On our first day in Port-au-Prince, we have gone out with the UNICEF nutrition team to visit several baby tents. These tents are run by ACF (Action Contre la Faim) with UNICEF support. In them, mothers breastfeed their babies in a calm atmosphere. Apart from this, they can receive psychological support and nutritional advice. Their children get to play.

“I was worried because my daughter wasn’t eating; that is why I came here”, says Anite Dorleyan, a 32 year old mother. Her 11 month old baby girl, Constance stares at me with big brown eyes. “In the earthquake I have lost my husband, my mother and my niece. I have also lost my house. I now live in a tent”.

Today is Anite´s first day in this tent in Champs de Mars. With a mix of trepidation and curiosity she watches as staff weight Constance. 6,6 kilograms, they tell her - or about 3 kilos less than her ideal weight.
Anite says she will be coming every day until Constance gets better. When the medical consultation is finished, Anite starts dressing Constance with a pretty pink dress. The baby looks even more beautiful.

I speak with one UNICEF´s nutritionists and she says that there are 10 to 15 more possibilities that the children die if they are not breastfed. In emergencies, breastfeeding is critical. In the first days after the earthquake the mothers stopped breastfeeding their children because they had to look for shelter and food. With the baby tents initiative, UNICEF and their partners try to encourage mothers to restart.

“I think a new Haiti will be built. This is my dream. But it mustn’t take too long. We need this in the short term”. Jean Thomas Tias, 26 year old father has brought her daughter Dania Tias, ill of diarrhea. He studies economics at the Faculté des Hautes Études, in Port-au-Prince, and is due to finish in two years´ time. “I am looking for a job, I have sent my CV to several companies”.

After our first visit, we moved to the national stadium of Port-au-Prince, called Sylvio Cator. The stadium has been converted into a big settlement where thousands of people have their new home. Near the baby tent I met Sharleen Cedant, a 17 year old girl that asks me where could she leave her baby. She says she can’t take care of him. Since the earthquake she sleeps in a bench in Champ de Mars and spends the day in the stadium. “No one wants to share their things with me”, says Sharleen.

On our way back to the base we can see the terrible level of destruction that the earthquake has caused. Although, I am impressed by the level of activity in the streets. Many buildings are completely destroyed. In some of them we have seen their owners trying to find their things. I see a couple that walk out of the rubble with two bags. It’s probably all they have left. We continue our way, but the UNICEF driver wants to show us how his house was destroyed. “I have lost three of my children. One of them was my only daughter, she was 22”. I remember I have heard about this man and his misfortune when I was in my office in Madrid, but now I was in front of him, in front of the house he used to have, now turned into rubble.

After this there is a big silence in the car. We are returning to the Minustah base. “Mesi anpil”, I say to myself. It means ‘thank you very much’ in creole. Yes, mesi anpil, it has been a beautiful day.