[News] Update from Haiti Emergency Relief Fund
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Thu Apr 1 18:56:00 EDT 2010
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.
Haitis grassroots movement including labor
unions, womens 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
Haitis 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 womens
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 Womens Day on March 8th. We have
supported a womens 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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