NEWS ALERTS

Haiti and Cuba Need Our Help In Aftermath of Deadly Storms.

Over the last four weeks, Hurricanes Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike all hit Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.  Hanna left the towns of Gonaives and Les Cayes under water.  According to Senator Yuri Latortue, who represents Gonaives, as of 9/7 there were 200,000 people who had not eaten in three days because of the hurricanes.

In a September 10 interview with Dr. Paul Farmer of Haiti's Partners in Health, Amy Goodman stated: "As many as 1,000 people have died.  An estimated one million Haitians have been left homeless.  Rescue groups say they have no access to many interior villages across the southern region or to Gonaives, Haiti's third-largest city, which has been cut off after a bridge collapsed.  Much of Gonaives remains under water.  At least 80 percent of the estimated 300,000 residents have been displaced or otherwise affected by the flooding.  The city's population has been stranded for days without food or drinking water.  Throughout Haiti, bridges, roads, clinics and homes have been washed away."

After visiting Gonaives over that weekend Dr. Farmer wrote: "After 25 years spent working in Haiti and having grown up in Florida, I can honestly say that I have never seen anything as painful as what I just witnessed in Gonaives."

In Cuba, "Nearly one quarter of the Cuban population had to be evacuated. The heaviest damage was in the eastern part of the island and along the southern coast. Damage to agriculture was extensive," according to IFCO/Pastors for Peace.
 
Below is a list of organizations (tax-deductible) which would appreciate your support:

Haiti:

 

Campaign for Labor Rights (CLR): Haitian Workers Hurricane Relief Fund
1247 E St SE
Washington, DC20003 or  www.clrlabor.org
CLR is collecting funds for the Confédéderation des Travailleurs Haitiens to distribute to union sisters and brothers and their families for hurricane relief. The CTH has been rebuilding since a US-sponsored coup in 2004 overthrew Haiti's elected government.  According to the CLR, the coup was led by groups funded and trained by the International Republican Institute, whose Board is chaired by John McCain.  CTH members were targeted because of their support for Haitian democracy and opposition to foreign intervention.
 

Haiti Emergency Relief Fund/Vanguard
383 Rhode Island St., Suite 301
San Francisco, CA94103; 415-487-2111. www.haitiaction.net
Haiti Emergency Relief Fund: Since its inception in March 2004, the HERF has given concrete aid to Haiti's grassroots democratic movement as they attempted to survive the brutal coup 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.
http://www.haitisolidarity.net/article.php?id=238.

Haiti KONPAY - Emergency Hurricane Relief Fund
7 Wall St.
Gloucester, MA01930  or   www.konpay.org
Focusing on Haitian solutions to environmental, social and economic problems and providing training and funding to grassroots and community-based projects. KONPAY is supporting Haitian-led efforts to reforest Haiti and protect the environment.
 
Haiti Reborn
PO Box 5206
Hyattsville, MD20782
Haiti.quixote.org
Supporting the growing Kofaviv movement of women demanding an end to violence and rape; establishing the development of a reforestation program, including satellite nurseries; advocating an end to unjust and undemocratic foreign intervention in Haitian democracy and economy; countering the destructive myth of Haitians as helpless victims by highlighting Haiti's proud history and giving voice to today's brightest leaders.
 
MADRE (Emergency & Disaster Relief Fund)
121 West 27th Street #301
New York, NY10001
www.madre.org/index.html
A New York-based human rights group demanding human rights for women and families throughout the world, and also working on disaster relief with one of its sister organizations in Haiti.
 
Partners In Health
641 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA02115
Pih.org
Their mission is both medical and moral, based on solidarity, rather than charity alone. When a person in rural Haiti falls ill, PIH uses all of the means at their disposal to make them well-from pressuring drug manufacturers, to lobbying policy makers, to providing medical care and social services.
 
Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL)
124 Church Rd
Sherburne
NY 13460
www.oursoil.org
dedicated to empowering communities, building the soil and nourishing the grassroots. SOIL protects soil resources and transforms wastes into resources. SOIL promotes integrated approaches to the problems of poverty, poor public health, agricultural productivity, and environmental destruction.