Here's an update on our local San Francisco Bay Area charity, the What If? Foundation which has been feeding children in Haiti since the year 2000.
Their envoy Lavarice managed to drive a truck load of food and supplies through via the Dominican Republic.
Here the chair and founder, Margaret Trost, talks about the reports we see in American about looting and gangs:
'When I read the media reports emphasizing lawlessness, riots, looting, and other scenes that depict Haitians as violent, it infuriates me.
I know this is grossly exaggerated. There has been no violence in the Tiplas Kazo neighborhood, the home of the St. Clare’s community (where the children are fed.)
In addition, reports I see every day via email from people on the ground working with other nonprofits continually emphasize the cooperation, patience, and community spirit among the Haitian people.
“…things are totally peaceful…just people helping each other. drove past the main central park in Port-au-Prince where at least 50K people must be sleeping and it was almost silent; people cooking, talking, some singing and crying; people are kind, calm, generous to us and others; even with hundreds lying on the ground, open fractures, massive injuries of all kinds…”
With the epic scale of this tragedy, and the fact that most people have still not received any food or water from the Port-au-Prince airport relief effort, this description exemplifies the extraordinary strength, dignity, and heart of the Haitian people.
I look forward to keeping you posted on our relief efforts in the days to come.
Thank you for all of your support over the last week and for making it possible to get the food program at St. Clare’s back up and running.'
Margaret Trost, What If? Foundation, San Francisco Bay Area.
For more on the What If? Foundation charity and donations they take, see here.
Readers can draw their own conclusion by looking at the Slide Show below. The pictures are a mixture of relief and despair, be warned some pictures may be disturbing.
For a local take on the upcoming Simon Cowell single to help the Haiti victims, see here.
For more on the local SF charity trying to get through to the victims and people being desperate, see here.
For an article on babies being born on park benches, see here.
For more articles on the Haiti earthquake event, see the side box.
Comments
That looting is such a shame.
Anywhere you have no food, water, shelter, you'll probably find looting. But there are also many folks working together to organize assistance and community.
It's a sad situation all around. Looting is terrible but people are starving -- what do you expect starving people to do? It's like Jean Valjean (Les Mis haha) -- is it okay to steal bread for a starving child?
It's always good to get word from people who are there. They have a clearer picture of what is really happening.
Thank you for reporting the truth from Haiti. All these stories of "looting" are so racist - it's just like we saw in Katrina. All these stories about violence and looting, and it turned out that almost none of it was true.
In desperate situations, people will loot and kill to stay alive. Let's not kid ourselves. People will do anything to take advantage of bad situations. My family had lived through a similar desperate situation. It was very scary and not safe at all! Most Americans may not have experienced such situations and may refuse to believe people would do terrible and horrible things.
very sad.
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