UNifeed: HAITI / ELDERLY

HAITI / ELDERLY

Without proper medication, food and protection, Haiti's elderly population is becoming increasingly vulnerable to the humanitarian crisis looming in the country.MINUSTAH

Duration:02:13Date:05 February 2010

Categories:

HUMANITARIAN AID AND RELIEF, PROTECTION OF AND ASSISTANCE TO REFUGEES AND DISPLACED PERSONS, SPECIAL HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS, HAITI, United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti

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Full Script

STORY: HAITI / ELDERLY 
TRT: 2:13 
SOURCE: MINUSTAH 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE 
LANGUAGE: CREOLE / NATS

DATELINE: 5 FEBRUARY 2010, PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI

SHOTLIST:

1. Pan right, Saint Pierre settlement 
2. Med shot, elderly woman sitting in her tent 
3. Close-up, elderly woman 
4. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Adelicia Siffrin, 80 years old: 
“I have a house of nine rooms. Everything has been flattened. Not a single room left. I came here to find a shelter. They stole everything from my home. But I preferred to save life and the one of my five children. When I saw that the house was shaking like that, I escaped. I told this girl who is next to me: This is an earthquake, a disaster. When we got out, it went “boom.” 
5. Med shot, two elderly women 
6. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Adelicia Siffrin, 80 years old: 
“As you can see I just got those pills. But they (aid) speak English. I don’t understand English. I showed them (making sign of eating). They showed me to go over there in the queue. But I can’t stand on my feet so I left.” 
7. Various shots, settlements with shelters 
8. Med shot, elderly men sitting 
9. SOUNDBITE (Creole) Jack Nickson, 87 years old:   
“I haven’t found anything yet… because I can’t struggle to stand on my feet. If they told us to go somewhere where we can get a voucher we would take it. But even if we have the voucher it is difficult to get some food.” 
10. Various shots, medical consultation provided by Nicaraguan military 
11. Close-up, elderly woman being consulted 
12. Med shot, elderly woman being helped on her way out

STORYLINE:

Without proper medication, food and protection, Haiti’s elderly population is becoming increasingly vulnerable to the humanitarian crisis looming in the country.

International aid agencies report that older people are often left behind and forgotten in a catastrophe of this magnitude.

Eighty-year-old Adelicia Siffrin lives in a tent at Saint Pierre, Port au Prince. When her home was destroyed on 12 January, all her belongings were stolen.

SOUNDBITE (Creole) Adelicia Siffrin, 80 years old: 
“I have a house of nine rooms. Everything has been flattened. Not a single room left. I came here to find a shelter. They stole everything from my home. But I preferred to save life and the one of my five children. When I saw that the house was shaking like that, I escaped. I told this girl who is next to me. This is an earthquake, a disaster. When we got out, it went “boom.”

Older people like Siffrin are finding it hard to get medication in this post earthquake environment. Feeling weak and unable to speak English to communicate with aid groups, she is often left without the medication that she needs.

SOUNDBITE (Creole) Adelicia Siffrin, 80 years old: 
“As you can see I just got those pills. But they (aid) speak English. I don’t understand English. I showed them (making sign of eating). They showed me to go over thee in the queue. But I can’t stand on my feet so I left.”

The UN Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) recently highlighted that the elderly together with pregnant women should be are given priority when receiving rations. For 87-year-old Jack Nickson, who struggles to stand on his feet, standing in line to receive rations is a challenge.

SOUNDBITE (Creole) Jack Nickson, 87 years old:   
“I haven’t found anything yet, because I can’t struggle to stand on my feet. If they told us to go somewhere where we can get a voucher we would take it. But even if we have the voucher it is difficult to get some food.”

The elderly are considered one of country’s most at-risk groups and are often the care-takers of younger family members. Even before the earthquake, because of the impact of HIV and AIDS on middle generations, and because parents often leave Haiti to seek work, thousands of older people in Haiti were caring for younger family members.

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