Current news about earthquake-devastated Haiti

Many of you remember Margaret Trost and her wondrous What If? Foundation. If you’ve missed Margaret on one of her visits to Sonoma, please read her inspiring story in “On That Day, Everybody Ate.” Contact me or Readers Books to purchase your own treasured copy of Margaret’s book.

With the help of folks just like you, Margaret Trost had set up a hugely efficient, effective program providing nutritious freshly prepared meals for thousands of Haiti’s hungry children. When the earthquake hit on January 12, many of us shared her desperate need to know whether friends had survived and whether children could hope the feeding program might not be lost forever.

After several days, Margaret received the wonderful news that all the staff and volunteers had survived. Meeting new needs brought on by the disaster, Margaret guided the staff to make swift decisions in order to traverse challenging new conditions toward once again providing nutritious meals while – to this day – no aid whatsoever came from the Haitian government or any agency. At the same time, Margaret had to seriously ramp up her fundraising as well.

Now she’s returned from her first visit since the quake. She says it was “intense and overwhelming at times, but also inspiring and so affirming of our special partnership with the St. Clare’s community and the work we’re doing together to provide food and educational opportunities to children.”

She welcomes your connection and participation through the project’s website blog, photo gallery, and podcast page. “In a nutshell,” she adds, “the pictures being shown on television don’t begin to capture the scale of destruction, which is widespread and devastating.

“Tent communities with thousands of people living together without electricity, running water and, in most cases without toilets, are located in every open space.  I didn’t see a single bulldozer clearing rubble — just small groups of Haitians working with shovels and their bare hands in the debris.  There is a long road ahead to rebuild Port-au-Prince.  My heart breaks with the magnitude of the suffering, especially as the rainy season arrives.”

Beverley Bell, introduced by this column last fall, is known for dramatic empowerment of the downtrodden to create livable working communities in under-sourced regions. This compassionate, effective community organizer, through her just-released 28-page report, “From Disaster Aid to Solidarity,” provides a perspective similar to Margaret’s, though through a much wider lens.

The following “Executive Summary” may stimulate your desire to go online to read the entire report.

“The international response to Haiti’s earthquake, involving billions of dollars and led by the U.S. and U.N., comes with many problems. Notable ones are control of aid dollars, imposition of economic reconstruction plans, and militarism. Moreover, the Haitian state and grassroots have largely been denied formal opportunities to shape, or even engage in, the process.

“Nevertheless, ordinary Haitian citizens are engaged in their own humanitarian aid. With no more than their own hands, their slim resources, and their commitment to community, citizens have comprised the bulk of search-and-rescue teams, first responders, and ongoing aid providers. Behind the gestures are philosophies of solidarity, mutual aid, collective resilience, and resourcefulness.

“Some grassroots groups have taken the same impulses and turned them into organized programs. They are offering shelter, medical care, community mental health care, food, water, children’s activities, leisure activities, and security. Some of the programs also offer education and a supportive social structure, while others provide a launching pad for community organizing to shape their country’s future.

“This report explores ten of these aid and support initiatives, which are only a small subset of those now underway throughout Haiti. Together, the efforts offer a different vision and practice of what ‘humanitarian’ means. And they serve as a guide to what a society which privileges mutual aid over profit, and democratic participation over domination, could look like.”

Plan International has had an effective humanitarian aid program in Haiti for many years with an emphasis on community building and children’s education and empowerment. When I visited their headquarters in Port-au-Prince in 2006, I was well impressed by the efficiency, collaboration and dynamism I observed, and was deeply moved by the policy requiring all staff persons, with the exception of the executive director, to be Haitians.

Their enthusiasm regarding my visit was inspiring, and they made extraordinary efforts to connect me with the child I’d been supporting for some years through Plan International. When my crowded schedule as a member of a human rights investigative team blocked any opportunity for me to visit Almeda in her home village, Plan brought the youngster to me. On my final day in the country, an extraordinary staff member served as interpreter while I enjoyed breakfast with Almeda and her older sister before I left for the airport.

That Plan headquarters I’d visited was completely destroyed by the earthquake and while the organization quickly reactivated many of their programs, many of us sponsors have had to wait and wonder about the survival of those particular families we support because, as you can well imagine, all the records were obliterated on January 12 when the quake hit.

While I know that Almeda’s village, Croix des Bouquets, was severely hit, I’m somewhat encouraged by Plan’s latest newsletter. It shows a photo of sweet little girls in Croix des Bouquets jumping rope outside their new classrooms: sturdy tent roofs neatly aligned and ready for eager students.

Web sites to reference: 

www.whatiffoundation.org

www.otherworldsarepossible.org

www.planusa.org