International Rescue Committee UK

Karri Goeldner Byrne is the IRC's director of economic recovery programmes and is based in London. She has flown out to Haiti to work on a market mapping analysis designed to help speed recovery and independence for communities after a disaster. Photos: Ezra Millstein

We got up at 5am to head out for the distribution. Everyone wandered zombie-like through the house making sure that they had that last gulp of coffee or put on their sunscreen (despite the darkness) knowing there wouldn't be time once the distribution started. The plan was to hand out hygiene kits (soap, razors, washcloths, sanitary pads), collapsible jerrycans and underwear to about 800 women.

We drove in a convoy down to Belville, one of the newly-formed tent settlements. By the time we reached the distribution point the sun was up. And so was the whole neighbourhood. We backed the truck into the space, set up a registration table and taped off an area for the distribution. Women had been registered in the previous two days and all had tickets in their hand with their name, age, members in their household and their "address" in the camp.

Aisha somehow got everyone singing and clapping, lightening the mood for everyone, and at 7am we began. I was assigned to the truck. It was the best job I think. I took a ticket and handed each person the kit and underwear. The first hundred women or so were quiet and a bit shy, or had a distant look in their eye. I can understand that, I wouldn't want to be standing in this line either. I tried to greet them and say their name when I could (it was on the ticket), just acknowledging them as human beings, even though it felt like an assembly line. For the younger girls I tried to give them a bit of choice – "pink or yellow?" – but it was hard to do it for everyone. And some really didn't care. But just having a choice can bring some sense of dignity.

By 9am the sun was really strong; my face hurt a bit from smiling and the beginning of a sunburn. I loved my position on the truck, but it was time to take a turn on the registration table. By 11am we were finished. Successful by many measures! The most important one being that the women of Belville had something they needed and asked for. Tonight it is lightly raining: there is much more to do before the rainy season comes.

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