Help for Haiti

Catholic News Service has a blog posting on the situation in Haiti, now more than two years after it was struck by a powerful earthquake:

. . . More than 316,000 people died; an estimated 500,000 people — a third of the original 1.5 million people left homeless — remain in tattered shelters in hundreds of settlements in and around the capital of Port-au-Prince.

While a sizable amount of rubble from collapsed buildings has been removed, the capital still bears signs of the destruction with structures askew and little reconstruction in place. The collapsed National Palace, which housed the offices of the president, still sits silently across from Champs de Mars Park, where 20,000 people remain camped. The scene serves as a stark reminder of the perilous struggle Haiti faces.

Aid workers and other observers find any progress distressingly slow. About $2.4 billion of the $4.5 billion pledged by the world’s governments meeting in New York two months after the quake has been received, the United Nations Office of the Special Envoy to Haiti reported. Even less actually has been spent.

To learn more, go here.

What, you might ask, have Catholics been doing to help?
Catholic Relief Services reports that it has:

- Built 10,600 transitional shelters

- Provided 10 million meals to more than 1 million people

- Organized medical teams that performed more than 1,000 emergency surgeries and conducted 71,000 outpatient consultations

- Helped workers crush enough rubble to fill almost 1,800 dump trucks

- Hired more than 12,000 people in temporary cash-for-work programs

To learn what you can do, go here.

The Good News from Haiti

Father Joseph Philippe, founder of Fonkoze (The Shoulder-to-Shoulder Foundation, Haiti’s largest microcredit organization) will discuss the current situation in Haiti on Friday, April 29 at 7 p.m. at the Pastoral Center, 40 North Main Avenue in Albany (between Western & Washington avenues).

Fr. Philippe does not see his fellow-Haitians as ‘the poorest people in the Western Hemisphere,’ but as untapped potential for economic and human development, and the capacity to transform their society if the playing field is leveled.

He also is the organizer of the Association of Peasants of Fondwa, which has brought many benefits to their community; and founder of the University of Fondwa, Haiti’s first rural university, committed to improving the lives of Haiti’s peasant majority, so that farmers won’t need to migrate to cities in search of jobs.

The talk is sponsored by the Commission on Peace and Justice of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. For more information, please call 453-6695.

Report from Haiti

Earlier this year, the Commission on Peace and Justice sponsored visits to various local churches by Rev. Joseph Philippe, a Haitian priest who made two fundraising visits to the Capital Region after the earthquake. One of the people who met with him was Ed Mahood, a member of the St. Joan of Arc parish in Menands. What happened next is the subject of a story by Paul Grondahl in the Times Union this week.

At a time when many are trying to escape Haiti, which has been rocked by violent demonstrations over charges of a fraudulent presidential election and a deadly cholera outbreak, Ed Mahood is back for a second time.

Mahood, 73, a retired state worker, bought a one-way plane ticket to the Caribbean nation and this week began an open-ended stint as a volunteer in Fondwa, a poor area of peasant farmers outside the capital of Port-au-Prince.

"I'll stay as long as they need me and I can be of help," Mahood said. "If they give me a teaching assignment, I'll stay for six months."

Mahood returned home at the end of October after 21/2 months in Fondwa. He contributed his expertise as a computer programmer to help salvage and repair laptops and a computer network damaged in the Jan. 12 earthquake. The 7.0-magnitude temblor killed an estimated 250,000 people, injured 300,000 and left more than 1 million homeless across Haiti.

Fondwa is a mountain village of about 8,000 people, two hours southeast of Port-au-Prince. The subsistence farmers grow corn, beans and bananas. It is one of the most impoverished places in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Many of the peasant families get by on the equivalent of less than $1 a day. Only about 1 in 4 can read and write.

The earthquake killed 30 people in Fondwa, hundreds were injured and 80 percent of the houses, mainly cinderblock huts, were severely damaged or destroyed. Most were made of an inferior cement mix without steel reinforcement bars because they couldn't afford it.

The rest of the article is here.

CRS Responds to Cholera Outbreak in Haiti

Catholic Relief Services reports:

A cholera outbreak in central Haiti has left 250 people dead and more than 3,000 ill. Haitian president Rene Preval confirmed the outbreak on Friday, October 22, after first reports of the illness and deaths were made in St. Marc in the southern Artibonite department, the center of the Cholera spate about 60-miles northwest of Port-au-Prince.

Health officials now fear the spread of the disease to the camps of Port-au-Prince, where more than one million displaced people still live. Poor sanitation and hygiene in the settlements make people there particularly vulnerable to the disease, which causes diarrhea and vomiting so severe that it can kill a person within hours. The Associated Press stated that five cholera patients have been reported in Haiti’s capital, but government officials said Sunday that all five apparently contracted cholera outside Port-au-Prince.

Catholic Relief Services mobilized a massive response just 1 day after the cholera outbreak was confirmed. CRS and partner staff went tent to tent in 12 camps in Port-au-Prince, distributing three bars of soap each to more than 10,000 families (more than 50,000 people) and reaching as many people through an information campaign (simple flyers in Creole) that promotes hand washing and personal hygiene.

CRS’ health team, with colleagues from the University of Maryland, has also been working to help 7 CRS supported hospitals around the country prepare to respond to a possible influx of cholera patients.

You can learn more here.

Presentation on Haiti

The Commission on Peace and Justice of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany is sponsoring a presentation on Post-Disaster Community Development in Haiti on Wednesday, December 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Pastoral Center, 40 N. Main Avenue in Albany (between Western & Washington Avenues).

Christophe Rodrigue and Josue Andre of Haiti will be joined by Loretta Pyles, PhD (Univ. at Albany, SUNY).

The majority of Haitians are peasant farmers who receive none of the government services that we take for granted: no water, sanitation, electricity, roads or schools.

Those whose families cannot survive by farming alone migrate to the cities in search of jobs. One reason so many Haitians died in the January 12th earthquake was the overcrowding in Port-au-Prince.

Come, be inspired as two community organizers and an American colleague describe their work in Haiti’s rural regions to empower the population and improve their communities.

Haiti -- The story continues

Gerard Thomas Straub writes about his visit to Haiti in National Catholic Reporter:

After five full days of living in a slum here, I was ready to give up. Life was just too harsh. I didn’t think I could survive another day.

I am a documentary filmmaker and I’ve filmed in slums like this all over the world -- this was my fourth trip to Haiti in the last eight months -- but to live in one is another story, a horror story laced with rodents, roaches, ants and mosquitoes. Life without running water and electricity is exhausting. The stench of human waste and rotting garbage is inescapable. Violence and corruption are commonplace. The slum where I stayed for two full weeks is in an area known as Girardo-ville. Access to the heart of the slum is limited to one unpaved road that is almost impassable. The difficult physical journey out of the slum is symbolic of the even more difficult journey out of hopelessness in a city where death and disease linger everywhere in the toxic air.

The rest of this article is here.

Help Haiti this Friday and Saturday

If you have some time on Friday or Saturday of this week, please consider helping the members of the Commission on Peace and Justice and we prepare a shipment for Haiti.

The Commission will send to Haiti a 40-foot container filled with humanitarian aid. The contents must be counted and weighed, and the seeds approved by the US Department of Agriculture.

On Friday we'll count, list and weigh as much as we can. On Saturday, we'll finish that and pack everything.

The container is now in the parking lot of the former Our Lady of Mercy Church at 26 Wilson Avenue in Colonie. From Westgate Plaza, go 1.2 miles west on Central Ave. and turn right onto Wilson. (At the corner, there's a white, green and red sign for the American Italian Heritage Museum.)

On both days, we'll start at 9 am, break for a pizza lunch and continue as long as you, the volunteers, wish. Please help, even for an hour. There will be a job for everyone. If you can't lift, you can count the items in a carton.

Updates on Haiti

Father Joseph Philippe is in the Capital District to bring word on what is happening in Haiti, particularly in the rural region of Fondwa where he works to empower people of all ages.

Those who've heard him remember his joy and sense of humor. But his founding of Fonkoze, now Haiti's largest microcredit organization, and his commitment to transforming rural Haiti, which includes challenging a government that does nothing for peasants, have led to his going into hiding at least twice to save his life.

Below are some of the times when you might hear him.

Monday, July 19th, 12:15 - 1pm: Conference Rooms 1 & 2 at the Pastoral Center, 40 N. Main Ave., Albany. Bring your lunch.

Tuesday, July 20, 7pm - Our Lady of Victory Church, 55 North Lake Ave., Troy

Wednesday, July 21, 6pm-potluck supper; 7pm - presentation at Rosa House, 2251 Old 6th Ave., Troy

Thursday, July 22, 6pm - potluck supper; 7pm - presentation at the Pastoral Center, 40 N. Main Ave., Albany

Saturday, July 24, 4pm and Sunday, 8, 9:30 & 11:15am - Masses at St. Clement's Church, Saratoga Springs

Please come and bring a friend.

Help for Haiti (UPDATED)

Barbara DiTommaso, Director of the Commission on Peace and Justice, recently sent the following e-mail, which we share with you:

Dear Friend of Haiti,

Enough folks have wanted to do something hands-on for Haiti, in addition to monetary donations, that I’m organizing a 40’ cargo container of humanitarian aid (or possibly two 20’ containers).

[Below] is a list of the things that have been requested by the Peasant Association of Fondwa. The highest priority now is building materials so earthquake victims who are homeless will have protection when hurricane season starts in June.

I’m looking for storage space where donations can be deposited until it’s time to pack and ship (hopefully May 22).

Do you have room in your cellar, garage, or possibly even in your home? What would be most helpful is drop-off points in various locations, such as the Glens Falls/Saratoga area, Schenectady/Glenville/Scotia area, Amsterdam/Gloversville/Johnston, Hudson/Catskill, Troy/Latham and Albany/Delmar/Rensselaer.

Whether you can offer space or not, would you please forward this request to someone who might?

Mesi anpil (Thanks very much),

Barbara

Donations needed for Fondwa - clean, and in good condition - to fill a 40’ cargo container

(Please contact the Commission on Peace and Justice before sending the italicized items, as only a few are needed: barb.ditommaso@rcda.org or 518-453-6695)

Plywood, 2 x 4s, wood for benches (Haiti is deforested, so lumber is precious), corrugated tin, crusher to grind rubble to the size of reusable gravel

Carpenter’s, mechanic’s, & farmer’s hand tools: scaffolding, hammers, saws, screw drivers, pliers, hoes, shovels, pick axes, wheelbarrows

Hardware: nails, screws, hinges, large padlocks, doorknobs, sockets, switches, solar flashlights, AA, B, C, D alkaline batteries

Walkie-talkies that can be used at a distance of at least 2 miles (rechargeable or solar), security flashlights & wand metal detectors for watchmen

Laptop & desktop computers, flash drives, office supplies (including toner), 2 copiers

Backpacks, spiral notebooks, pens, pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers, rulers, colored pencils, drawing paper, colored paper, children’s scissors, paste, chalk, chalkboard, world & western hemisphere maps, soccer balls, basketballs & hoops

Rice, dried beans, cooking oil, spaghetti, tuna, sardines, tomato paste, sugar, flour, peanut butter, powdered milk, infant formula for orphans

Cooking pots, pans, utensils (not non-stick), can openers, large bowls; stainless steel eating utensils

Vegetable seeds: soybean, okra, eggplant, kale, carrots, beets, squash, lettuce, tomato (esp. Roma), green beans, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower

Buckets, 5-gallon water jugs, empty drums, plastic totes with lids for storage

Cots, sheets, blankets, pillow cases, towels, washcloths, umbrellas, plastic ponchos, rubber boots (not winter), work gloves, tents, tarps

Local efforts to help Haiti

St. Luke’s Church, located at 1241 State Street in Schenectady will host an Interfaith Prayer Service on Sunday, January 24 at 4 p.m. to offer prayers for local Haitian families experiencing the loss of loved ones in the earthquake. Please call 388-4280 for additional information.

There will be an Ecumenical Prayer Service for Haitian victims on Wednesday, January 27, 7 p.m. at Immaculate Conception Church, 732 Route 20 in New Lebanon.

Using the tradition of scripture readings and well-known hymns, participants will join together in asking God to receive those thousands of people who have died, and to send aid and comfort to the survivors.

For more information, please call 794-7651.

A list of other programs, including fund-raisers is available here.

Advent Series -- Part Four

By Barbara DiTommaso

This is part one of an Advent series prepared by the Commission on Peace and Justice, which was printed in The Evangelist.

The deep emotions that many associate with the Christmas season is more than our need for light during the darkest time of year in the Northern Hemishpere; more than our need to express to others through the gifts we give them how much they mean to us; and more than our own need to receive their expressions of love. I believe that we are so open emotionally because at the deepest level we believe that God shares and so understands our humanity, especially as a helpless baby, and inspires our confidence that we are loved unconditionally, forgiven freely, and affirmed in the goodness of our humanity.

God’s unquenchable dream of a redeemed and renewed humanity are mirrored by Father Joseph Philippe. Starting with nothing but a dream and unshakeable faith in his people, this Haitian priest started Fonkoze (pronounced fahn-ko-ZAY), a foundation to empower poor Haitians so that their hard work, determination and resilience could result in a better life.

Fonkoze provides banking services such as money transfers from Haitians living abroad; almost 159,000 savings accounts that now total over $11 million; 55,000 loans that enable street vendors, primarily women, to increase the stock of what they sell and so increase their small profits; literacy and business skills training (including arithmetic); education in health, human rights and environmental protection; and home improvements such as a concrete floor, tin roof and latrine. In a place as destitute as Haiti, these facts constitute nothing short of a miracle.

This grassroots microcredit builds on people’s experience and strengths: As soon as a loan is repaid, the borrower qualifies for a larger loan, then an even larger one, etc. Such economic investment and human development have proven to be more effective than large-scale projects where it can be difficult to see immediate improvements in people’s lives.

But it also has its costs. Fonkoze’s success has deprived the loan sharks who profited from people’s misery by charging up to 400% interest, and they know who is responsible. About six years ago, Father Joseph was in Albany to meet with the Friends of Fonkoze, a small group that raised funds to pay for the training in literacy and business skills. He was asked about his safety. He said, “I try to work in the shadows, but my life is in God’s hands, and I’m ready to go at any time.” He was 47 years old. Since then he has had to go into hiding twice.

But the achievements of Fonkoze clients motivate him to go on, clients such as Agathe Poncet. When she received her first loan of $70 nine years ago, Agathe purchased sugar, rice and vegetables to sell at market. Today her loan is more than 20 times that amount, enabling her to sell tennis shoes, t-shirts, pens and other high-end merchandise. Her children all attend school, her home has been expanded and the thatched roof has been replaced by cement.

Would you consider making a donation to Fonkoze in the name of a family member or friend, or in memory of a loved one who has died? This gift would honor the recipient by expressing your confidence that he or she cares about people who would otherwide have no opportunity for a life free of hunger, continual anxiety and disease.

The need is especially great now in areas struck by four hurricanes and tropical storms in less than a month. For many, everything they had was swept away in the rain, winds and mudslides, including the rickety shacks that were their homes. Fonkoze has already recapitalized 18,000 loan clients who lost their businesses as the best way to help people return to improving their situation. Please become part if this success story.

Barbara DiTommaso is Director of the Commission on Peace and Justice. She works with Fonkoze and a small rural training school to improve methods of farming and animal husbandry in Haiti.

Advent Series -- Part Two

Waiting and Advent
By Jeff Peck

This is part one of an Advent series prepared by the Commission on Peace and Justice, which was printed in The Evangelist.

Scripture reminds us that something is happening and we must make ourselves ready. We are not very good at waiting, even if we are waiting for things we want, for good stuff. New brakes to stop our car safely, birthday presents, even a dentist’s examination. How fortunate we are that even most of the unpleasant things we wait for can bring us goodness.

People in other places are often more patient than we are. They are good at waiting. When you have little, there is little to become impatient about. Your expectations are not great, but the results of waiting are often a matter of life and death. In Haiti, life expectancy is 57 ½ years. Waiting is a lot more costly for them than us in terms of life span. In a country where a majority of the population has difficulty obtaining water fit to drink, waiting for water trucks to deliver drinking water when available is an accepted part of life. For us, it is bothersome to deal with boil orders when our water systems have problems and we easily get impatient waiting for the order to be lifted but we have the assurance of pure water returning.

We wait in dread for the coming of winter storms because the snow will make driving difficult, cleaning up a nuisance, and potentially cause a change in our plans. We do not live in the hurricane belt waiting for the next hurricane to wash away our crops or blow away our homes. In less than a month’s time, the people of Haiti have been subjected to the devastation of four major storms, Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike. One million people became homeless and food has become more difficult to obtain.

As we wait for Christmas and prepare for our customary gift giving, family gatherings, and communal liturgies, it’s important to remember that John the baptizer’s charge to prepare the way of the Lord is our vocation as well. We can extend our waiting and preparation to those in Haiti, where 80% of the population live in dire poverty.

Fonkoze is a multifacted organization that prepares those in abject poverty to enter a micro-lending program. When they are ready, they become part of a solidarity group that qualifies for a loan and then for a larger loan each time they pay off their earlier one. Ultimately the program provides its participants with loans large enough to start businesses and create employment for others. Ninety-nine percent of the participants are women who use the increased income first of all to feed their families and send their children to school.

Melanie Mertyle entered the Fonkoze program for those in extreme poverty. She and her three children had no tangible assets, were unable to earn a living, and experienced great difficulty obtaining food. Nine months after entering the program, the family has a place to live with a cement floor and a tin roof, their first ever latrine, access to clean water, and some health care. Melanie and 149 others were able to enter this program as a result of an investment of only $1,000.00. Now Melanie owns goats and runs a small store in her community. Additional information about Fonkoze is available at the organization’s web site www.fonkoze.org. Its literacy and business skills are limited only by the resources available.

Would you consider making a donation to Fonkoze to pay for a woman to learn to read and write ($25) or to learn arithmetic and business skills ($50); to receive a small loan to increase the stock of her vending business ($25-75) or allow her to improve her home with a tin roof, cement floor and latrine ($350)? Given in honor of a loved one or friend, or in memory of a dear one, these relatively small amounts can lift a family from misery to poverty. Tax-deductible donations made out to Fonkoze USA may be sent to the Commission on Peace and Justice, 40 N. Main Ave., Albany NY 12203-1481.

Jeff Peck, a member of the diocesan Commission on Peace and Justice, is a member of St. Joseph’s Parish in Greenwich and an emeritus professor of political science.

Advent Series -- Part One

Prepare the Way of the Lord

By Barbara DiTommaso

This is part one of an advent series prepared by the Commission on Peace and Justice, which was printed in The Evangelist.

This beloved Advent refrain reminds us that we each have a role in the coming of Christ into the lives of others, as well as into our own. I invite you to begin the holy season of Advent by considering Haiti. Haiti? Perhaps the image that comes immediately to mind is ‘the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere’. But that is only because you haven’t yet met Father Joseph Philippe, a man who believes in miracles.

When this member of the Spiritan Fathers (formerly called the Holy Ghost Fathers) looks at his fellow Haitians, he sees tremendous potential that only needs a little assist to succeed. “Join us,” he urges, “not because we are weak, but because we are strong.”

His ambitious dream a mere 14 years ago has become Fonkoze (pronounced fahn-ko-ZAY), an acronym for the Creole meaning The Shoulder-to-Shoulder Foundation. Modeled on the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, whose founder won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, Fonkoze provides banking services to impoverished people who would be turned away by ordinary banks. But why would a poor person even need a bank?

In Haiti, most economic activity is carried on by women street vendors. Rising before dawn, a typical rural vendor walks on steep mountain paths to the nearest town to buy goods such as clothing, soap or food items. She then carries the these back on her head, or if she is lucky, on a donkey, and tries to sell them at a tiny profit. Father Joseph saw that with a small loan and a few more skills, these ‘little merchants’ and their families could lead dignified lives free of hunger and disease.

A group of at least five vendors forms a solidarity group, and as a group, they are given a loan of as little as $75. The money is divided equally among them, and the first thing they must do is to open a savings account with a small deposit. This starts a habit of saving which not only helps them to accumulate resources, but also relieves them of the gnawing dread of always being at the end of their rope and have nothing to fall back on when the unexpected happens.

With the loan comes responsibility: to learn to read and write (using a game created by Father Joseph that simulates market situations) and to learn business skills appropriate to their conditions. Members of the group hold each other accountable for repaying their share of the loan, and for a member who experiences an unexpected difficulty, the others will temporarily cover her repayment until she can manage again. The loan is used to expand the amount and diversity of goods a vendor can purchase, and so increase her profit. As soon as the loan is repaid, the group qualifies for a larger loan, with which the group members can purchase yet more stock, with no limit to the number of times they can qualify.

Fonkoze’s promise is: If you continue as a responsible member of Fonkoze for 5 years, you and your children will have a meal every day. You will know how to read and write. All of your children will be in school. Your home will have a cement floor, a tin roof, and a latrine. You will have assets that you can see accumulating, day by day. You will have the confidence to face your future, no matter what it holds.

This is not only economic development, but human development as participants feel self-worth and experience success for the first time in their lives. It is also building the economic foundation for democracy in Haiti. Previous failed attempts relied only on elections, and that was not enough.

Another Advent refrain is Come, Lord Jesus! Jesus has already come; it is our openness to his presence that we are asking to have increased. In the coming weeks, you will read more about the miracle of Fonkoze, in which Christ lives in the least of our brothers and sisters and ministers to them through people such as ourselves.

Barbara DiTommaso, Director of the Commission on Peace and Justice, has been to Haiti 4 times. Read more about Fonkoze at www.fonkoze.org.

"Totally immoral"

Catholic News Service reports on an Archbishop who calls U.S. policy on Haitian migrants 'totally immoral.'

Calling U.S. immigration policy toward Haitians "totally immoral," Archbishop John C. Favalora of Miami has urged "the powers that be" to grant temporary protected status to all Haitian migrants until the political and economic situation in their island nation stabilizes.

He also pleaded for the immediate release from detention of 101 Haitians -- including 13 children -- whose homemade sailboat washed up on Hallandale Beach March 28. One man died during the trip, which the migrants said took 22 days at sea, the last 12 without food or water. A U.S. Coast Guard official estimated the trip took about 12 days.

The migrants, some of them suffering from dehydration, are being held by the U.S. Border Patrol at several detention centers in south Florida.

Refugee advocates and immigration attorneys fear they will be moved elsewhere, far from relatives and a network of attorneys who could help them with their asylum claims.

"The church stands ready to make sure that these people have a place to go and people to take care of them while they make their claim," Archbishop Favalora said during a press conference at the archdiocesan Pastoral Center March 30.

The entire article is here.