OXFAMExchange SUMMER 2010 HAITI: Rebati LAvI SPeCIAL ISSUe Good news! Gift annuity rates increase on July 1. “”I love to have knowledge. Ngabu, age 8, Democratic Republic of Congo Find out why Charity Navigator says: “ Oxfam America consistently executes its mission in a fiscally responsible way and outperforms most other charities in America.” Go to oxfamamerica.org/annual2009 to view or download a copy of Oxfam America’s 2009 Annual Report. 4 Rebati Lavi is Haitian Kreyol for “renewing life” and is the name Oxfam has given to our Haitian recovery strategy. We’ve devoted this issue of OXFAMExchange to 6 8 the situation in Haiti. Many of you have COnTenTS supported our Haitian VOLUME 10, ISSUE II relief fund and for that Haiti: Letter from Oxfam America’s president 2 we are deeply grateful. Haiti quake: The first months 4 Searching for jobs 6 To do more and to ensure Faith in Haiti’s harvest 8 Great music, better cause 10 that you receive the latest Top 10 things to know about Oxfam 12 information on Haiti’s OXFAMexchange SUMMER 2010 board of directors Bennett Freeman recovery—as well on Jane F. Huber Janet A. McKinley Barry D. Gaberman editor Chair Joe H. Hamilton our work to find lasting Chris Hufstader, Anna Kramer, Raymond C. Offenheiser Shigeki Makino President solutions to poverty Coco McCabe, Andrea Perera Minh Chau Nguyen Writers Elizabeth Becker Steven Reiss around the world—join Jessica Erickson Brizio N. Biondi-Morra Teya Ryan Senior designer L. David Brown Kitt Sawitsky our online community at Carl M. Soares Michael Carter Production lead Wendy Sherman Rosalind Conway Janet Van Zandt oxfamamerica.org. David Doniger Roger Widmann James Down Jonathan A. Fox AbOve: (Top) “Wash your hands before eating,” says the message Katery Simon, 8, painted on the toy house she made from recycled materials during an Oxfam program that meshed art with public health education in Port-au-Prince. Jane Beesley / Oxfam (Right) Purple eggplants thrive under the care of Gregoir Pierre in Cap Rouge where Oxfam’s partner, CROSE, has supported farmers working in areas prone to environmental damage. Abbie Trayler-Smith / Oxfam (Bottom) At Corail, a resettlement camp for earthquake survivors outside Port-au-Prince, workers mark off a section for latrines. Oxfam helped to provide toilets, shower stalls, and a water system for the new camp. Jane Beesley / Oxfam COveR: On the eve of a feast for the town’s patron saint, a rara procession winds through the streets of Saint Michel in a rural region that has struggled to absorb more than 11,000 people displaced by the January 12 earthquake in Haiti. Ami Vitale / Oxfam America We welcome your feedback. Please direct letters to [email protected] or Editor, OXFAMExchange, 226 Causeway Street, 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02114-2206. Haiti Letter from Oxfam America’s president July 12th will mark six months since the earthquake in Haiti that killed 235,000 people and left more than 1.5 million homeless. Since the quake, more than 140 countries have provided humanitarian assistance. Yet, as I saw during a recent visit, Haiti’s future hangs in the balance. The aim of reconstruction is to “build back better,” but unless crucial logjams are broken, we risk perpetuating—even exacerbating—the instability and poverty that Haitians have endured for decades. More than a million Haitians still live in the 1,300 Meanwhile, nongovernmental organizations, which spontaneous camps that have sprung up since successfully raised billions of dollars for Haiti, have January’s quake. The Haitian government estimates been told all investment projects should be vetted by that 40 percent of the houses surveyed in Port-au- the still amorphous IHRC, leaving us treading water. Prince are habitable. Yet, people remain in squalid Time is running out. At this pivotal moment, as tent cities—for fear, they tell us, of returning to unsafe emergency relief shifts to recovery and long-term de- structures and of losing access to food, water, and velopment, we need someone in charge of execution, sanitation. Before the earthquake, 80 percent of empowered to define priorities. Crucially, this develop- Haitians lived on less than $2 a day, nearly 60 percent ment agenda must include incentives to draw people were undernourished, and only 19 percent had access out of the capital city and spur Haiti’s decentralization. to improved sanitation. Until basic services are available across Haiti, the now-ubiquitous blue tarps How? First, we need to develop programs to help of tent cities will remain. people support their families, renew the shattered economy, and build vitally needed infrastructure. This presents another critical challenge. One of the reconstruction effort’s key goals is to disperse people Haiti needs a viable national public school system. away from the capital city, reducing the area’s popula- Families would be more willing to live in rural areas tion density and fostering economic growth in Haiti’s if they knew their children could get an education. provinces. In the days after the quake, an estimated Money should be invested in modernizing the agri- 600,000 residents left the capital for rural areas. cultural sector, which accounts for only 28 percent of Because Port-au-Prince remains the focal point for Haiti’s gross domestic product but employs two-thirds what Haitians define as their most urgent needs— of the workforce. These investments, coupled with employment, schools, and shelter—people are trade measures to protect small-scale farmers, could choosing to remain in or return to the city. With little generate immediate economic opportunities—and happening in the hinterland, a historic opportunity greater food security. for smart urban planning is slipping away. Since January, much has been done to assuage the What is needed is leadership—an articulate vision human suffering in Haiti. But without decisive action for Haiti’s development, a clear agenda, and teams of to provide jobs, schools, and shelter nationwide, those no-nonsense technocrats who cut through red tape gains will not endure. Six months ago, a terrible and enable work to proceed. Yet, forceful leadership tragedy befell Haiti. Let’s ensure it wasn’t just the from the government of Haiti has been slow in coming, prologue for further despair. and the UN has been hamstrung by high turnover and low capacity in its technical coordination on the ground. The much-heralded Interim Haiti Reconstruc- tion Commission (IHRC), to be co-led by Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and former US President Bill Clinton, has yet to take shape. Raymond C. Offenheiser 2 | Summer 2010 OxfamExchange Heavy rains have soaked the spontaneous camps that have sprouted across Haiti’s ruined capital and its surroundings. With hurricane season now here, Oxfam has been working in some of the most vulnerable camps to improve drainage and help communities place sandbags around their shelters to prevent flooding. Reuters/Carlos Barria, courtesy www.alertnet.org OxfamExchange Summer 2010 | 3 Haiti quake: The first months A major disaster, affecting millions, inspires an international outpouring of humanitarian, financial, and public support. 01.12.10, 4:53 p.m. 01.16.10 01.20.10, 6:00 a.m. 7.0-magnitude earthquake The UN’s World Food Program 6.1-magnitude aftershock strikes Port-au-Prince. plans to provide food for 28,000 strikes 37 miles from people in Port-au-Prince. Port-au-Prince. Darkness falls across the city as survivors dig by Oxfam sets up four hand through the rubble water distribution points. 01.24.10 in a desperate attempt to 01.15.10 Radiohead plays benefit 01.22.10 reach their loved ones. Workers start concert, raising nearly Hope for Haiti Now telethon digging mass graves. $575,000 for Oxfam’s raises $70 million to support Haiti relief efforts $ efforts of Oxfam and other Oxfam supporters have (see story on page 10). relief organizations. donated $2.9 million online. $ 300,000 Oxfam supporters have 01.22.10 estimated homeless Banks in Haiti open for first in port-au-prince donated $6.02 million online. 01.18.10 time since earthquake. Aid groups begin trucking 50,000 in water: 66,000 gallons 150,000 estimated dead through 52 distribution points. estimated dead 01.11.10 Unimaginable.“” “”We have to do anything we René Préval, president of Haiti, can to rebuild our community on the anticipated death toll –and our country. Rooby Pierre, resident of Delmas 75 in Port-au-Prince “”I just ask that you keep Haiti in “”There seems to be plenty of food your thoughts and prayers. It’s a on the streets, [but] banks are tough little island, but I fear this mostly shut down, and people might break its back. can’t get to their money. Sophia Lafontant, a Haitian-American Oxfam staffer, in an email to colleagues Coco McCabe, Oxfam humanitarian staffer, in an email message to Oxfam colleagues from Port-au-Prince Thousands“” of people are “”Our teams were having trouble currently trapped. To guess at getting water and gasoline. a number would be like guessing at raindrops in the ocean…. Oxfam’s Jean Pierre Chicoine in Santo Domingo on challenges Here, in Haiti, you can graduate“” I do not know why my house delivering aid to Haiti from college, you come home, stands and my children all lie you sit down because there sleeping in their beds right now. is no possible job. In Haiti, It defies logic and my babies it’s about hustling. were spared while thousands of others were not. Jean-Baptiste Wilgens on Haitian’s Tara Livesay, Port-au-Prince resident, chronic scramble to put food blog entry on the table for their families.