do, but lacked the tools with which to do it. He’s now the medical director of the hospital with which their centre is partnered. For Carwyn, he typifies the Haitian spirit.
“The people we work with are incredibly resilient. Dr Toussaint lost his daughter shortly after the earthquake, and he was back in hospital next week. He said, ‘There are so few paediatricians available – if I’m not here, other parents will be put through the same pain.’ That kind of courage is commonplace in Haiti.
“Just last week, a lady was brought to the hospital, just after delivery. She was anaemic, and bleeding badly, and they couldn’t find the right blood. Dr Toussaint overheard this, and realized he matched her blood type – he marched over there, and literally gave his blood to save this woman. These are the people we’re working with, and they deserve our support.”
Estimates vary, but the earthquake is thought to have killed more than a hundred thousand and left countless injured. If Haiti’s people rose to the challenge then so, Carwyn feels, did those outside the country.
“Before the earthquake, Haiti was relatively unknown to people in the UK. It was the black sheep of the Caribbean, this mysterious voodoo country, and that made fundraising a bit of a challenge. The quake drew attention – it touched hearts across the world, and brought interest and support.”
Keeping that interest going after five years is the challenge now facing the Appeal. Many major agencies have finished their time in the country, leaving gaps in the system which the smaller charities have to fill.
“Many of the problems we face didn’t start with the quake, so now we’ve more responsibilities and less money to tackle them. That's a real challenge for smaller charities like us,” Carwyn explains.
“I've seen clinics close in our area, and charities struggle with funding. Still, there is progress, and there have been results and we need to talk about them.”
To garner publicity, having a high profile patron like Laura can really help. She first visited Haiti in 2013, and founded the A Royal Birth campaign, an annual Christmas fundraiser giving mums and babies a better chance of a safe birth.
Hunter Kittrell
Haiti Hospital Appeal
“Laura has been brilliant,” says Carwyn.“She went out into the community, met with traditional birth attendants and saw the reality for herself, so she’s been very strong in helping to advocate the maternal health side of things. She’s great at helping with press opportunities, fundraising events and waving the flag to keep Haiti in people’s minds.”
Laura says, “HHA is a small charity making a huge difference. Every penny donated goes to Haitan doctors and nurses providing essential healthcare. I cannot praise Carwyn, Reninca and Jonnie enough. Their passion and commitment is inspiring and it’s easy to see the impact they’ve had. I visited some very poor areas in Cap-Haïtien. In areas with no electricity or running water, where homes are built on rubbish tips, HHA administers vital care.”
Is another trip to Haiti on the cards for the Downton actress?
“I will be back as soon as my schedule allows, hopefully at the end of the year,” she says, adding, “It’s impossible not to be moved by the founders’ work. In fact, on meeting them, one of my good friends decided to spend three months working for the hospital in Haiti. She moves there in September. The energy and love for what they do is infectious.”
In the meantime, the Haiti Hospital Appeal has to keep raising money. They receive grants from the Department for International Development and the Swiss Paraplegic Foundation, but much of their fundraising is focused on community events and individual sponsors, many from Surrey. Up next is a sponsored relay cycle from London to Switzerland – to accompany Fritzner, a former Haitian patient who is also participating in the Paraworld Cycling Championships.
Carwyn outlines more ways that HHA is hoping to support Haiti and I can see how his enthusiasm drew Laura in.
Does he think that the work in Haiti will ever be finished? Carwyn’s answer neatly sums up the Appeal’s mission: “There’s always more you can do,” he says.
To find out more visit: haitihospitalappeal.org; (020) 8462 5256
Photo credits: Hunter Kittrell
