Haitian Diaspora Begins Relief Effort For Desperate Nation

Miami FL

19 August, 2021

9:48 AM

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A Miami Times Staff Report Aug 17, 2021 As the situation in Haiti becomes more dire after Saturday's earthquake, Miami's Haitian diaspora is mobilizing to offer help, along with established aid organizations. UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said humanitarian needs were acute, with many Haitians urgently needing health care, clean water and shelter. Children separated from their parents also needed protection, she said. The Sant La Haitian Neighborhood Center in North Miami reported Monday that its long-term partner, United Way of Miami's Operation Helping Hand, will lead local donation efforts. People wanting to help may give now at UnitedWayMiami.org. "We are touched by your outpouring of solidarity, and your offers of financial support. We will provide you with periodic updates as well as the emerging needs on the ground," announced Sant La in a written statement. "The lessons learned from the 2010 Earthquake and the multiple natural and man-made disasters which have afflicted our beloved Haiti have informed our current relief strategies." Nonprofit groups and philanthropy experts say the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise last month, and accusations that the money raised following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti never reached those in need, will make fundraising for the nation difficult. Aid to Haiti has been probed for years and scrutiny intensified in 2015 when an investigation from ProPublica and NPR questioned where $500 million raised by the American Red Cross was spent. This history, coupled with cautious skepticism of current government leadership, has led one organization to act. The 12-year-old National Haitian Elected Officials Network (NHAEON) is a non-partisan coalition of Haitian-American elected and appointed officials from across the U.S. They plan to serve as an auditor to ensure that all of the funds pledged to relief efforts are tracked and distributed appropriately. "We are going to establish a transparency portal that will be unveiled in the upcoming days," said Alix Duselme, Vice Mayor of North Miami and NHAEON Chairman. "We are going to ask organizations throughout the country to self-report what they are collecting, in terms of the pledges they are making, and by doing so we will be able to track funds and hold groups accountable." NHAEON's efforts will have deliverables and strict accountability guidelines for organizations collecting aid, and a compliance chair, according to Duselme. The transparency portal will track both incoming funds and how they will be distributed in Haiti. The organization also has been in talks with the Biden administration to discuss and collaborate on effective distribution methods. They plan to collaborate with the Haitian government to ensure aid gets to the people on the ground. "We want to make sure that this is much more sustainable than in 2010," Duselme said, reflecting on how previous relief efforts failed to rebuild Haiti and better people's lives. Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Grace swept over Haiti with drenching rains just two days after a powerful earthquake battered the impoverished island nation, adding to the misery of thousands who lost loved ones, suffered injuries or found themselves homeless, forcing overwhelmed hospitals and rescuers to act quickly. Heavy rain and strong winds overnight whipped at the country's southwestern area, hit hardest by Saturday's quake, and officials warned that rainfall could reach 15 inches in some areas. The storm arrived the same day that the country's Civil Protection Agency raised the death toll from the earthquake to 1,419 and the number of injured to 6,000, many of whom have had to wait for medical help lying outside in the oppressive heat. A hospital in the badly damaged town of Les Cayes was so crowded with patients after the earthquake that many had to lie in patios, corridors, verandas and hallways, but the approaching storm had officials scrambling to relocate them as best they could. "We had planned to put up tents (in hospital patios), but we were told that could not be safe," said Gede Peterson, director of Les Cayes General Hospital. Grace's rain and wind raised the threat of mudslides and flash flooding as it slowly passed by southwestern Haiti's Tiburon Peninsula before heading toward Jamaica and southeastern Cuba on Tuesday. The quake is the latest disaster to befall the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation. Haitians already were struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, gang violence, worsening poverty and the July 7 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Medical workers from across the region are scrambling to help as hospitals in Les Cayes started running out of space to perform surgeries. "Basically, they need everything," said Dr. Inobert Pierre, a pediatrician with the nonprofit Health Equity International, which oversees St. Boniface Hospital, about two hours from Les Cayes. Pierre's medical team was taking some patients to St. Boniface to undergo surgery, but with just two ambulances, they could transport only four at a time. "After two days, they are almost always generally infected," said Dr. Paurus Michelete, who has treated 250 patients and was one of only three doctors on call when the quake hit. He added that painkillers, analgesics and steel pins to mend fractures were running out amid the crush of patients. "We are working now to ensure that the resources we have are going to get to the places that are hardest hit," said Civil Protection Agency head Jerry Chandler, referring to the towns of Les Cayes and Jérémie, and the department of Nippes. That has proved challenging. Local officials had to negotiate with gangs in the seaside district of Martissant to allow two humanitarian convoys a day to pass through the area, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported. The agency called Haiti's southern peninsula a "hot spot for gang-related violence," where humanitarian workers have been repeatedly attacked. The agency said the area has been "virtually unreachable" over the past two months because of road blocks and security concerns. Agency spokeswoman Anna Jefferys said the first convoy passed through Sunday with government and U.N. personnel, and that the U.N. World Food Program was planning to send in food supplies via trucks two days after that. The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.