What charity to donate to for Haitian Relief?
OK... I have questions in chat of which charities have a good reputation in Haiti for actually doing something to help Haitians both short term and long term. In my experience big International aid agencies (Think Clinton Foundation, Red Cross etc.) are mostly "disaster capitalists" and can have serious problems with actually helping.
On the other hand, locally based small charities are efficient and worthy of help. In order to find these one has to have some contacts with local people, in this case Haitians, and ask... pretty much like I asked friends and family in Bolivia about any agencies which are actually helpful in my home country before giving recommendations.
Ok... You will have to do some homework but here is three I found plus the basic list of local charities with good reputations:
A Basic List:
https://www.facebook.com/EffectiveAidHaiti/posts/776182769191600
Another basic list and list of lists:
https://www.facebook.com/OrganizingForJustice/posts/1495682960445640?hc_...
I checked out these three local charities which fit my philosophy of giving... you will find your own somewhere on these lists.
The Lambi Fund of Haiti
http://www.lambifund.org/single-post/2016/10/07/After-Hurricane-Matthew
Sow A Seed works with orphans, I saw a bit on them in an independent "Haitian Orphan" documentary awhile ago:
https://www.classy.org/cam…/emergency-relief-in-haiti/c98548
NovaHope has two medical clinics, one of which is in a community destroyed by the hurricane. One is in Cavillion which was almost completely destroyed, but the clinic is still functioning.
http://www.novahope.org/2016/10/nova-responds-to-hurricane-matthews-deve...
A post from Facebook:
Effective Aid for Haiti after Hurricane Matthew
Yesterday at 13:07 ·
Updated 2016.10.07 8:34am HT - (Français plus bas)FUNDRAISING: Those of us with long experience in Haiti want to ensure assistance is getting where it is needed. We are compiling a list of organizations whose work on the ground we have direct experience with.
This list is incomplete but we will update as we get in contact with local organizations and help them set up fundraising channels. If you have a suggestion send a PM with contact information.
Each of these organisations is based / established in the affected communities and on the ground right now providing critical support. 100% of funds donated will go to people affected by the Hurricane.
FONDS DES BLANCS: St. Boniface Haiti Foundation https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/WebLink.aspx…
ILE A VACHE: Haven https://www.havenpartnership.com/…/hurricane-matthew-appeal/
ABRICOTS: Paradis des Indiens, TBD.
DAME MARIE: TBD
JEREMIE: TBD
CAMP PERRIN: We are actively looking for organizations from this area, please send PM if you can recommend.
Cavaillon / St Louis: We are actively looking for organizations from this area, please send PM if you can recommend.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SUPPORT: Hero Dispatch : https://www.crowdrise.com/herostudents…/…/students-for-haiti
SUPPORT TO MUNICIPAL SHELTERS: Haitian Department of Civil Protection: https://www.leetchi.com/c/solidarite-de-familles-en-haiti-families
IF YOU NEED TO PURCHASE SUPPLIES: DO IT LOCALLY! http://100kjobshaiti.org/businesses-in-port-au-prince/
http://www.pagespro.ht/en/
Maison Handal https://web.facebook.com/maisonhandal/
Order directly with orders@maisonhandal.comRECOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT: The Lambi Fund of Haiti https://app.etapestry.com/…/LambiFundofHa…/OnlineGiving.html
Gloria has assembled an excellent list of community-based church and missionary groups (not vetted by EAH): http://www.haitiangloria.com/
Haitian Support Group has a good list of civil society organisations in Haiti (Not vetted by EAH):http://haitisupportgroup.org/haitian-civil-society-organisations/
I would like to comment that local charities know the ropes on the ground, know the people in their communities and are capable of getting the biggest bang for the buck. Please, if you are going to donate for relief, look into the local organization which most fits your giving philosophy and donate appropriately
Big international aid organizations often don't have a clue of even the name of the communities, are often weighted down with hefty foreign salaries, new Toyotas and fancy laptops etc... There are a few who actually work effectively (Doctors Without Borders is one), but beware and do your homework, or, as I want to repeat, give to a local organization.
I followed Hurricane Matthew from the time before it hit my lighthouse in Dominica until yesterday and posted numerous updates as it happened. The situation in Haiti is tragic... injured children slopping around in the mud of their destroyed homes... I am sure you all see this if you are in any way connected to media or Internet.
Of the scores of photos I have shared on Facebook, I think this one from CNN says how it feels. My family knows living like this first hand, fortunately without a disaster having destroyed the little they have. I can feel the pain and hopelessness of this little girl.
So please, forget for awhile these asshole, traitorous capitalistic pigs of USA politicians and disaster capitalist international charities and send $27 to a local Haitian charity that fits your philosophy of giving.
Note: I do not nor have I ever worked for an aid organization, but have been a public independent socialist critic of the bad ones and a freind of the good ones in Bolivia.
Comments
What about church organizations?
I was thinking of donating through Catholic Relief.
For Christian church goers, there might be a collection at mass or service this Sunday. Put your cash or check in the basket and the your church sends it all at once to their counterparts on the ground.
Mary Bennett
My family are all Catholics
But judging from my experience on the ground, I would say most church charities, including international Catholic ones, are a big waste of money. Essentially you are paying for religious indoctrination, forced prayers and such like. I have never seen one nanospeck of relief in my town from the Catholic or other Church.
From the Light House.
What Alex says is true, sadly
Secular charities are often far better at providing relief than religious charities, as part of the "relief" religious charities spend the money on are things like churches and bibles being built and distributed in the areas affected by disaster, which a secular charity would instead spend on shelter, food, and medicine.
To continue
4 October at 19:44 ·
In the coming days, many of you are going to write and ask me how you can "help Haiti". Here are my suggestions:
1. Don't give the American Red Cross. Nope. But... Nah.
2. Send Haitian-led orgs money, not your missionaries and useless college kids, old college sweat shirts, or anything that can be bought in Haiti (which means everything that can be bought in the US)
3. If you've never spent a minimum of 9 months in Haiti (gestation period counts), answer any questions about it with "I'm not an expert in this matter but I can refer you to someone who may be able to help you"
4. Lastly, we Haitians are tired. We just want to make it through to tomorrow without another ignorant or sensational headline. Please be respectful of that.
**UPDATE** Haitian-led orgs you can contribute to directly for relief efforts: Konbit Mizik, Haiti Communitere, ACFFC, Sakala Haiti, SOIL, Fondation Aquin Solidarité , Volontariat pour le Développement d'Haïti, Lambi Fund, MADRE, Sowaseed, Konbit Solèy Leve, Sakala
Non-Haitian Orgs with proven track records in Haiti: Doctors without Borders, Roots of Development, Partners in Health, Border of Lights, Nova Hope for Haiti
https://www.facebook.com/french.francois/posts/1078379998925511
From https://www.facebook.com/french.francois?fref=nf
From the Light House.
Doctors Without Borders is the only one I trust.
I always make my donations general, too, because they will tell you on their website when they have enough money for one area (like after the big tsunami off Sumatra).
DWB
Doctors Without Borders (Doctores Sin Fronteras) is one of the very few international charities that is trusted in Haiti. Nevertheless, I prefer local based relief charities.
From the Light House.
I was on WeatherUnderground this morning...
And was pleased to see they were recommending http://www.lambifund.org/ from your list as one of 2 charities to help Haiti in the Jeff Masters Blog...
The other was their own http://www.portlight.org/ which looks like it specializes in aid for the disabled... IDK about that one what they do in Haiti...
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
First the earthquake and now a cat 4 hurricane
I feel so sad.
Donated a bit through NOVA Hope. Tried one of the other links but they wanted euros and my credit card donation was rejected.
Thanks for your compassion Alex.
The political revolution continues
Thanks and...
Can you give me the link and I will see if I can find a non Euro link for later reference?
I wanted to talk about the political revolution and how it relates to charities. In short, many small local charities are revolutionary in nature. That is to say they work in a few communities, or with a specific subset of orphanages, unions, subsistence farmers or whoever with an emphasis on liberation.
On the other hand, the big relief agencies have big programs that are often (not always) failures because they don't have a clue about the local social/economic culture... but design programs from a global capitalist free market ideology.
Its a long topic for a long essay.
From the Light House.
Thanks again
http://www.novahope.org
The political revolution continues
Funds here are tight.
I would go with MSF, cannot recall if they accept funds targeted to one disaster.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
MSF doesn't like targeted donations
The NovaHope for Haiti does the same thing but on the scale of Haiti. They are located in one of the hardest hit areas and their clinic was one of the buildings that survived with some damage and is presently being used for shelter, water and food...
From the Light House.
This is exactly what I was looking for.
Thank you.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Much appreciate this info
Many of us have steered clear of the Red Cross and other profiteering-on-disaster orgs for a long time. Unfortunately, it's easier to eliminate the bad ones than to find and vet the goods ones, especially when the need is urgent and sudden. Thanks for this PSA.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti
The Red Cross is a bunch of Idiots...
In the upper level they are a Publicity and Fund Raising Machine...
On the bottom end they are low paid or volunteer workers that don't do much besides be visible...
My first interaction with them was at a fire at an all-inclusive independent senior living facility where it was a large 3 story, 3 wing, wood frame building connected with a one story dining area in the center of the facility. A fire had started in the wall from their handyman using a torch to thaw a frozen pipe and had rapidly traveled into the ceiling of the one story dining area. The fire alarm sounded briefly for about 30 seconds before the fire burned through the wiring silencing it...
We were engaged in controlling and containing the fire in an area where it could spread to all 3 wings, and engaging in a room to room search of numerous apartments to evacuate the building, when we noticed a couple of guys dressed in nondescript firefighter turnout gear standing close to the door where there was a lot of action...
Lacking turnout gear recognizable to any of the multiple towns responding on the mutual aid call they were eventually asked who they were and what they were doing there...
They responded they were the Red Cross and were there to help, and were directed to get back behind the yellow tape, out of the way...
They did however have several mini-buses show up and took residents to rooms at area motels, which they billed the building owner for...
Our fire department pre-plan for the facility included using school buses and the town finding motels for them, also billing the building owner... Saved us a step I guess... LOL
I wonder if their bill had a markup on it... Probably did...
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."
~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,