Ways to Get Involved

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ProLiteracy's Haiti Earthquake Emergency Fund

Last updated March 31, 2010

1. What is the status of ProLiteracy's partner programs in the disaster area?

   • GWOUPMAN TET ANSANM PEYIZAN FAYET (G.T.A.P.F)
     A message from Lumarque Gerald, G.T.A.P.F. Director
     "We have received the funds. The whole literacy team says thank you and we will send photos to show how the distribution went. We want to let you know that ProLiteracy is the first literacy organization that is supporting us. No other literacy organization has helped us as of yet. We say thank you to the whole ProLiteracy team. Also, don't forget us when you come to Haiti, give us a visit. There is a Haitian proverb that says, 'Hearing and seeing are two different things.' A thousand thanks for your support."
   • FONKOZE
     Fonkoze has the deepest reach to Haiti's rural poor and has an extensive micro-finance network that could potentially take years to recreate. However, when most commercial banks remained closed, Fonkoze re-opened most of its branches. In the days immediately following the earthquake, Fonkoze responded to the generous donations of cash by delivering it directly to 34 of their branches. It had a lot of help in high places: the U.S. Secretary of State, top Treasury and Defense Department officials, the Federal Reserve, the Agency for International Development, the United Nations, the Inter-American Development Bank, and more. Fonkoze's Jean-Guy Noel rode in helicopters as he began the deliveries before dawn. Seven hours later, all the cash had been delivered and the helicopters were back in Port-au-Prince. By early afternoon, the cash had been distributed to the 34 Fonkoze branches. Almost immediately, the Fonkoze managers began giving Fonkoze's members cash loans, a financial lifeline at a time when the formal banking system is in shambles and remittances sent from overseas to Haitians remain locked up. Forty-one Fonkoze branches are now open for business. The Bizoton Branch opened Tuesday, February 2, and the Leyogan Branch operates in a mobile van.
   • AKV
     Update message from June Levinsohn, AKV Director
     I was sent to an area around Jacmel to do an agricultural assessment for AKV's sister organization, CCH. I only worked as an RN for two days in the clinics. Everyone in Haiti has been affected by the quake since Port Au Prince was the economic, governmental, educational, and commercial center for the entire country. One quarter of the Haitian population lived in Port-au-Prince. Now hundreds of thousands of survivors have evacuated and "gone home," which has put those who must welcome their returning extended family into spiraling extreme hardship. Many of the major markets, seaports, and airports were destroyed. The flow of trade has been greatly interrupted; without endpoint sales of goods produced in the provinces there is no income. CCH/AKV is focused on one rural area and has sent funds for seed purchases. The members of this community will work to re-coup money spent on supporting relatives and dealing with inflation. The funds will allow them to buy seeds, replant, and eventually break this cycle of poverty and hardship. No one within the AKV community was directly affected by the devastation, but the whole nation is shaken. Picking up the pieces is the Haitian tradition, but now it has added weight.
   • H.A.S. (Hospital Albert Sweitzer)
     As we continue the long-term work to recover from the earthquake, events are being implemented rapidly to help those folks who have suffered from the devastation. Perhaps no injury is more life changing than the loss of a limb. During the earthquake, many people suffered crushing injuries to their extremities; primary care for the injured often required amputations of injured or infected limbs. An estimated 2,000–4,000 amputations were performed in the first week after the earthquake, many of them under rudimentary field conditions. HAS is continuing to develop a training program for rehabilitation technicians, which has been supported by the Friends of HAS, and which is guided by Health Volunteers Overseas. The 2009 class graduated three students; one is assigned to the hospital, and the other two are assigned to the dispensaries. The current class has six students, who arrived a week before the earthquake. A full-time Haitian physical therapist (a rare commodity in Haiti) has been added to the staff, thanks to support from Friends of HAS. Now, with the arrival of the Prosthetics Lab, HAS is emerging into a new clinical arena, and also in a new role within Haiti. All of the current patients are victims of the Port-au-Prince earthquake, and have been cared for by HAS.

2. Who will receive ProLiteracy's Haiti Earthquake Emergency Fund donations?

   Money raised through ProLiteracy's Haiti Earthquake Emergency Fund will be given to our four partner programs in Haiti to meet the short-term, emergency needs of their staff and the individuals and families they serve.

3. How is the money from ProLiteracy's Haiti Earthquake Emergency Fund going to help the people served by ProLiteracy's partner programs?

   ProLiteracy's Haiti Earthquake Emergency Fund was created to help meet the short-term, emergency needs of the men, women, children, and families served by our partner programs, as well as their staff. Every dollar raised through the fund will be distributed directly to our affected literacy partners for them to use to meet emergency needs for clean water, food, medications, clothing, diapers and toiletries, transportation, and shelter.

4. How much of my donation is being given to ProLiteracy's partner programs?

   One hundred percent of ProLiteracy's Haiti Earthquake Emergency Fund is being given to our four partner programs that serve men, women, children, and families in or from the earthquake-affected areas.

5. How long will the emergency fund be active?

   ProLiteracy's Haiti Earthquake Emergency Fund will be active only during the immediate emergency. Regular updates will be posted on our website, and we will notify donors when the fund is no longer active.

6. Tell me more about the ProLiteracy partner programs in Haiti. What type of educational and social services do they provide and how many people do they serve?

   All of our partners provide a unique combination of literacy, social services, and community development projects. For example, Ayiti Konse Vet (AKV) trains farmers in the basics of organic and regenerative/conservation agriculture. We helped AKV expand to include literacy classes on environmental sustainability through better farming, and fundamental reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. Other partners provide banking and micro-credit services and health services combined with literacy instruction. Combined, our four partner programs serve more than 1,800 learners throughout Haiti.