24 February 2010

Port-au-Prince, Haiti: To be a volunteer means more than doing what's expected of you. In the days and weeks after the Haiti earthquake, UNV volunteers made sure they got involved from the word go.

UNV volunteers Mariachiara Argenti and Mariana Palavra were in the annex to the Christopher Hotel, home of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), at the time of the earthquake.

Though the building they were working in did not collapse, the exit was blocked and they and other UN personnel had to be evacuated by the UN military component. "One by one we went down the ladder," recounts Mariana, a Public Information Officer with Radio MINUSTAH. "Just before getting out an aftershock hit."

Neither volunteer was able to return to their dwellings, and had to stay at the MINUSTAH Logistics Base. Italian National Mariachiara Argenti had to shelter in a tent, a car, a dispatch bus and an office for three weeks, while Mariana Palavra from Portugal took up residence in an ambulance. The volunteers later discovered that Mariachiara's house had been destroyed. But their immediate concern in the days after the earthquake was helping people however they could.

While Mariana played her part helping to put together a list of UN workers who had been firmly accounted for, Mariachiara – who also works in the MINUSTAH Public Information Section as a UNV volunteer Webmaster and Graphic Designer – found a role at the logistics base.

"Various humanitarian agencies were arriving, while other people needed to be evacuated," she says. "I decided to help get people to where they wanted to go. I boarded the planes that had landed, found out where they were going to, and helped get people to their destinations."

She remembers an injured French woman who had lost everything but her infant child. "She had no money, only a passport and a bag of nappies," says Mariachiara. "I found a plane that would be routed to France and helped get her home."

A week after the disaster, the Public Information Section returned to operations and there was essential work to be done keeping people informed. "As soon as the radio equipment was working," says Mariana, "we started broadcasting – messages about dealing with stress, keeping healthy and so on. We had hundreds of messages: Haitians seeking and giving information, and wanting to share their ideas about how to cope."

"The first thing we noticed when we went on air was music," adds Mariachiara. "None of us had heard music for days."

Like many other UN personnel, both felt they had a responsibility to keep working. "After the earthquake," Mariachiara comments, "you find a way to work, not to think about things. It didn't make sense if we were not helping in some way. We were woken up with requests for help at every hour, from finding people places to stay to arranging a meal for our cleaning lady."

Other UNV volunteers took immediate voluntary action too. Portuguese national Ana Estrada, who had been working as a recruitment psychologist for the UN Police, put her volunteer fire-fighter background into effect and started giving first aid to casualties in the hospital. She is now assisting UN staff as a Counsellor.

Mariana and Mariachiara add that Haitian people are also taking action. They know of several cases of Haitians immediately signing up with NGOs in order to help people worse affected than themselves.

Mariachiara Argenti, who had worked in London before joining NGOs in Afghanistan, Indonesia and Lebanon, concludes: "I think volunteering is what I want to do. In Haiti, volunteerism matters now more than ever. Every little thing helps."