Konbit Pou Ayiti

Petit Goave – Urgent Need for Medical Team
Report from Gerard Fils Nelson to KONPAY
January 17, 2010

Many buildings collapsed during the earthquake in Petit Goave; at first it appeared as though every brick building in town crumbled. The buildings still standing are very dangerous and we need engineers to come in and check the structures to see which are safe. We have not yet had any relief efforts from outside come to TiGwav, so the first priority is the urgent need for a medical team on the ground as soon as possible.

January 16, 2010 - Report from Reed Lindsay, journalist with TeleSur and head of Honor and Respect Foundation, partner of KONPAY:

I spent the first half of the day in the airport, full of airplanes and helicopters and dozens of journalists. One journalist who had worked in Iraq told me it was like another Green Zone. The military was taken over by the US military, which insists that planes are arriving as fast as possible, although countries such as Brazil, Russia and France have complained they haven't been able to land planes, as well as non governmental organizations. The airport was a zoo (even Geraldo was there), and like being in a completely different world. Outside, I saw an aid distribution for the first time, WFP was giving out high-energy biscuits. People are lined up for  them by the hundreds, and the UN troops were keeping them in a line. I had seen this type of food distribution get out of hand before, and expected it to happen again, but it didn't, at least while I was there, I think because the Haitians don't care much for those biscuits. One 15-year old girl I talked to after she got the aid said she had expected real food (rice) and not something that won't even fill her stomach.

Three nights ago a nightmare we hadn’t imagined possible began in  Haiti. Like any shocking and horrifying tragedy, we will all remember  and tell stories of where we were when we heard about the 7.0  earthquake that shattered Haiti on January 12, 2010. Haiti KONPAY has  been playing a critical role coordinating a rapid response to the  crisis in both Jacmel and Port-au-Prince. We are currently  coordinating efforts to identify and assess needs and also working out  
logistics to get much needed human and materials resources onto the  ground.

Amber Lynn Munger, January 16, 2010. 7am:  The gunfire spread last night to our zone.  At 1 am it started.  It was off in the distance a ways when it first started but got closer and closer up until about 2:30 and then it seemed to stop.  All of the homeless on the streets and in the refugee camps again met the chaos with loud singing, clapping and prayers.  I am at the Matthew 25 house in Delmas 33.

Missionary Gwenn Mangine uploaded many photos of Jacmel to a Facebook album.

Dear Friends,
 
After a long silence from Haiti, what Edwidge Danticat said would "be one of the longest nights in our history", we reached Haiti KONPAY's co-founder, Joe Duplan. He reported from his car, where he spent the night, and said he observed widespread devastation in the city of Jacmel. He is out in the streets now, assessing the damage and learning from the community what the most urgent needs are.
 

We made contact with Cyvadier this morning and thankfully, our co-founder Joe is shaken, but fine. Our friends and colleagues are safe, too.

Haiti is still experiencing aftershocks. We will be making assessments today of the damage to the city of Jacmel and surrounding communities.

Melinda, our Director, is currently in Massachussets making plans to travel to Haiti in order to assess where the relief priorities are, and how we can best attend to them.

Please contact me at elise@konpay.org if you have questions about how you can help. Donations through our DONATE button are welcome. We hope to also create categories of aid that are non-monetary.

Elise

Hello friends, the internet is buzzing with clips of news out of Haiti, hit by a massive earthquake this afternoon. According to friends on the ground, there are aftershocks still happening frequently. Everyone who is trying to get information is in need of a central place to share reports. Please post wahtever you find out here as a comment and we can begin to get a bigger picture of what is happening.

Twenty years after its first democratic elections, Haiti is preparing for a vote to fill all but one seat in its Chamber of Deputies and ten of its thirty Senate seats. However, as the election date of February 28 rapidly approaches, the United States and other donor countries should withhold funding and observers from what is shaping up to be a selection rather than an election.

Recent reports and statements about the elections have focused on one key issue that is likely to undermine the election: The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), appointed by President Rene Preval, has excluded fifteen political parties from fielding candidates in the February contest. However, even if these parties are included in the election, the disenfranchisement of the majority of Haitians will still render the results of the election invalid.

December 22, 2009

Dear Friends of Haiti,

It is with a very heavy heart that I write today to tell you that a true friend of Haiti, Elliot Kriegsman, passed away suddenly on December 19, 2009. Elliot was known by many for his intelligent analysis and true compassion for Haiti. He was also one of the most generous people I have personally known, and I will never forget his gifts to Haiti and his willingness to give one of his kidneys to his brother when he needed it.