Last week’s terrible earthquake in Haiti has caused not only a staggering loss of life but also the destruction of its fragile medical, social, and economic infrastructure. Health for Humanity is extremely concerned about Haiti’s medical needs and is currently seeking contacts and information to discern the best way that our organization, our supporters and our volunteers can assist the people suffering from this disaster.
We are deeply grateful to the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and Partners in Health, to name a few, for their crucial services in providing first-response emergency relief medical care to save the lives of those who have been injured. Because Health for Humanity focuses on long-term health development projects, we currently have neither the infrastructure nor resources to immediately send volunteers to Haiti on our own.
To expand our ability to serve the Haitians as soon as possible, we are actively seeking new institutional alliances and associated volunteer service opportunities. For example, The Vision2020 Partnership, a part of the International Eye Foundation, is in the early stages of collaboration with its affiliate organizations to build and staff an eye hospital in Haiti. Health for Humanity supports this collective effort. We will keep our volunteers notified when opportunities are available to support this initiative.
If you are in contact with any groups that are organizing recovery work in Haiti, or have other information which could be helpful to planning activities there, please contact the Health for Humanity offices by phone or email. In addition, we would like to encourage our volunteers to independently serve in whatever capacity possible with disaster relief organizations currently established in Haiti. Information about other ways to donate or contribute to the Haiti relief effort is available on the White House Haiti Earthquake Relief web page (http://www.whitehouse.gov/haitiearthquake_embed).
As time goes by, we pray that relief will become recovery. During this challenging process, Health for Humanity is committed to support the rebuilding efforts of Haiti’s medical institutions and to offer timely service in the cause of restoring Haiti and its people to health. In the Baha’i Writings, it is written that “… When such a crisis sweeps over the world no person should hope to remain intact. We belong to an organic unit and when one part of the organism suffers all the rest of the body will feel its consequence” (Shoghi Effendi, Lights of Guidance). Health for Humanity is committed to the unity of humanity and the recognition that we all share in the suffering and support of our brothers and sisters in Haiti and around the world. Please join us in prayer and preparation for action in the days and weeks ahead.
In grief and hope,
The Board and Staff of Health for Humanity
