By Anna Ridout, Senior Emergency Communications Officer

The day I met Guerline Laguerre, 28, she was due to give birth.

“I’m supposed to deliver on the second of the month (February),” she said. “I am waiting for the baby.”

“That’s today,” I said with alarm. We both laughed.

More than 200 families live squashed together in Camp Foundation St Preux, a makeshift settlement in Port-au-Prince. World Vision is providing pregnant women here with clean delivery kits to those who may be forced to give birth in poor camp conditions.

The kit includes soap, surgical gloves, clean sheets, sterilized string and razor to tie and cut the cord, gauze and a swaddling cloth for the baby.

Risk of complications
There are an estimated 37,000 pregnant women among those affected by Haiti’s earthquake, which devastated the capital city and surrounding areas on January 12.

In normal circumstances, 15 per cent of pregnant women experience complications during delivery, requiring medical interventions. The risk of complications increases dramatically following a disaster.

“Following the quake, hospitals and clinics are overwhelmed with critically injured survivors,” said World Vision’s health expert Fiona Perry. “A huge number of health facilities have also been completely destroyed.”

“We would obviously urge women to try to get to a health centre if they can,” said Perry. “But if this is impossible, we have provided more than 120 women with sterilized equipment for a clean ‘home birth’. We’re also starting up five mobile clinics in affected areas of Port-au-Prince.”

Guerline does not yet know where she will have her baby. “I will give birth anywhere in the camp or hospital,” she said. “But I know all the hospitals are full of people. There is no place to deliver, so it will have to be anywhere.”

“My friend will help me deliver and there are other people around here who can help.”

Giving birth on the ground
Because of the very limited healthcare available, Guerline has not received any pre-natal care since the quake, but she is strong and optimistic. “I think the baby’s healthy because it moves inside me all the time,” she said. “It’s kicking now.”

Her optimism is humbling as she sits and talks in the shelter she shares with a friend. It’s a small, square empty space. No bed, no pots or pans or clothes. No soap or bucket. She lives in a rough, rocky area made from scraps of corrugated iron and bed sheets.

“I have no mattress, just some sheets and a used carpet,” she said.

There is not even water on the day she is due to deliver. The camp is provided twice weekly by a water truck and it has also received some food but there are no toilets and sanitation is poor. For washing, most people in the camp pay for water from a source down the hill.

“When the committee gets food, they share it with me,” said Guerline. “Sometimes I have two meals a day, sometimes one a day. Today for example, I haven’t yet had anything.”

Life before the quake
When the earthquake hit Port-au-Prince, Guerline was walking along the street. “All the babies were crying,” she said. I ran inside a public toilet. When I looked outside, I saw the houses falling. I was very afraid because it was really shaky and the baby shook a lot inside my womb. It was really kicking.”

Guerline’s house she shared with her friend is now not safe enough to live in.

“I lived with my friend before,” she said. “I used to make peanut butter to sell in a jar. I sold a small jar for 25 gourdes (60 cents). I would distribute them to 22 street sellers and collect the money at the end of the week. When I have had the baby I will continue the business. On average I could make about 42 jars per week.

“Before the earthquake, life was very difficult for me. It wasn’t easy,” she said.

“When I became pregnant, the father said he had another woman and left me alone. It’s very hard to fight to live by myself. Sometimes during the night I’m afraid.”

Despite her fear and poverty, Guerline is determined to rebuild her life. “I’m a woman who fights for life,” she said. “Regardless of the situation, I will find a job and look after my baby.”

“If it’s a girl, I’ll call her Christelle, meaning follower of Christ. If a boy, he will be Christopher,” she said with a big smile.

Since then, World Vision has opening a mobile clinic a few minutes’ walk from Guerline’s camp.