Kiwi sailor helps Haiti

Kendra Titheridge's career as an officer with the Royal New Zealand Navy has taken her from boarding and intercepting drug-runners in the Caribbean to helping rebuild earthquake-shattered Haiti. Claire Connell talks to the 20-year-old Marlborough woman who is more than 13,000 kilometres from home.

Kendra Titheridge's first day working in Jacmel, Haiti, as part of the Royal New Zealand Navy was spent shovelling rubble by hand in 48 degrees Celsius temperatures, digging holes for toilets and pulling possessions from the wreckage.

The early images of wounded children, the poverty, the smell and taste of years of rubbish and filth and the tent cities that existed long before the earthquake, still stick in Kendra's mind.

Kendra has been helping out in Haiti since the magnitude 7 earthquake hit on January 12. It destroyed hundreds of buildings in the capital, Port-au-Prince, killing more than 200,000 people and injuring about 300,000.

Her role in the Royal New Zealand Navy as a bridge watchkeeper under training, as well as a seaman officer, has taken her as far afield as Canada, Scotland and now Haiti.

On board the HMCS Athabaskan, a 130-metre destroyer, Kendra has been abroad since August last year while on a year-long exchange with the Canadian Navy.

She arrived in Halifax, Canada,before being transferred to the frigate HMCS Halifax.

After a few days at sea, the earthquake struck and life was about to change dramatically for the millions of people in Haiti.

Born in Blenheim, Kendra spent most of her childhood here, apart from a stint in the Cook Islands while her father, Roy, was on a teaching exchange.

A former student of Springlands School, Bohally Intermediate and Marlborough Girls' College (deputy head girl), Kendra joined the navy after seventh form "to see the world and learn about it".

But these days she is a far cry from Marlborough, parents Roy and Jan, and younger sister Jemma (head girl at Marlborough Girls' College).

Based off the coast of Leogane, within sight of Port-au-Prince, the ship continuously patrols about 5 nautical miles from shore.

Recently she spent time visiting Haiti to help clear rubbish, setting up makeshift first-aid facilities and removing rubble from the roads as part of Operation Hestia (a programme run by the Canadian military to help in Haiti).

On their first day helping, the military crashed out in the scorching temperatures after being used to the snow in Canada, others consumed their body weight in water and everyone returned exhausted, Kendra says.

In Jacmel, 40km south of Port-au-Prince, most buildings have collapsed and all of the poorer local shacks are destroyed.

Many of the poorly constructed concrete and brick buildings are either piles of rubble or standing precariously with cracked walls and foundations.

Kendra says people are still living inside these dangerous buildings, even though aftershocks of up to 5 and 3 magnitude are still being felt. Most are in makeshift tent-houses made from anything they can find.

"It's how you would imagine and see from in front of your television screen – refugee camps filled with tarpaulin roofs, Gib walls and sheets," Kendra says.

The only buildings still standing within 50km of the red-zone (almost directly under Port-au-Prince) are the wealthier Western-style buildings.

But Kendra thinks news broadcasts from the site portray a different view of what is going on.

"The reporters here seem to value the soft, easy-to-swallow stories over reality. I have always believed the public deserves the truth, and although it may be nicer to hear about the baby being found alive in rubble after five days, it would do many more good to hear the cold facts.

"Although the appreciation will never equal seeing these scenes with your own eyes, being sheltered does no-one (any) good. Neither does the flowery language and the compliments focused solely on our own countries' work."

Despite the adventures, and loving life on board the ship and as part of the military operations, Kendra sometimes misses the small things. There are no coloured duvets, regular clothing, nail polish or a day off on a Sunday, she says.

Tramping, jandals and tomato sauce are replaced with life inside an iron ship for long periods. Time is of the essence, so calling home is limited to once a week – if she's lucky.

Since arriving in Haiti, her world views have also changed. Before arrival, she regularly gave spare change to people on the streets, donated to aid agencies and believed "that if the world just stopped being selfish, we could fix the terrible things that happen every day".

However, within 24 hours of being ashore, she was shocked by the majority of Haiti residents who stood or sat watching as Kendra and her crewmates "shovelled, sweated and melted in the heat, clearing their roads".

She observes that Haiti and its people have become reliant on wealthy countries and their handouts over time. "It's almost as if they believe if they wait long enough, someone will come in and fix everything for them, though this is not the case for everyone.

"Many Haitians are more than willing to pick up the shovel and dig alongside the group, and there are old people that wave and cheer and support us as we patrol past with our working equipment slung over our shoulders," she says.

Kendra's desire to help people in need hasn't changed, but her outlook has. She's now a firm believer in the age-old proverb: "Give a man a fish and you'll feed him for a day; give him a net and you'll feed him for a year".

"People need the tools, skills and industry to build their own country and lives which has the added advantage of intertwining ownership and pride in their country. Sometimes kindness is denying the easy fix and taking a hard line."

While in the area, Kendra has also had the chance to fly over an isolated Haitian island.

"The majority of the place was vegetation, with coconut trees lining the shore. You could see small, flax-hatched roofs and shacks, in groups of about 10 the men, women and children carrying bundles of sticks, or fishing or just playing.

"It's a side of Haiti I hadn't seen yet, the happy, normal side. I was almost jealous. They live in such a beautiful place, and although they live simply, with little education or money, I envied the lack of complication in their lives."

The work in Haiti is daunting and the damage seems never-ending, but Kendra is having an experience of a lifetime.

"Sometimes I read about the history of Haiti and I worry the pattern of `wealthy country gives poorer country aid then leaves' will be repeated, not only here but all over the world.

"Do we in luxury truly get so easily bored and distracted with a country in need, that the next disaster diverts all our attention? It's best to look at the smaller things. When I move (a) rock I know someone else will not have to."

- The Marlborough Express