Some people there have not eaten or drunk water for three or four days, which is inexcusable.

We need additional troops, food, water. We need personnel, law enforcement. This has turned into a situation where the city is being run by thugs.

Rohan said there have been dramatic improvements. Most of the infrastructure - the roads and water lines, for example - are back in order. They're working hard on reconstructing schools. The country has socialized medicine, and the government clinics are being rebuilt, too.

The next few days, staying hydrated is the big thing and avoiding consuming contaminated foods and water. ... If you can do that, you're probably OK for a week. Beyond that, unless we get water and electricity going, it's going to be impossible to live here. Just impossible.

We cannot afford to take another hit like that from water.

[But if Boyden grew up canoeing across cold-water lakes and tramping through the birch forests with his relatives, no one ever explained their connection. His parents were raised during the 1930s when native heritage was considered shameful and many mixed-race people would pretend to be white.] I think my grandmother lived with this quietly, unhappily, ... My mother just refused to recognise it so didn't grow up with any kind of prejudice.