Haitian Relief Through Fair Trade

Now you can support relief efforts in Haiti by purchasing beautiful Haitian fair trade crafts and jewelry. AlterNatives, HSP's sister fair trade boutique, has created a Haiti Relief section of its web page for products from fair trade producers in Haiti. We are going to donate 50% of sales from the Haitian product to Lamp for Haiti.

While emergency assistance is very important, assisting in job creation and opportunity in the next few weeks is going to be critical in rebuilding a positive and transformed Haiti. I’ve experienced in Guatemala that the communities who were helped through the market and business development had far more sustainability and positive results then their neighbors who were supported as long as it was the cause célèbre, but then abandoned when the next crisis took precedence. We can all see how the widows of Chontola are much better off for the investment in threads then corn 25 years ago. Chontola was one of the very first villages HSP worked with, first helping the women literally rebuild their community and then critically helping them form their own cooperative, Ruth y Nohemi, now an internationally successful business.

After hurricane Mitch hit Nicaragua, we focused on marketing the pottery from San Juan del Oriente. It really worked out that they were able to not only recapitalize from lost inventory but to sustain growth that continues today.

We do not feel that it is correct to “profit” off of the calamity and therefore are donating all proceeds from the sales of the product to sustained efforts to train and advocate for the poor of Haiti.

Blame for the Victim and Praise for the Predator: Haiti in the Wake of Devastation

A recent Op-Ed piece in the New York Times by David Brooks demonstrates the worst colonial mentality of blaming the victim. In a piece titled The Underlying Tragedy, Brooks argues that the voodoo culture and poor work ethic are the underlying causes of the economic woes of the country. He postulates that other former colonies have been able to pull themselves up by the boot straps and ask why not Haiti. He proposes to fix Haiti by changing the Haitian culture through programs to teach hard work, responsibility and thrift.

Mr. Brooks is either ignorant or overlooks a critical difference in Haiti’s history. The Haitian people have struggled under a significant debt load since colonial times as a price for their “freedom”. The islands example of liberation has caused fears in Northern capitals for two centuries and to this day the island’s attempts at self rule are blocked by anxious outsiders worried by the example Haiti could represent to its neighbors.

Haiti became the third revolutionary republic of the modern era, joining the USA and France, when François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture successfully defeated the French, then the Spanish and finally the English to obtain liberation for the enslaved population of the island. This liberation was short lived as chains of force were replaced by chains of debt. While the United States initially supported the revolution through the policies of President John Adams, this was changed by Thomas Jefferson who feared an independent state of black people so close to the United would influence the South’s enslaved population. Jefferson went so far as to advocate the emancipation and colonization of American slaves to Africa to prevent another Haiti.

Haiti was left isolated after the revolution and had no friends in the colonial West. Besides slave holding United States, all of her neighbors were colonies that depended on slavery.

In 1825 Haiti was forced to sign a treaty with France to prevent another invasion and forced slavery by European forces. France’s king agreed to recognize Haiti's independence only if the new republic paid France an indemnity of 150 million francs and reduced its import and export taxes by half. By comparison, the United States paid France 60 million francs for the much larger Louisiana Territory.

Haiti was forced to borrow money from private European banks to pay the indemnity. The banks charged high interest and administrative fees that further increased the debt burden. The nation did not finish paying the French for their freedom until after WWII. The repayment of these loans has been a major factor in the continued invasion and occupation of Haiti by the United States. From the 1960’s and beyond, Haiti has suffered under International Monetary Fund management that has done little but assure that all GDP would be channeled to serving debt hosted upon the Haitian people by the governments imposed upon this people by governments acting on behalf of international banking.

While CNN commentators are praising the American response to this crisis, there seems to be little understanding of why we invaded Haiti so many times in the 20th century or the continued role of the United States in defending the interest of banks. There is even less understanding of the long term structural issues created by these policies.

AMA Women Act & Inspire Solidarity with those in Haiti

Great news for everyone! The Mayan women of AMA have made their donation to their peers in Haiti, through the grassroots organization Rights Action. And better still, HSP has heard back from lots of people about how AMA's story of sacrifice and solidarity inspired to them to give to the relief efforts even though they themselves are struggling with economic hard times right here in the U.S. Here's just one of the many responses we received:

"Ben, thanks for that thoughtful and inspired breakdown. I will figure out a way to make some kind of a donation, especially considering the example of AMA. It becomes too easy with the amount of bills to be paid in the US to lose track of how lucky we are to be able to pay those bills." - Susan Posey

Folks have also really appreciated the recommendations and analysis. More is on the way, and we're really glad to see people carefully considering how to best support those in need, both through urgent short-term and necessary long-term efforts.

Haiti Relief - How to Really Help

We all want to help the people of Haiti as they deal with the horrific consequences of yesterday’s earthquake. While HSP isn’t capable of doing emergency relief work outside of Guatemala, we can recommend good folks who do, that you can donate to. Personally, I’ll be donating through Oxfam to help provide immediate emergency assistance.

HSP’s sister nonprofit in Guatemala, AMA(Asociacion de Mujeres del Altiplano), is also planning to donate funds as an organization. The impoverished Mayan women in AMA’s women’s circles plan to raise $250 for women and families in Haiti by the end of this week. These AMA women and their families live on an average of $300 a year, less than $1 a day, making their donation all the more meaningful.

AMA's intentions remind us of the parable of the Widow’s Gift (Mark 12:41-43), in which a poor widow gives her last two copper coins, and thus the greatest gift of all – all she has. AMA will be making their donation through Rights Action, an organization that supports grassroots humanitarian organizing internationally.


Give Now to these HSP recommended organizations

Oxfam has long experience in Haiti and is rushing in teams from around the region to respond to the situation where our assistance is most needed.

Rights Action funds and works with community development, environmental justice, human rights and disaster relief organizations in Guatemala and Honduras, and also in El Salvador, Haiti, Oaxaca and Chiapas.

Direct Relief has an ongoing "Emergency Pre-Positioning Program" and a program in Haiti that stages essential medical materials on site with key partners for immediate use in emergency situations.

Learn More about how to best support emergency relief and long-term aid

This post from the Blood And Milk blog is a good summary of relief vs. aid funding:

"Humanitarian relief programs are focused on rapid start-up, and rapid impact. Implementers of humanitarian programs need to gear up as fast as possible, and start providing necessary assistance as fast as possible. Their primary focus is not building local capacity, sustainability, or monitoring and evaluation. Their primary focus is getting help to people in need. They end when the emergency ends. Relief can come from the outside, and it is a response to some kind of breakdown or disaster.... Development programs are focused on achieving long-term change of some kind, with the intent of improving people’s lives and the lives of their descendants. They involve rigorous planning and ongoing operational research. They are rooted in local capacity building, because they are aimed at change which continues after the project ends. Even if it has outside support, development in the end has to come from inside.”

The blog, Good Intentions Are Not Enough has a great post entitled “Choosing organizations to donate to after the Haiti earthquake.”

AidWatch has posted “Haiti Earthquake: Help Navigating Complex Terrain of Disaster Relief.”

Tales from the Hood, written by an experienced aid worker, has a post—“Haiti”—just out providing information for donors as well.

Philanthropy Action has also posted “Advice for Donors to Haiti - providing advice based on research from the World Bank and the Fritz Institute”

An article “Haiti's Coming Public Health Challenges”, written by Alanna Shaikh at UN Dispatch.

An article from Michael Maren, the author of The Road to Hell – “From an expert: Haiti Donation Advice”