In February, the Canadian army came to the aid of the L’Arche Carrefour community. Soldiers installed tents, brought food, and dug trenches to channel rainwater in an effort to reduce the risk of flooding.

We are now in the season of “little rains” that extends from April to May— it is followed by the season of the “big rains” —and already the trenches can’t handle the water. It penetrates the tents, and the beds have been raised onto bricks so we don’t wake up to find our feet in water. In places, the winds have torn the canvas of the tents.

Cyclone season starts in June. Before reconstruction can begin—or before the community can be resettled somewhere else—this ordeal has to be endured. Eighty percent of the buildings are uninhabitable; consequently, the construction of prefabricated shelters that can be disassembled is unavoidable. We must find $30,000 to buy three shelters and to hire a competent construction crew that can build the structures so that they can withstand violent winds. The situation is urgent.

The most fragile and vulnerable members of the community have now been welcomed into L’Arche Chantal. More than half have left Port-au-Prince, including Jolibois and Esther. Esther, who is blind, wasn’t able to make her way easily around the grounds here, where more than 60 neighbours have been welcomed and have settled in. Jacqueline, the Community Leader, now manages more than a community—it’s more like a little village.

The money received is being used first and foremost to meet the basic needs of this little village, which remains an oasis of peace in the city of Port-au-Prince.

From the point of view of logistics, arrangements with international aid organizations means that food supplies for the community are ensured. Gas is, however, extremely scarce, and this poses recurring logistical problems in a situation that is often precarious.

The workshop where “mamba” (peanut butter) is made has started up again, welcoming once more its non-residential members, who truly need a place to gather and feel the comfort of community life. The distribution of the stock of mamba produced, however, is extremely difficult since the most important buyers—stores and little markets—don’t exist anymore. The workshop continues to function but is not receiving revenue for its labour.

The Ke Konten school, whose building was spared in the earthquake, is also up and running once again. Every day, the school welcomes 16 children affected by intellectual disabilities.

Now more than ever, L’Arche Carrefour is a place of gathering and hope. With the little it has, L’Arche is succeeding in helping many people from the neighbourhood who come to seek water, food, and comfort. During the Easter celebrations, more than 100 people gathered here for the foot-washing service.

Despite everything, life goes on. Little tremors can still be felt, and they create a climate of insecurity. Petty crime has multiplied, making it difficult to get a good night’s sleep. We often hear gunshots. The walls that crumbled can no longer protect the community’s enclosure. Hooded prowlers have penetrated the L’Arche grounds several times in the middle of the night.

Evelyne Bezier, President of the Board of Directors, went to Brussels in March, in response to a request from the European Union to represent the “voiceless” in a meeting about humanitarian aid in Haiti. The Board of Directors, which has been made fragile by the earthquake—especially by the deaths of two of its members in the earthquake—must be rebuilt. The Board’s members also live under tents and in very difficult conditions.

Isabelle Robert, Coordinator for Haiti, goes to Port-au-Prince regularly (once every six weeks) to encourage and support the community’s leaders. When she returned several days ago, she reported that the people in Haiti are tired but serene and that, in particular, the spirit of L’Arche remains very much alive in the heart of each person and of the community itself.

As for the incredible Haitian assistants who, for the most part, come from very poor or disadvantaged backgrounds, they are conscious that they are doing much more than simply helping L’Arche. They believe profoundly that by being at L’Arche they are supporting and helping all Haitians, because they have no doubts about it: they believe that Haiti needs L’Arche.

And you? What do you believe?