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3 March 2010
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Article
Unleashing the Haitian enterprising spirit
On my recent trip to Haiti, I was filled first with despair and then hope. Despair for the overwhelming human and physical destruction. Hope because of the quiet strength, resilience, and determination of the Haitian people. I spent my time in the sprawling tent camps in Port-au-Prince. It's estimated that 1 million people now live in these camps — with no water or sanitation and where people sleep under bed sheets tied to sticks in the ground. The city is now populated with amputees, orphans and the homeless. This was a desperately poor population before the earthquake. What little they had is now gone. Let us not forget that this is a disaster of extreme poverty. This earthquake did not need to result in such devastation. The Northridge earthquake that took place in southern California in 1994 similarly struck a dense urban area and was nearly as strong as Haiti's quake (a 6.7), yet its toll of human misery wasn't nearly as high. Sixty people died in California; as many as 230,000 people have died in Haiti. People died because they lived in shanties perched on hillsides, because they were in buildings that were poorly built in a crowded city of three million on a fault line with no building codes. As I spent time in the tent camps, I thought, 'How are Haitians going to survive, let alone rebuild?' The answer became clear to me as I watched how Haitians live their daily lives. Everywhere I went, they were making the most of meager resources — washing a shirt in a plastic bottle of water, taking scraps of food and stretching them into a meal, scavenging through rubble to find material to rebuild a hut. Their enterprising spirit and drive for survival sprung quickly to life after the earthquake. In one small tent, I met Charlene Malebranche. There she lived with her husband and two little girls, Dahlia and Sahina, and a 16-year-old friend who had lost her entire family. They had retrieved cinder blocks from the rubble to make an uncomfortable floor that would keep them off the mud when the rainy season begins. Charlene invited me to sit in her tent. She talked about how they all sleep holding each other since they are afraid of another earthquake. Her two girls never leave her side. She takes some of the rice she has received in distributions and makes a traditional dish, akasan, to sell for a bit of cash on the street. She smiled warmly throughout our conversation and showed a quiet but fierce determination to ensure her family's survival. Charlene Malebranche and her daughters. Photo: Linda Mason/Mercy Corps I witnessed this same strength and resolve when I met another mother, Haiti's First Lady, Elisabeth Delatour Preval. The earthquake was a great equalizer. Like so many others, her home and place of work were destroyed along with most government buildings. I met with the First Lady in the government's makeshift headquarters in a small police station near the airport. First Lady Preval is passionate about the needs of Haiti's children and parents. Half of Haiti's people are under 18. Madame Preval echoed the sentiments of Charlene. The half-million children living in the tent camps are frightened and clutching their parents, who are equally as afraid. I went to Haiti on behalf of Mercy Corps and Bright Horizons. They have created a Comfort for Kids program, implemented after 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the Sichuan earthquake in China to help parents and caregivers effectively respond to children's emotional needs and symptoms of trauma. Collaborating with First Lady Preval, Mercy Corps is now conducting this training program throughout the day in some of the city's massive tent camps. Prior to the earthquake, 70 percent of the population survived on less than $2 a day. This extreme poverty existed despite, or perhaps because of, the massive amounts of aid that have been pumped into the country for decades. Yet I marveled as I saw street vendors and markets spring back into life within days of the earthquake. There is a deeply embedded positive, entrepreneurial spirit in the Haitian culture. There is hope that now Haiti can be rebuilt stronger and better. Aid agencies should build on this enterprising spirit and give people the tools to help themselves. One effective approach is the cash-for-work programs that are being introduced by forward-thinking relief agencies. Residents can decide what is most needed for their community, and workers are paid a daily wage to clear rubble, dig drainage ditches or build latrines. With their daily wages, families can buy the things they need most with money they have earned — restoring dignity — while also pumping money into the Haitian economy at a time when it is most needed. Aid agencies should creatively support and encourage local initiative and enterprise. Cash grants or loans should be made to small and medium size entrepreneurs and business people. A street vendor can use a small grant to purchase a push-cart for her wares; a small business person can use a loan to refurbish an apparel production facility. Technology can be used to provide banking through cell phones, which nearly every poor family owns. As international donors prepare to gather this month in New York City, they must remember that Haitians, both poor like Charlene Malebranche and powerful like First Lady Preval, will ensure the country's recovery. There is hope that Haiti can be rebuilt out of its ruins, but it will take both a long-term commitment from the donor community and a resolve to build on Haitians' own initiative, rather than imposing our own. (Editor's note: this story originally appeared on The Huffington Post.)
3 March 2010
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@andrewhutson Thanks for the feedback. We'll pass it along. We try to let donors choose the amount of mail they wish to receive.
2 March 2010
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@andrewhutson We do what we can! (But really, you can send an email to donorservices@mercycorps.org if you'd like less frequent/no mail.)
2 March 2010
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RT @interactionorg: "Why did so many people die in Haiti's quake?" via BBC: http://ow.ly/1dlMj
2 March 2010
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Our staff reports heavy rains in southern #Haiti. We're working to get camps in the north ready for the rainy season with proper drainage.
2 March 2010
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2 March 2010
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RT @mercycorpsnw: Food carts MCNW works w/: @MonoMaloFood, Give Pizza a Chance, Tabor, @SoupCycle, Spoons, Philly's Fat Omelets, NW Hot ...
2 March 2010
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Halfway to 5,000 views for PDX Sings for #Haiti. A generous donor has pledged $1 for every view it gets up to $5,000! http://bit.ly/acjfy2
1 March 2010
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Article
"Once in a Lifetime" Line-Up of Poets Raise Haiti Cash
Huw Williams March 1, 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8542352.stm Source Publication: BBC Scotland A sell-out crowd of more than 800 people has heard many of the greatest poets in the country read work, to raise cash for Haiti. The event, at the Queen's Hall in Edinburgh, featured four Poets Laureate, including the UK's poet laureate Carol Anne Duffy. Money raised will go to the Edinburgh-based aid agency Mercy Corps. More than one million people are still homeless in Haiti after January's magnitude seven earthquake. Ms Duffy, one of the main organisers of the event, admitted that "poetry makes nothing happen. " But she said it "has the power of prayer and is the place in language where we are at our most human." She added: "The people of Haiti need our humanity right now." The Poets Laureate for the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, Ron Butlin and Liz Lochhead, both said they found it difficult to imagine poetic inspiration in the destruction brought by the earthquake. But the fourth Poet Laureate taking part, Gillian Clarke from Wales, read a new "Lament for Haiti" reflecting on some of the most graphic images of the quake and its aftermath. In it she described "the white Palace that fell into itself like snow", and "the cots and cushions and cups" that littered the rubble of collapsed houses across Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince. Organisers said the event was "the most spectacular poetry event ever seen north of the border." It attracted a message of support from Prime Minister Gordon Brown who said poets "feel and communicate our deepest yearnings and aspirations". And Fiona Hyslop, minister for Culture and External Affairs in the Scottish government, told the audience they were "extending a hand of solidarity to the people of Haiti". The evening marked the end of the "Carry a Poem" campaign, organised by Edinburgh Unesco City of Literature and the Scottish Poetry Library, which ran across the Scottish capital throughout February.
1 March 2010
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The mustache: the newest tool in disaster relief. http://bit.ly/cJG4ey (These guys are awesome!)
1 March 2010
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Article
The mustache: the newest tool in disaster relief
We can’t all hop on a plane to offer our volunteer services in Haiti, but anyone can help. And who says helping can’t be a good time? The employees at Numara Software came up with an entertaining and effective way to raise funds for Haiti — mustaches! The two winners of Numara Software's mustache-powered Haiti relief fundraiser. Photo: Numara Software So how did the "Stache for Haiti" campaign work? Participants agreed to grow a mustache over a two-week period. Women were able to participate, sporting fake mustaches. During that timeframe, other employees were invited to “bid” on the employee whom they would like to see retain his or her mustache for an additional week. The campaign was a huge success, with employees from both the New Jersey and Florida offices participating. It generated a total of $5,500, nearly half of which was raised in the last half-hour during a heated “live auction” in the Tampa office. It was down to two mustaches and, at the last second, one employee announced, “Here’s my donation. Divide it in such a way that both of them have to keep the mustache for a week.” Negotiation at its finest! We have seen hundreds of thoughtful, innovative and fun community fundraisers for Haiti, and are deeply grateful for and inspired by people’s genuine concern for earthquake survivors in Haiti. Mercy Corps offers it sincerest thanks to all the folks at Numara Software and the numerous businesses, schools, churches, community organizations and individuals who have taken action and helped us provide both immediate aid and long-term support to the people of Haiti.
1 March 2010