Haiti

It has been five days since Haiti has been struggling with the aftermath of the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake. I have been watching the reports on TV and followed some of my friend’s reports that either traveled there or have work connections there. It is times like these when no matter how much economics we know and no matter how we can justify the existence of poor countries, there is no way for me to comprehend and accept so much pain and destruction. Moreover, this earthquake has hit Haitians just as they were recovering from the hurricane season of 2008.

Some of my friends and I were talking about going to Haiti to help. Understandably so, authorities do not allow any volunteers unless they are trained in disaster relief. Instead, we decided to make individual donations to Fonkoze, a Haitian foundations that provides micro loans to Haitians to fund their entrepreneurial dreams as well as educates them about healthcare, environmentalism, children’s rights, and literacy. We got involved with Fonkoze through one of my friends and the VP of the Malibu Graduate Business Society (MGBS), Bryan Zirkel. He sits on the board of this foundation and from him we found out that Fonkoze’s Headquarters in Port-au-Prince collapsed, as well as their sister bank, Sevis Finansye Fonkoze (SFF). The only way we can help right now is trough donations or by continuing to talk about Haiti. We cannot let this become just another story, because the second we do, those people that desperately need our help will be forgotten.

For those of you interested to find out more about the institutions I mentioned, or how to help Haiti, see below some useful links.

• Fonkoze
• Red Cross
• Oxfam
• US Agency for International Development
• Partners In Health
• UNICEF
• CARE
• World Vision
• Yele Haiti