3/10/10 ANNOUNCEMENT:
Relief for Haiti joined with Do Your Part is collecting craft materials and school supplies for earthquake impacted Haitian children in Carrefour and Leogane. Summer Camp will be put on for 200-500 children and large military style tents are needed to shelter the kids and operate the camp. They'll get educational, fun games and craft activities, a meal and snacks to keep them busy and healthy all summer long. This is likely the only meal many of these children will have. Some of the staff are medical perssonel so they will also get medical attention when/where needed. Funds are needed to give the teachers that have been unemployed due to the quake and to purchase supplies. We'll have donation collection site information on hand soon (TBA).
Thanks for helping make this happen!
Leslie Teltoe, Schlene Boundy with Do Your Part/Citizen Action Team Relief Database and Gary Remy from Relief for Haiti
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FROM THE SITE:
Aid is on the way
A couple of weeks after the earthquake, we spoke to a couple of folks in Haiti. The situation was even direr than what we were seeing on television. The relief and rescue focus has been on Port-Au-Prince; however, the entire country has been affected, some areas are just worse than others.
Considerable damages have been done in cities as far as Jacmel, Ti Goave, Leogane (approx 20 to 75 miles away). Unfortunately, help has not yet reached those who are not in the immediate vicinity of Port-Au-Prince.
The rescue workers are focusing on finding survivors who are potentially still alive under the rubble.
Aid is pouring in, but logistically it's been a nightmare to move about where help is truly needed. According to our sources in Port-Au-Prince, most of the cargo and personnel are at a standstill at the Airport and Ports, due to a lack of coordination or absence of any local government officials. Most of the government infrastructure were either destroyed or badly damaged..
After almost a month, help is still slow in reaching some folks in the southern part of Port-Au-Prince. In Leogane in particular, 95% of the houses have either collapsed or sustained vast damages. My sister France, who is a nurse that barely escaped death, along with a local hospital in the area, were the first to provide some medical assistance to the wounded in Leogane. One cousin who was teaching in a class room at the time of the earthquake, was badly wounded and unfortunately died in my sister’s arms.
Relief For Haiti, Inc will take a team to Haiti. Our goal is to provide whatever assistance possible based upon the financial support we receive from your donations.
The most pressing need is money to pay for temporary lodging, food, and other basic necessities.
As far as we know at this point in time, there are still no commercial flights in and out of the area. The US Army has taken control of the airport. Only aid and supply planes/cargo are allowed to come in and out of Port-Au-Prince.
We may have to fly into the Dominican Republic and make the several hour trip by car into Port-Au-Prince.
It's all about survival
Folks are still camping and sleeping outside. Soccer fields and open areas are filled with displaced families. Kids, without parents, are roaming the streets, feeling dazed and confused. Poor sanitation is a major problem. Vomiting and diarrhea are on the rise. Some badly wounded have died while still awaiting medical attention.
I spoke to my cousin, Frantzy, who sleeps in the front yard of his friend's collapsed house. The main worry now is rain. After three weeks, those living outside have been fortunate that the weather has been cooperative and remained dry. However, with spring on the way, the rains are sure to come.
People are avoiding going inside some of the damaged buildings, for fear that they can still crumble at any minute. Habitants of Port-Au-Prince and surrounding areas are experiencing multiple aftershocks daily, some as high as 6.0.
The Earthquake: a perspective
After the cleanup is done, what’s next? Is Port-Au-Prince going to remain a city in ruins, haunted by diseases and bandits?
There are talks at the present, by international countries, spearheaded by France and the United States, to rebuild Haiti. The issue with that is Haiti was never properly built in the first place. The basic infrastructure such as, the water system, sewage, electricity, was nonexistent or impractical for more than fifty years. "Building Code" is a foreign context to Haitian authorities. At the current state of the Haitian Government, they do not have the capacity to manage billions of dollars in aid to Haiti. Based on the records, millions of dollars in aid could never be properly managed in the first place. The building or rebuilding effort has to come from outside management with local and foreign contractors.
The silver lining is the potential for jobs to be pouring into Haiti for the construction or reconstruction. We could see a new Haiti with a new Port-Au-Prince, where tourism flourishes again. Law and order could be restored along with accountability and responsibility from the government officials.
Recommendations:
Relief For Haiti believes in the "Decentralization" of Port-Au-Prince.
The immediate relocation of victims to other surrounding cities or to the outskirts of Port-Au-Prince, by providing sanitary and descent temporary housing.
A near future solution is to bring jobs to the folks in the countryside. International investors should take advantage of the availability of a workforce of millions, ready and eager to get back on their feet and restore their pride.
The earthquake struck poor and wealthy alike. Building codes have to be implemented and enforced. No more should the government allow unsafe squatters everywhere including those poorly built houses perched on the side of the mountains surrounding Port-Au-Prince.
Relief For Haiti - Plan for the future
Prior to the earthquake, the focus of the Organization was on the City of Leogane, a rural area 18 miles south of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Due to its location (gateway to the southern parts of Haiti), we wanted to start the building projects there. Now that 95% of Leogane’s infrastructure has been destroyed, our mission is still to move forward with:
The contruction of Schools, Medical clinics and nutritional programs.
Now more than ever we need your help to prepare Haitian kids for a brighter future by giving them access to good schools and teaching them a viable trade. Too many young lives are being wasted away, even before the devastating earthquake hit on the 12th of January 2010.
50% of the Haitian population is under the age of 18. Our endeavour will alleviate the burden on the poor Haitian families and on the United States’ immigration and economy.
Myself , along with many other Haitian kids, were raised in part by the American missionaries, Brother and Sister Thomas Brumley. The Brumleys came to Haiti as teens, in the early seventies, to start an orphanage for boys, in the Delmas (a suburban city north of Port-Au-Prince). They thought us English, the Bible, and other vocational skills such as: woodworking, carpentry, tailoring, and music. By the time we were adults, we were ready to face the future on our own. The opportunities I have today were direct result of their actions, which is also part of the reason that I am the Chairman of Relief For Haiti, Inc.
Other missionaries from around the world had the same desire to leave their lives in their respective countries to go to Haiti where they established schools and other charitable programs to help Haitian kids.
Why we exist as an Organization?
We formed Relief For Haiti, Inc. as a way to give back. We want to give to Haitian kids the same opportunities we had growing up. Haiti needs to be rebuilt. This time, we want to see it done properly and Relief For Haiti, Inc wants to be part of that rebuilding process because it is our duty as Haitians.
Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we are trying to help those in need to take the difficult road to recovery.
Please support us!
Thank you…