When her 11-year-old daughter, Noel-Dina, was hit by fever and unbearable abdominal pain, Oriata did not hesitate.
She immediately took her child to the nearest hospital. “She couldn’t go anymore because she was so weak. I had to carry her on her back. I was terribly worried and thought I would lose her,” said Oria, her eyes filled with tears.
That day, Noel-Dina was diagnosed with cholera.
Oriata (center) participates in a social campaign against cholera.
Like many children in their rural neighborhood in Grand-Gove west of the Haitian capital of Port-Au-Prince, she lived without access to basic sanitation facilities. “We had no choice but to use the outdoors like our toilet. That’s how the disease came into our lives,” ORIIA explained.
Cholera spread
Cholera has recently spread in Haiti. So far this year, more than 3,100 suspected cholera has been reported nationwide.
A toddler is treated for cholera in a hospital in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.
Between 21AndOn September 25 alone, 40 suspected cases and three deaths were reported in Pétion-Ville, a busy suburb with many schools-a worrying development with the new year of study to begin.
Young adults who typically move a lot, emerge for most cases and burn the worries of the disease.
UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said the UN’s humanitarian coordination office, OCHA, worked “with the authorities and our partners to ensure that there is a strict case monitoring and that health workers are quickly mobilized to reduce the risk of the further spread of cholera.”
Social action
Eleven-year-old Noel-Dina survived thanks to timely medical treatment.
Her painful experience was a turning point, as thanks to consciousness campaigns in their field, her mother, Oria, found that the lack of latrines was one of the main causes of the spread of cholera and other waterborne diseases.
A health worker performs sanitation procedures when people enter a cholera facility in Haiti.
Without waiting for outside help, she started digging a grop in her yard.
“I didn’t have a lot of resources, but I knew I had to do something, not only for my daughter, but for all children in the neighborhood,” she explained.
Oriata didn’t stop there. After seeing her daughter gradually regained strength, she became involved in attention -taking care activities in her community that went from house to house to encourage other families to intervene.
Her commitment triggered a wave of solidarity.
“When someone started digging a grop and couldn’t continue, we would meet to help them, and we did this house for house until it became a movement,” she remembered.
This mutual support transformed their neighborhood. Latrines became the norm and hygiene practice, such as systematic hand washing was adopted by everyone.
“Today, when you go through here, you no longer smell a bad smell because no one relieves himself outside anymore,” she said.
Full of dreams
As she sits on her bed, her math-notes open in front of her, Noel-Dina smiles shyly. She dreams of becoming a nurse. Every day, she helps her mother at home and wash her hands thoroughly after using the toilet, actions that have become automatic.
“Before, I had to go out. Now we have a latrine at home and I’m glad my mother built it. She did it for me and for everyone,” she said.
Other communities also intervene with the support of the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF and the local authorities.
Nearly 3,000 households now have access to safe and hygienic latrine sand and 30 hygiene clubs, 22 in schools and 8 in health centers, are created to encourage good practice among children, teachers and medical staff.
“Before, there were bacteria everywhere and children often got sick. Now, even when a child has a fever, it’s no longer because of dirt. They are healthier and happier,” Oriata said.
