[News] Update from Haiti Emergency Relief Fund

[Anti-Imperialist News]

March 28, 2010 MESSAGE FROM HAITI EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND:

On January 12, Haiti was hit by its first large 
earthquake in 240 years. Over 230,000 people may 
have died and three million have been left homeless.

Haiti’s grassroots movement – including labor 
unions, women’s groups, educators and human 
rights activists, support committees for 
political prisoners, and agricultural 
cooperatives – are funneling needed aid to those 
most hit by the earthquake. They are doing what 
they can – with the most limited of funds – to 
make a difference. Please take this chance to lend them your support.

Since its inception in March 2004, the Haiti 
Emergency Relief Fund has given concrete aid to 
Haiti’s democratic movement as they attempted to 
survive the brutal coup against their 
democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand 
Aristide, and to rebuild shattered development 
projects. We urge you to contribute generously, 
not only for this immediate crisis, but in order 
to support the long-run development of human 
rights, sustainable agriculture and economic justice in Haiti.

All donations to the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund 
will be forwarded to our partners on the ground 
to help them rebuild what has been destroyed.

Here are a few examples of what your funding has already accomplished

In the days immediately following the earthquake, 
we sent a truckload of medical supplies to the 
Aristide Foundation For Democracy, which has 
become a center for medical relief work in the 
Port-au-Prince area. Thousands of people sought 
refuge in the Foundation right after the 
earthquake, and – with your support – the 
organizers there have been able to provide food, 
water and medical care for those in need.

 From the moment the earthquake hit, we 
facilitated the travel of teams of nurses and 
doctors to the Port-au-Prince area. In less than 
a month, we helped send 11 medical teams from 
across the United States. Now, this number has 
risen to 30. These medical teams have brought 
with them hundreds of thousands of dollars worth 
of medicines and medical supplies.

Using our networks within Haiti, we insured that 
medical supplies and personnel reached 
communities that had not received any aid. For 
example, HERF sponsored a team of doctors to open 
a day clinic in Bel Air. They treated people who 
could not find a place in the lines for medical 
attention at the General Hospital. HERF also 
bought and distributed more than 100 gallons of 
fresh drinking water in Bel Air.

We are now funding a mobile health clinic that 
has been set up within the Aristide Foundation. 
This clinic has already treated thousands of 
patients since it was established in early March.

We have supported a series of neighborhood 
committees organized by grass roots activists in 
Port-au-Prince. These committees have been 
housing the homeless, providing food and water 
for those who have never seen any U.S. military 
or UN aid. Neighbors helping neighbors, Haitians 
helping Haitians, activists helping to sustain their local areas.

We have provided funds to a series of women’s 
groups at the center of the grassroots relief 
effort. The Women of Camp Mesiane, one of the 
internal refugee camps dotting Port-au-Prince, 
received funding for food and medical supplies, 
as well as for activities to commemorate 
International Women’s Day on March 8th. We have 
supported a women’s organizing project in Les 
Cayes, an area hit by the earthquake but ignored 
by most relief efforts. Many survivors have ended 
up in Les Cayes, needing water, food and 
medicine. Working through the Progressive Women 
of Les Cayes, we have assisted these efforts.

We have continued our support for the work of the 
Aristide Foundation by funding its mobile schools 
project. This project has given employment to 102 
high school and college graduates who serve as 
teachers and also helped build shelters in four 
refugee camps in order to hold classes. Children 
have been able to attend classes while living 
under desperate conditions in the refugee camps. 
This has been a source of pride and hope for the 
children and their families. To learn more about 
this project, go to 
<http://aristidefoundationfordemocracy.org/>http://aristidefoundationfordemocracy.org.

We have aided other schools in the Port-au-Prince 
area, including SOPUDEP a school that serves the 
poorest children in the Petionville community, on 
the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. Your aid has 
helped educators reach out with aid to their 
students and their families, many of whom have 
experienced incalculable losses. We provided 
funds for a generator for SOPUDEP, which allowed 
the school to maintain its critical work as a 
center for relief. We have provided on-going 
support for this school, and its administrators, 
who have been able to provide aid to ravaged 
communities near the school. In particular, 
SOPUDEP has sustained the people of Mourne 
Lazare, a poor community in Port-au-Prince that 
has been all but ignored by relief efforts. For 
more details about SOPUDEP and its remarkable 
work since the earthquake, please visit their 
site at: <http://www.sopudep.org/>http://www.sopudep.org.

We have provided support for the Confederation of 
Haitian Workers (CTH), who opened up their union 
hall to community residents, giving them shelter 
and sustenance in the wake of the disastrous quake.

We have funded Shoulder to Shoulder, a community 
group in Cite Soleil, the poorest neighborhood in 
Port-au-Prince. With these funds, organizers 
purchased a generator for a cyber café, providing 
a way for residents in Cite Soleil to communicate 
with friends and family in the days following the 
quake. Shoulder to Shoulder has also helped to 
house children in Cite Soleil who have been orphaned as a result of the quake.

We have provided funds for tarps in the 
Port-au-Prince area, Leogane and Jacmel. People 
continue to sleep outside, either because their 
homes are destroyed or because of continuing 
after-shocks. As the rainy season begins in 
Haiti, the on-going crisis of sanitation, health 
and shelter is at the center of grassroots 
organizing campaigns and relief efforts.
Our aid goes directly into the hands of Haitians. 
We give aid, not charity; we respect the people 
of Haiti and honor their commitment to lead the 
rebuilding of their society in the wake of this 
disaster. We have worked to support Haiti for the 
past six years, not just for the past few weeks. 
We will continue our work long after Haiti has 
dropped from the front pages. We hope that you 
will be there with us. We appreciate every penny, every dime, every dollar.

<mailto:action.haiti at gmail.com>action.haiti at gmail.com



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