Haitian progress remains stagnant with little aid

Last year at about this time, Sue Gulley had her hands full. As the executive director of the American Red Cross at the Monroe County Chapter, she had many people turning to her to help organize fundraisers for Haiti after the 7.0 earthquake caused the death of more than 200,000 Haitians and left about 1.5 million homeless.

After immediately educating herself on the country, she began to work with about 20 local groups and volunteers to set up relief efforts to raise money. People contacted her every day asking how they could contribute.

Yet today, Gulley does not work with anyone to help Haiti. Although the American Red Cross remains significantly involved offering aid there, the Monroe County Chapter does not have any community participation.

Gulley said she blames the lack of media attention. Without the images of Haiti being strewn across the television daily, many people have forgotten.

“It’s not in the news,” Gulley said. “People aren’t thinking about it.”

By texting, calling or using the web to donate, Bloomington and a few surrounding areas raised about $160,000 for Haiti last year. Gulley said the money has helped some Haitians rebuild and have clean water and sanitation, but many still live in tents today. 

Even the recent cholera outbreak in October, which killed and hospitalized thousands, failed to send donors Gulley’s way.

Organizations once heavily involved have also steered their efforts in a different
direction.

Bradley Levinson, director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at IU, said after the earthquake, the center put together a fundraiser called Cram the Container. The ultimate goal was to fill up a shipping container about the size of a train car with canned foods, sleeping bags and many other items for Haiti.  

Today the center continues to provide education for people interested in Haiti, and it has co-sponsored events like the Haiti film festival in January, but collecting donations is something of the past.

“We’ve kind of gotten out of that business,” Levinson said. “I guess the sense of urgency wears off.”

As what happens with many disasters, people tend to become more involved immediately after it happens and less frequently as time goes on. New disasters develop, and attentions turn to them.

Lori Garraghty, resource development director at the United Way for Monroe County, said it also has to do with people acting as habit donors or people who give once each time a disaster occurs. 

“Every month brings its own issue,” Garraghty said.

Yet some people still cling to their causes.

“A year later, it feels like no time has passed,” said Kat Forgacs, a folklore graduate student at IU. “I feel like I still need to be doing things.”

After taking Haitian Creole at IU, Forgacs volunteered as a translator for Haitian artisans at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., in 2004. She said her emotional attachment to Haitians grew, and the earthquake solidified this even further.

“An event like that, it was absolutely something I couldn’t escape or ignore,” Forgacs said. “I felt like this was happening to members of my own family.”

Forgacs immediately took action. She created www.bloomington4haiti.wordpress.com to connect people in central and southern Indiana who were interested in lending a hand to Haiti, and she also dedicated a Facebook page to announce upcoming events.  
Seeing how broken Haiti remains, Forgacs’ work continues. She was involved with Cram the Container, the Ali Tarter talks in March, Haiti Awareness Month in
September, the Haiti Film Festival in January and Kafe Kreyol, which is a group that meets to speak in Haitian Creole and discuss upcoming events for Haiti.

Over time, she said people have stopped collecting physical items for Haiti. But many organizations now combine fundraising with education and awareness.

“My interest is to help people understand what is going on there and what has been going on there for decades,” she said.

Although local contributions have alleviated many problems, Haiti still has poor schools and families in dire need of basic necessities, said David Tezil, an IU graduate student who grew up in Haiti.

People who want to help should educate Haitians on how to care for themselves, Tezil said. Haitians should not be given fish but instead be taught how to fish, he said.

“We’ll work with you. We’ll empower you,” Tezil said, referring to how organizations should communicate with Haitians.

Locally, Tezil has become a Haitian mentor. Parents of adopted Haitian babies, churches taking missionary trips and students with questions about the country come to him constantly. To help Haiti, he said people need to look toward its future.

Donations like bottles of water can cause the immense trash problem to increase, and Haitians will have a problem when the bottles run out, Tezil said.

Instead, he said people should ask Haitians what they would like done. 

Tezil’s father is a prime example. He worked with community leaders in their former hometown of Carrefour and eventually helped build a well to provide clean water. The well is still there, Tezil said.

For Haiti’s future, Forgacs said Haitians should be pushed toward a self-sufficient lifestyle. But she also said organizations should not end their help immediately.
“You can’t walk away from someone who literally has nothing,” Forgacs said.