Love In A Time of Cholera

As if Haiti hasn't faced enough since the devastating earthquake earlier this year, the island state now is under onslaught from a cholera epidemic.  In many ways it was inevitable. While many have criticized the humanitarian response to that initial Haitian disaster as being too slow (partly true), the reality has been that Haiti itself was devastated in its infrastructure and services in ways that made quick recovery impossible.  An entire city, government buildings, rural infrastructure, health and educational institutions, and much more - these all must be rebuilt from the ground up, but not before the old sites are demolished because they are unsafe. Rebuilding was never destined to happen even within a year's time, and in that lag water became polluted and sanitation became a problem of great severity - thus, cholera.Initial assessments following the earthquake of January 2010 spoke to the reality that the sheer nature of reconstruction meant that cholera, and other related diseases, were likely inevitable.  Despite every effort to get clean water to the hundreds of thousands requiring it, relief agencies and government workers just didn't have enough time.  When the first signs of the outbreak were reported, plans were already in place to implement a quick response.  The difficulty was that no one quite knew where it would occur.  The Artibonite region on the north-central part of the country became ground zero, with hundreds of lives being lost and thousands more becoming infected.  It is an outbreak of significant proportions and, as with the earlier earthquake relief response, corrective measures take a long time in a country whose infrastructure has been wiped out.Canada faced its own cholera epidemic in the early-1800s, and how we handled it then speaks volumes about how our understanding and response has changed. New arrivals from overseas brought cholera with them on the many ships landing at Canadian ports.  The danger became so pronounced that a special quarantine station was built on Grosse Isle, below Quebec City.  Response to the disaster was initially slow and sporadic, with the main motivation being to protect the rest of the population.  The word "cholera" came from a Greek term meaning "gutter" - a vivid picture that caused Canadians to believe it was a disease of the lower classes, whose human waste often filled the gutters of communities.  Only later was it discovered that the disease was also running through the upper classes.  That revelation at last prompted fervent action as government officials, especially boards of health, were driven by the elites to offer protection. Wealth has its privileges, and over time the epidemic subsided.  It was the largest ever in Canada and has never been rivalled since.Free from danger within our own shores, Canadians are able to concentrate on the needs of Haitians in ways that are remarkable.  Numerous Canadian governments are putting in millions to provide new water wells and pumping stations.  The Haitian community, especially in Montreal, has responded with alacrity and spearheaded numerous humanitarian enterprises based on their own deep knowledge of the country and the fact that many still have relatives attempting to build above the rubble.  Groups like Samaritan's Purse and the Humanitarian Coalition (Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Quebec, CARE Canada, and Save the Children), to name just two, are responding in ways that speak of the compassion of Canadians to help a land troubled beyond our own collective imagination.  But Canadians, through their NGOs, churches, mosques, synagogues, service clubs, private companies, and governments are responding, as they always have.The situation is dire but not bleak, and things have begun to stabilize.  One can only hope that Canadians stay focused long enough so that the conditions that caused the cholera outbreak in the first place, and not just the disease itself, are eventually addressed and overcome.  Our compassion for Haiti must be matched by our determination to stay the course.  That's true humanitarian compassion in perspective.