

"Dye mon, gen mon."

Translation: Beyond the mountain is another mountain.

(A proverb of both patience and the recognition of how difficult life in Haiti is.)





Secular NGOs:

The Aristide Foundation for Democracy (AFD) was created in 1996 by former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide (the first democratically elected president of Haiti) with a simple principle in mind: "The promise of democracy can only be fulfilled if all sectors of Haitian society are able to actively participate in the democratic life of the nation."

Healing Hands for Haiti (a physical rehab and prosthetics organization based in Port au Prince), Lamp for Haiti, and a group that umbrellas several projects called Healing Haiti. parryander has personal experience with these groups, so I suggest checking out their comments.

Another organization, The Honor and Respect Foundation, was described in a story on Narconews called Getting Help to Haiti. The foundation was created by journalist Reed Lindsay, who is now Telsur's D.C. Bureau Chief, for children who couldn't get into other schools. Their website says that it "seeks to establish funds in support of several specific programs carried out by grassroots groups in the poorest neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince." I have a phone number for a contact there and will get direct information tonight.

Partners in Health (****/A+) has now started a BLOG about its efforts called Stand with Haiti. It has very useful information. Partners in Health is also putting out a call for health volunteers, in case you are a medical professional who can help out that way:

We are deeply grateful for the multitude of people who have contacted us wanting to provide medical assistance. As patients flood to our sites from Port-au-Prince, we're finding ourselves in need of both medical personnel and supplies. In particular, we need surgeons (especially trauma/orthopedic surgeons), ER doctors and nurses, and full surgical teams (including anesthesiologists, scrub and post-op nurses, and nurse anesthetists). If you are a health professional interested in volunteering, please send an email to volunteer@pih.org with information on:

• Your credentials

• Language capabilities (Haitian Creole or French desired)

• Overseas experience (if any)

• Any prior experience in emergency/post-disaster relief efforts

• Availability

• Contact information

As phone lines in Haiti remain down and transportation and communication are difficult, PIH is still in the process of determining where we can set up operations in Port-au-Prince, and how we can transport patients and volunteers to our sites. We will be able to offer more concrete information after these logistical matters are resolved. Once again – thank you for your support. Kenbe fèm.

Project HOPE (****) is one of the oldest medical relief organizations. They currently have people in Haiti working together with the USNS Comfort, as well as on the ground working to deliver medical aid. Their donation page is here

Saint Damien Hospital Haiti is the only free pediatric hospital in Haiti.

I know there is extensive damage at our new hospital, that the perimeter walls of all three of our Tabarre programs have fallen. I know there is damage to the hospital walls

Donations may be made through this page. (h/t parryander)

TÉLÉCOMS SANS FRONTIÈRES. Communications infrastructure has been completely destroyed and helping to bring that back online will be a huge help to recovery efforts and to allow Haitians to get in touch with family they may have elsewhere in the world. (h/t yg17)

Zanmi Lakay is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for current and former street children in Haiti by providing educational and economic opportunities and resources to help these children while they are on the streets and to help build a life for them off the streets. A Pacifica-based photographer who has been working in Haiti for years is planning to return next week, so donations will go straight to those who need it.





Long-term Development and Recovery NGO's:

Fonkoze (***) , a micro-lending organization in Haiti. From their Web site:

Fonkoze is Haiti’s Alternative Bank for the Organized Poor. We are the largest micro-finance institution offering a full range of financial services to the rural-based poor in Haiti. Fonkoze is committed to the economic and social improvement of the people and communities of Haiti and to the reduction of poverty in the country.

According to their Web site, their offices have taken quite a hit. This is another one in the category of long-term rebuilding. (h/t parryander and dizzydean)

Haiti Emergency Relief Foundation, here:

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.

Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, here.:

We fight for the human rights of Haiti’s poor, in court, on the streets and wherever decisions about Haitians’ rights are made. We represent the unjustly imprisoned and victims of political persecution, coordinate grassroots advocacy in Haiti and the US, train human rights advocates in Haiti and disseminate human rights information worldwide.

The Jean Cadet Restavek Foundation. Restaveks are child slaves. This is an organization for children run by a Haitian man who is a former child slave.

Konpay is associated with the journalist Reed Lindsay. It focuses on Haitian solutions to environmental, social and economic problems and provides training and funding to grassroots and community-based projects. KONPAY is supporting Haitian-led efforts to reforest Haiti and protect the environment.

The Lambi Fund (***) is a secular non-profit nonprofit whose mission is "to assist the popular, democratic movement in Haiti. Its goal is to help strengthen civil society as a necessary foundation of democracy and development. The fund channels financial and other resources to community-based organizations that promote the social and economic empowerment of the Haitian people." They support "projects that embrace the following principles: non-violent, non-partisan, community-based, promoting the advancement of women, using education and training for empowerment, and promoting the overall democratic movement."

SOIL is based in Haiti (founded by two American females) and although their regular mission is :Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL) is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting soil resources, empowering communities and transforming wastes into resources in Haiti, they are in the streets in PAP providing normal disaster relief services and translation (they speak Kreyol). They have said that all donations in the next 30 days (at least) will go directly to their relief work rather than their usual mission. They have been in Haiti for several years and are very familiar with the people and communities (h/t Royce)

TransAfrica, here:

In 1991, when the first democratically elected president of Haiti was overthrown by the military, TransAfrica pushed for the restoration of democracy and just policy for Haitian refugees fleeing the military regime of General Raoul Cedras.

n May 1994, the Clinton administration reversed the refugee policy. On October 10, 1994, General Rauol Cedras resigned and President Aristide finally resumed his official role following an agreement negotiated with President Jimmy Carter in September.

snip

Today, TransAfrica Forum campaigns against the crippling debt burden on the countries of Africa and the Caribbean by opposing Vulture Funds, companies that threaten the gains of already hard-fought for debt relief. TransAfrica Forum also struggles for international financial architecture that promotes sustainable growth and takes cues from civil society.





Other news and diaries:

An update to the previous diary version that really highlights the effectiveness of this community in times of crisis like this:

This social network fundraising effort is attracting the attention of other media. The Dallas Morning News contacted Dallasdoc: Tonight I had a conversation with a reporter from the Dallas Morning News, who noted our efforts to raise money for the victims in Haiti and emailed me because of my screenname. I had a long chat with him in which I extolled the good heart and caring nature of the people in this community. "We are liberals and progressives, we are interested in politics because we care about people," I told him. I described how this community responded to a simple appeal with incredible energy and self-sacrificing generosity, and that after five years here I had expected no less of us. He was impressed, and is working on an article about how new media and social networking sites are mobilizing to help the Haitians. He got the idea for that article from us.

Mokurai has contributed The Real Story in Haiti and Haiti: Dimensions of Disaster.



FishOutofWater takes a moment to explore the benefits of Partners in Health's commitment to solar powered health centers.

Meteor Blades points the way to a better and more sustainable future for Haitians in Haiti Could Use a New Deal.

As the MSM (in the United States) turns attention away from Haiti, Deoliver47 reminds us that things are not suddenly all better: Raining Disease and More Deaths.

For some good pre-earthquake background on Haiti, see Daisy Cutter's Book Review: "Damming the Flood" by Peter Hallward, pt 1. This diary was published in July 2008 and presents a history of Haiti up to 1999 using Hallward's book as a reference. Excellent.

Two recent diaries by Deep harm remind us that the rains are coming and tents are needed.



Thank you for your reads, recs, and donations. If anyone has any additional information, updates, or corrections, please comment--the comments in all of the diary versions thus far have been gold mines of information. It would be impossible to incorporate all of the information gathered in the comments into the diary, but I will updated as necessary/possible. If you would like to keep this list of links visible, please consider volunteering to post a diary so we can keep this effort going.

Many Kossacks helped this community assemble one of the most exhaustive lists of aid organizations working in Haiti, now placed in the dKosopedia wiki by the wonderful Norbrook. Please visit that list, which has been updated here over the past ten days to reflect the input of our wonderful and humane community. As the Shelterbox Diaries have shown in raising funds for over 1200 Haitians to have a place to stay, we are liberals who walk our talk about caring for our fellow human beings.





Past diaries in this series:

This series was created by Dallasdoc and has been maintained with the help of (listed alphabetically): Aji, ALifeLessFrightening, allie123, AntKat, Avila, betson08, big spoiled baby, cosmic debris, Deep Harm, Deoliver47, Frederick Clarkson, J Brunner Fan, Jimdotz, maggiejean, marabout40, Norbrook, OHknighty, oke, parryander, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, Pluto, RunawayRose, swampus, and thebluecrayon. All of these previous diaries can be found by clicking here (listed in reverse chronological order).

UPCOMING DIARIES Tuesday: ***open***

Wednesday: J Brunner Fan

Thursday: allie123 book edition

Friday: ***open*** If you would like to volunteer to contribute a diary to continue this series, please volunteer in the comments below. Norbrook has created a Google documents file** with the source code for our usual introduction and the list of charities the community has developed. Doing one of these diaries, thanks to Norbrook, is not nearly as demanding as it was early in the series. Also, updates need to be made far less frequently. You don't need to set aside huge chunks of time for it and it's easy to multi-task if you have other things to do, as long as you're able to check the comments every 30 minutes or so. **There is also a backup to the original google doc. See this comment for more details.



The icons and March 13 formatting revision of this diary series are courtesy of the html artist known on Daily Kos as Pluto. The "Help Haiti" image at the top of the diary that has become the "logo" of this series is courtesy of AuntKat.