Economic Growth Haiti Project #4571

Contribute to Long-Term Rebuilding in Haiti

by Lambi Fund of Haiti

Project Report | Mar 9, 2010
Earthquake Recovery Update- March 2010

By Josette Perard | Country Director

Thanks for your support since the earthquake that devastated Haiti January 12th. With your help, the Lambi Fund of Haiti has been able to take extraordinary action to help meet the dire need throughout the country. Because of the Lambi Fund's deep ties with rural communities throughout Haiti, we are uniquely placed to support rural areas that have absorbed thousands of earthquake survivors that fled the rubble of Port-au-Prince, most with nothing more than the shirt on their backs. In the Haitian tradition of peasant solidarity, rural communities took in quake survivors and shared with them everything they had. As just one small example, the 80-year-old mother of one Lambi Fund staff member has taken in 39 people in her small house. As you can imagine, the already limited resources of rural community organizations quickly began to dry up, which is why we've devoted our immediate response primarily to providing financial resources to our trusted local partners so they can provide survivors with basic needs. Thanks to your support, 43 different community organizations throughout rural Haiti received cash disbursements to purchase food, clothing, medicine, and other essential supplies for the thousands of displaced persons who returned to the rural communities following the earthquake. This helped infuse the local economy as well. You are also making a difference with several women's groups in Port-au-Prince who lost everything in the earthquake, but are still standing up for the rights of women and children. With your additional support, you can continue to make a difference in Haiti by supporting what Lambi Fund has been doing in Haiti for the past 16 years - partnering with community organizations to strengthen their capacity to produce locally grown food, improve water access, expand pig and goat raising enterprises, and invest in community micro-credit funds. These programs allow more families to eat, more parents to work, and more children to go to school - all of which is fundamental to the long-term recovery and sustainability of Haiti. It is important to stress that the recovery will take time, as it has for major catastrophes before it, but with your continued commitment, Haiti will set itself on a new course of progress. On behalf of the Lambi Fund of Haiti and the people of Haiti, thank you for making all of this possible. Sincerely, Josette Perard Port-au-Prince, Haiti Lambi Fund of Haiti Country Director

Lambi Fund earthquake recovery meeting with locals

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Jan 27, 2010
Haiti Earthquake Recovery Update

By Karen Ashmore | Executive Director

Haitians frantically board tap-tap to leave Port-au-Prince

The days following the earthquake were a busy and stressful time for Lambi Fund. Contacting staff and partner organizations proved to be a difficult task given the lack of phone service, power, internet and destruction of major roads to rural communities.

On January 16, 2010 staff in the US finally heard from Lambi Fund’s country director in Haiti. While staff in Haiti have been struggling to survive in a city that has been demolished, we here overjoyed to hear that all Lambi Fund staff members were alive and suffered relatively minor injuries.

January 18, 2010: Lambi Fund Country Director Josette Perard finally made it through the debris and checkpoints to our office space located in downtown Port-au-Prince. It sustained damages but is still standing! Important documents and equipment were salvaged for the time being as it lacked electricity needed for the office to be functional.

January 19-24, 2010: Staff have been working out of our Field Coordinator’s house; one of the few houses still standing that has electricity. Lambi Fund’s office building is being used as shelter for those that have been displaced.

Several Lambi Fund led regional meetings have convened in rural communities outside, under trees throughout Haiti. These communities are currently experiencing tremendous rates of outmigration that are severely stressing already limited resources. The 1,000’s of refugees streaming into these villages daily desperately need immediate relief. As such our local partner organizations and Lambi Fund have begun distributing major essentials like food, water and medical supplies to displaced persons. Shelters are in the process of being built as well.

January 25, 2010: Staff finally managed to purchase gas for Lambi Fund’s generator. The office has electricity, is up and running and is fully operational! Continued discussions with grassroots organizations in rural communities have led to the development of a four-phase recovery plan that will be critical in Haiti’s long-term recovery:

1. Distribute food and emergency essentials to those migrating from Port-au-Prince to rural areas. 2. Repair damage in rural communities 3. Expand sustainable agriculture programs to meet the increased demand for food in rural areas 4. Increase opportunities for sustainable income for those displaced by the earthquake so that the influx of people migrating to countryside can start earning sustainable livelihoods

Play a major role in expanding resources, rebuilding, and providing refugees with the means for economic livelihoods in rural communities by supporting this important long-term recovery program in Haiti today.

Members of local organizations meet with Lambi Fund

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