A strategy for being helpful

If the problem is one of dealing with is on a catastrophic scale , pinprick solutions here and there will not accomplish much beyond allowing a good feeling to wash over the donors.  As you know, something like three million people have been directly affected by the recent earthquake.  Supplies are needed immediately.  Efforts need to be coordinated or there is bound to be duplication and omissions with people inevitably tripping over one another.  

There needs instead to be a nationwide planned effort both for the emergency and for the long term, chronic disaster that has been Haiti's lot including overpopulation, loss of agriculture and industry, a lack of clean water, degradation of the environment, and all of it wrapped up in the word "imperialism."

Haiti has long suffered from, among many other things, a government that cannot run or finance anything resembling a nationwide effort.  That leaves the field to NGOs.  Sadly, many of these are predatory or incompetent with the result that they do far more good than harm, knowing nothing about the country, the culture or having a real interest in pulling the country together beyond the requirements of the moment and they often fail even at that.  I am sure you would agree.

But there are other NGOs, those that have been part of the scene for many years.  Some are a blend of local and international, some are entirely local.  They know the people, the culture and every detail of their community.  I have listed a few of such organizations in the email I recently circulated.  These include, Partners in Health, Fonkoze, the Lambi Foundation, Beyond Borders, the Haitian Ministries, CODEHA, NEGES, and Plan.  They are large enough to function not merely on a national or regional epidemiological level but on a precise, community level as well.  They have the capacity, hopefully, to end by strengthening the weak government rather than undermining it further.

It is good for us to bring some supplies to Haiti when we visit but let us not fool the Haitians or ourselves to suppose that we can bring about the solutions they wish for nor can we allow people to imagine that we will take responsibility for correcting all the woes of their entire community.  That is an easy assumption for very poor people to make when they see the ease with which we Americans are able to secure money and supplies.  It leads to severe disappointment and interpersonal disaster all around.

But what we can - and in my view should - do is build relationships, partnerships with people and institutions, schools, churches, community groups, sharing what we know, making friends, helping where we can, allowing Haitians to help us as well, as over time we grow together.  This is where projects like your tiles can play a crucial role.

My preferred formula is to donate as much money as we can and contribute necessary things as well to large, maximally indigenous organizations while at the same time forming close relationships on a microscopic community level where solidarity is the goal.