<div dir="ltr">
<div id="gmail-toolbar" class="gmail-toolbar-container">
</div><div class="gmail-container" dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail-header gmail-reader-header gmail-reader-show-element">
<font size="1"><a href="http://us18.forward-to-friend.com/forward/show?u=408fb0e219b2e620647bbeade&id=cabf0a6591">http://us18.forward-to-friend.com/forward/show?u=408fb0e219b2e620647bbeade&id=cabf0a6591</a>
</font><h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Crisis in Haiti Continues</h1>
<div class="gmail-meta-data">
<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">6-7 minutes</div>
</div>
</div>
<hr>
<div class="gmail-content">
<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div>
<div>
<div><p><span><strong><span><span>The Crisis in Haiti Continues<br>
Support Grassroots Earthquake Relief Efforts</span></span></strong></span></p><p>
<span><span><span>Please Donate to </span></span></span><em><span><span><a href="http://www.haitiemergencyrelief.org/" target="_blank"><span>Haiti Emergency Relief Fund</span></a></span></span></em></p><p>
<span><img alt="Haiti's former First Lady, Mildred Trouillot Aristide, donating blood at UNIFA blood drive." src="https://mcusercontent.com/408fb0e219b2e620647bbeade/images/92dbdca8-9f90-dd64-712e-27748a51d52d.png" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="438" height="292"></span><br>
<span><em><span>Haiti's former First Lady, Mildred Trouillot Aristide, donating blood at UNIFA blood drive. </span>Credit UNIFA<span>.</span></em></span></p><p>
<span><span><strong>On August 14th, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked the Southern Peninsula of Haiti</strong>,
killing over 2,200 people and wounding 12,000. More than 300 people are
still unaccounted for. 53,000 homes were destroyed and another 77,000
damaged, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without shelter
and facing food insecurity. In a country with only one trained doctor
for every 3,000 Haitians, medical help is desperately needed to treat
those who are wounded or sick. To make matters worse, heavy rains from
Tropical Storm Grace pounded the area, producing mudslides and flooding,
destroying livestock and increasing the danger of water-borne diseases.</span></span></p></div>
<div><p><span><span><img alt="One of the 53,000 homes destroyed by the earthquake" src="https://mcusercontent.com/408fb0e219b2e620647bbeade/images/337c9f15-a253-4463-f469-db3277f6732b.jpg" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="246" height="438"></span></span><br>
<span><span><em>One of the 53,000 homes destroyed by the earthquake.</em></span></span></p><p>
<span><span><strong>Thanks to your generous contributions, the Haiti
Emergency Relief Fund has been able to support grassroots organizations
in Haiti as they provide relief to Sid, Grandans, and Nip—the three main
departments impacted by this horrific disaster.</strong></span></span></p><p>
<span><span><strong>Even as news from Haiti slips from the front pages,
the needs remain as pressing as ever. The work has not ended — in fact,
it has just begun. Here are some of the ways in which your donations
have been put to use:</strong></span></span></p></div>
<span><span>The University of the Dr. Aristide Foundation (UNIFA) is
making an all-out effort to aid those in need. UNIFA reopened in 2011,
following the return from forced exile of former president Jean Bertrand
Aristide and his wife and colleague Mildred Trouillot Aristide. Since
that time, UNIFA has graduated 523 doctors, 116 nurses, and 46
physiotherapists. Many of these graduates, as well as other medical
students in training, are providing much needed assistance to the
victims of this earthquake. Here is some of what UNIFA has done:</span></span>
<ul><li><span><span>UNIFA mobilized its doctors and nurses, with assistance
from medical students who live in the earthquake zones, to set up
medical clinics and provide emergency health care. They sent brigades of
medical professionals with supplies to the earthquake zones to support
the work of local medical personnel.</span></span><br>
</li><li><span>Mobile clinics organized by UNIFA med school graduates are
currently underway in the Grandans department. One clinic was set up at a
local high school, Lycée de Chambellan, starting on Sept 6, 2021.
During the first 2 days, approximately 300 injured people were treated.
The young doctors also ventured into the community to see if there were
people in homes needing care.</span><br>
</li><li><span><span>UNIFA students organized a blood drive on the UNIFA
campus. Nursing students assisted lab technicians from the Haitian Blood
Transfusion Center, which then transported the blood to the earthquake
zones. The UNIFA blood drive sparked other organizations to follow
suit. </span></span></li></ul>
<ul><li><span><span>They mobilized mental health workers to support victims of the earthquake as they deal with the trauma of what has occurred.</span></span></li></ul>
<ul><li><span><span>UNIFA used telemedicine to connect doctors and nurses in the field with colleagues for consultation on the most difficult cases.</span></span></li></ul>
<ul><li><span><span>As a new academic year begins, UNIFA is standing by to offer scholarships to students from the earthquake zones.</span></span></li></ul>
<span> </span><span><span><img src="https://mcusercontent.com/408fb0e219b2e620647bbeade/images/aba7b152-f5af-4de6-5aed-c46f676a6928.jpg" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="438" height="292"></span></span><br>
<span><em><span>UNIFA blood drive. </span>Credit UNIFA<span>.</span></em></span><p>
<span><span>Other grassroots groups have purchased tarps and lumber and
brought them to the region of Aken, where little to no aid has reached.
With the lumber, local organizers have been helping displaced residents
build more sturdy shelters. </span></span></p><ul><li><span><span>Women’s organizations in the rural areas of Aken have
distributed rice and beans, bottled water, clothing, sanitary kits, and
medical supplies to residents.</span></span><br>
</li><li><span><span>Clean drinking water is in short supply and water pipes
have been damaged throughout the Southern Peninsula. Organizers have
begun the work of repairing pipes, while they continue to deliver
bottled water to those who need it.</span></span><br>
</li><li><span><span>In Lazil and nearby rural communities, organizers
brought residents rice and beans, bottled water, clothing, and first aid
supplies.</span></span></li></ul>
<ul><li><span><span>In Okay, local organizers discovered that community
ovens and flour mills, used for baking bread, had been destroyed. They
have launched a project to rebuild these ovens, so vital to the survival
of families in the areas. </span></span><br>
</li><li><span><span>In Jeremi and nearby rural communities in the Grandans
region, women’s organizations and community groups distributed tarps,
sugar, sanitary napkins, toothpaste, clothes, cooking oil, toothbrushes,
and water.</span></span><span><span> </span></span><br>
</li><li><span><span>In the town of Barade and the nearby mountainous area,
local organizers brought tarps for families who were living out in the
open. They distributed supplies of Clorox for disinfection purposes,
soap, clothing, food, water, kerosene for lamps, and medical necessities
(aspirin, alcohol to disinfect wounds, bandages). </span></span></li></ul>
<div>
<p><span><span><img alt="Relief supplies on back of a truck." src="https://mcusercontent.com/408fb0e219b2e620647bbeade/images/0bc7fce8-203a-468d-f871-a28cfd987477.jpg" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="438" height="329"></span></span><br>
<span><span><em>Supplies being loaded on their way to the Earthquake Zone.</em></span></span></p><p>
<span><span>All of this work embodies the determination of Haitian
grassroots organizations to meet the needs of their people throughout
this crisis and beyond. We hope your solidarity will continue as well. </span></span></p></div>
<p><span><span><strong>The Haiti Emergency Relief Fund has no paid staff
and no overhead. Each and every dollar we raise goes directly to
Haitian organizers on the ground. Please help us keep the spotlight on
the people of Haiti.</strong></span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong><span><span>We Thank You!</span></span></strong></p>
<p dir="ltr"><strong><span><span>Haiti Emergency Relief Fund Board of Directors </span></span></strong></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span><span><strong>Walter Riley</strong>, Attorney at Law, Co-Chair<br>
<strong>Sister Maureen Duignan</strong>, O.S.F., Co-Chair<br>
<strong>Seth Donnelly</strong>, Educator and Long-Time Haiti Solidarity Activist<br>
<strong>Nia Imara</strong>, Astronomer and Artist<br>
<strong>Pierre Labossiere</strong>, Co-Founder, Haiti Action Committee<br>
<strong>Marilyn Langlois</strong>, Human Rights and Community Advocate<br>
<strong>Robert Roth</strong>, Educator and Co-Founder, Haiti Action Committee</span></span></p>
</div>
</div></div></div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
</div>
</div>