Quake survivor Dris Prophete: Hey, it's Haiti man!
| 14:01 UK time, Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Dris Prophete was a survivor of the Haiti earthquake, and took World Have Your Say around the devastated island when we visited in April. . He will writing a blog post for us each month as people try to recover from the disaster. This is his first entry.
Hello! I'm Dris Prophete, a survivor of the most devastating natural disaster in modern history - the earthquake that hit Haiti on 12 January.
It killed more than 250,000 people and left more than a million and a half homeless.
From now on, I'll keep you informed on a monthly basis, on the latest developments in my homeland where everything changed since that terrible day.
Indeed, Port-au-Prince, the capital city where I live, looks like a place that was bombarded: most of the buildings are down, the houses that still stand are badly damaged, amputees have become a very visible minority, most people are still mourning the lost of a loved one and the population is still living in very inhumane conditions.
There are so many questions I know people have - and I will be giving you my point of view.
Why are things so bad? What has become of that outpouring of compassion we saw in the wake of the quake? What's being done to protect this vulnerable populace from the upcoming hurricane season, which will apparently be one of the most active ever?
Also, why is the money so slow to come? British Petroleum has already spent more money to clean the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico than the international community has in Haiti.
Why are the reconstruction projects still in the pipeline, and not on the ground? Why are NGOs so powerful in Haiti, and what real impacts do they have on the life of the people they pretend to be helping?
To these questions and others I'll give my say, report the people's say, and even tell you how I'm coping with these new realities myself.
I invite all you to have your say on what I say. I'm sure we'll have fun together; yep!
I said fun, because despite the ambient despair people are still enjoying themselves in this part of the world, that's what's up, that's Haiti man!
See you soon.
World Have Your Say is looking for other people who would be able to provide us with monthly updates from where they are - in particular, countries where life is largely unreported. If you are interested, email worldhaveyoursay@bbc.com
