Despite dancing in the streets of Port-au-Prince following the departure of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the situation in Haiti remains uncertain today. According to Wesley Charles, World Vision Haiti national director, the protection of civilians and gaining access to communities cut off from humanitarian supplies continue to be critical in the short-term.

While law and order are waiting to be re-established across the country, World Vision is seeing shortages of affordable food and commodities in the northern region of Haiti.

• A cup of peas that used to sell for seven gourdes ($0.23 Cdn) has tripled to 20 gourdes.
•  A sack of rice has increased 300 per cent to 1250 gourdes (just over $40 Cdn).
• Essentials like salt have seen the biggest increase: 15 times - to 15 gourdes.
•  Access to food by those living in rural areas has been compromised since rising gas prices hiked the cost of local public transportation four times.

"Once security and access are restored, World Vision is well positioned to respond to the growing humanitarian needs resulting from the current political crisis," Charles says. "World Vision's core staff members are still in place throughout the country, and supplies of food, medicine and clothing are securely stored in warehouses in Port-au-Prince."

Charles supports the arrival of the UN-backed Multinational Interim Force to reinstate law and order, but says Haitians and the international community together must take an honest look at the mistakes that were made in past interventions in the 1990s, the early years of Haiti's democracy. "This time, we must ensure that rebel groups and pro-Aristide militias are disarmed and demobilized, and that the arms flow to Haiti is stopped," he says. "There must also be accountability for human rights violations, those committed during the recent crisis and in the past."

World Vision is committed to fostering lasting and just change sustainable in Haiti. "World Vision has been working in Haiti for 25 years," he points out. "We make long-term commitments to work with communities, to give them hope for the future, to bring them to a place of sustainability. We appreciate the support now coming from Canada and other countries, and we urge international leaders to walk with us for the long-term. This will help prevent future conflict, which is so costly in human lives and so costly for the international community to clean up afterwards."

* 30 gourdes = $1 Cdn

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization active in more than 90 countries, providing help to more than 85 million people each year.