“Small Way” to Help in Haiti

1.14.2010

Hi everyone – a friend of mine worked in a small school in Haiti a year or two ago and she passed along this note:

Happy New Year everyone:
I hope this email find you all well. I am sure you know about the devastating earthquakes that have recently tore apart Port Au Prince and nearby islands. In 2008, I visited a school on a nearby island, La Gonav. This school, Matenwa Community Learning Center, and community of Matenwa have been deeply affected by the earthquakes. For most of the people in the area, this is the first time they have felt something like this. Tremors still continue to shake the earth beneath them. There are demolished houses throughout the area and surrounding the school. Lots of people have lost family and friends in Port Au Prince. They still do not feel safe in their houses and scream for God to bless them and their children.

I am writing because they need our help.  Food is at an extreme price right now and the school is putting a food program in place as it did during the hurricanes a few years ago. This means that the breakfast program at the school will be offering at least one meal to students and their families. As well as house repair. This can only happen with our help.

Their website if you’d like to help:

Matenwa

Why help a smaller charity like this? From their website:

Please give generously to the MCLC. The world will be contributing to the major rescue organizations and as usual the people in the bay, on Lagonav, will be forgotten and suffering without the media to send out their call. While PAP gets rebuilt in the coming months, people outside the city will still be sleeping in the rain. I saw this happen here right in Matènwa after the hurricanes. We recieved generous donations to rebuild half the homes that went down during the hurricane, and the others remain to this day in leaking homes. Our staff on the ground will get your donation to the neediest people here to rebuild homes, keep them from starvation in the coming weeks and months, and help pay for funerals (that we hope will be minimal) of their children and loved ones in PAP .