CHARITY

I received an email this morning of a friend of mine from New York and I wane share it with you because he speaks my heart:

Am not sure how many of you have been filled with lots of questions while watching the Haiti coverage over the last couple of days. 
The failure to execute any kind of organized relief distribution
plan by the big NGOs and Nations involved has been puzzling. But most
troubling is listening to these same organization talk about the know
problems in Haiti before the quake. The most straight forward examples
of my frustration are the following:

 

The UNICEF asking for donations for Haiti saying that it ONLY costs .60 cents to provide 50 water
purification tablets! Each tablet is able to turn 4-5 liters of dirty
water into water suitable for drinking.

 

Note: Before the quake more than 50 percent of Haitians didn’t have access to clean drinking
water.

 

Therapeutic nut spread is a high protein, peanut-based paste, supplied in a ready-to-use packet. No water is needed for mixing, which means that help can be provided to malnourished children in any
situation.  Plumpy’Nut costs approximately US$0.06 per package.

 

Note: There were 250,000 malnourished children in Haiti before the earthquake
struck according to Meds & Food for Kids, a St.
Louis based non-profit organization which produces an energy-dense
peanut butter product recognized by the World Health
Organization and UNICEF as the most effective
treatment for malnutrition. The group says those numbers are about to go
up and is bracing for an increase in demand.

 

The following is from an interview with Matt Marek head of programs at American Red Cross in Haiti on September 14, 2008: “Certainly, Haiti will survive, it has, you know, it's been
unfortunately labeled as the poorest country in the western hemisphere
for way too long. In order for the country not to experience the same
type of devastation there will need to be some major changes all
around...holistically, regarding education, environment, economics,
politics, and security.”

 

Note: More than half of Haitians lives on 44 U.S. cents per day per capita, according to the World Bank and a half-million children have no access to primary school.

 

As of right now 25 million has been donated by text alone so far and over 300 million has been pledged to relief efforts.

 

Scott Harrison, the founder of Charity Water; describes charity as the following:

 

For me, charity is practical. Sometimes easy, sometimes

inconvenient, always necessary. It is the ability to use one's

position of influence, relative wealth and power to affect

lives for the better. charity is singular and achievable.

 

For me Haiti stands as a great example of how the type of “charity” that has been provided and is being provided by governments and big NGOs has not and will not achieve better lives for those in need.  It is my belief that more
resources need to be focus on community based organizations like Yele
and a lot of the missionary type organizations that focus on building
schools and health clinics.

 

However; this disaster doesn’t just provide an opportunity to cry about the fact that .60 cents tablets for clean water and .06 packages of protein are not reaching the Haitians in
need.  The ultimate opportunity
is to focus resources like Micro financing and entrepreneurial
training to help raise the 44 U.S. cents per day per capita
income to one that allows each family we can touch to meet their
own basic needs.    

“Ability is a poor man's wealth.”
John Wooden

To meet this opportunity, I am refocusing a lot of my effort and resources into a new non-profit. This organization will tap human resources from college students to retired executives and most
importantly Haitian expats.

           

Note: An estimated one third of black doctors in New York State are Haitians and there are around 1,100 Haitian doctors in the New York Metropolitan area alone. There are over
2,000 Haitian-American engineers working for the MTA in New York City
alone - more than the number of engineers in Port-au-Prince.

 

We will use existing fundraising models like Kiva.org and ongoing charity event fundraisers.  We will also team up with existing organizations like Yele.org to help us understand
how to best address the economic needs of the people of Haiti.

 

As you read this it would be great if each of you could share your thoughts about the need for this type of organization and how you might see yourself helping get it organized and going.

 

It’s interesting watching the nation start to move on to talking about John Edwards confessions about his baby…