Haiti Community Support

I am back SAFE from Haiti visiting my village for earthquake relief!
I am so thankful for all you expressions of concern and your help to bring relief to a world of suffering. I’m so proud we can do SOMETHING. Our new emphasis on direct aid to families is a real winner. Thanks again for standing alongside people in need.

Direct Support for Haiti Quake Survivors, organized by Ellen Mekjavich Please read the following message from Mathilde Aurelien, Portland resident … Ellen Mekjavich needs your support for Direct Support for Haiti Quake Survivors

Mathilde Aurelien Wilson Bruce Wilson Mathilde's Kitchen- Haitian Cuisine

Dear HCS supporters HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!
I just returned from Haiti and it’s the Holidays Seasons - A good time to send out thanks and share the NEWS !!! Here’s what got done in the last year:

Agriculture After the Hurricane
Hurricane Matthew devastated the village’s agriculture sector. Valuable shade trees needed for coffee farming were damaged or downed. Fruit trees and food crops took a terrible beating. Right after Matthew passed we delivered emergency food supplies – thousands of pounds of rice and other staples were sent to the village. But farmers urgently needed help to re-establish production. Haiti Community Support constructed two green houses, and to date over 10,000 seedlings have been delivered to farmers. Now we need to KEEP THE GREENHOUSE PROGRAM GOING for farmer’s continued supply of coffee trees, fruit trees (mango, banana, breadfruit, avocado) and food crop seedlings.
Haiti Community Support’s Medical Clinic
The huge demand for medical care after the hurricane had HCS’s staff scrambling to buy medicine and getting doctors up to the villages. We hired a full time nurse to monitor patients between doctor visits. Our pharmacy is one of the only places for many miles were poor farmers can get the medications they need. Since the hurricane, even more people are now coming from further and further away to access care. HCS is maintaining the clinic and weekly doctor visits, and plans to rebuild a separate clinic building as funds are available. Some other accomplishments:
Jump-start village economy with micro-loans to 60 women.
Distribute balls and jerseys for a town soccer team
The school reopened in partnership with Dept of Education.
Paid the pre-school teachers/supplies (not covered by Dept. Education)
To keep the school lunch and pre-school operating, and the clinic delivering services we rely on you, our stalwart supporters, to keep it all going.

Please donate online to our webpage www.haiticommunitysupport.com or you can mail a check to our: Haiti Community Support
2927 NE 89th Ave
Portland, OR 97220

News from Au Centre - South Haiti

Hurricane Matthew - Update No 5 – Nov 15, 2016:
From: Mathilde Aurelien Wilson

We’re doing it! This fund raising drive allowed us to set up multiple lines of support to the village. Conditions remain extremely difficult and our support is helping a lot of people at a really bad time. Here’s what’s happening:
Food: We are getting a steady flow of food to the village; bags of rice to the communal kitchen and last week 50 families got a 5 gallon bucket filled with rice, beans, oil and canned sardines to help set up their household kitchens. More family packages and bulk rice continue to the village weekly. While the UN and other large aid groups are getting trucks through the mountains to the big population centers on the North Shore, the Washington Post reports: “small towns on the way to Jeremie are starving and resentful to see many aid convoys pass them by.” Validation of HCS’s small-is-beautiful model is that Au Centre is getting direct targeted support from the HCS team in Haiti.
Medical Help: The medical team just ran its second clinic. Mud slides, horrendous road conditions, and a long walk uphill to the school house have not stopped them! Nearly 100 people took the line for last week’s clinic (held in the school house till repairs are done to the health center) The team’s gravest concern is pervasive child malnutrition. They’re treating kids for malaria, scabies, typhoid, gastric and diarrheal issues. Adults have these plus elevated blood pressure.
Crop Assistance: The UN Reports “crop loss reaching a staggering 80 to 100 per cent…food insecurity risks worsening in the coming months if farming activities are not urgently restored by mid November.” Working with fellow agronomists HCS Director has miraculously sourced and readied for delivery this week of two truckloads of yam and banana starts.
Housing: Many families will be living in the school house for some time. While making quick repairs to their homes, few have the funds to actually rebuild. I’m urgently looking for an organization to fund house rebuilding as a second phase to our relief program.
UN Situation Report for November 14 stated there “remains an enormous gap in the people’s ability to meet their basic, day-to-day necessities, such as medication, food, water, hygiene, and the ability to reconstruct their destroyed homes.” Against daunting and dangerous logistical challenges the resourceful and brave HCS team is reaching the village to continue the emergency work.
Thank you all so much. Including the rebuilding part, the team needs support for months to come. Please can you keep helping us in any way you can - help by spreading the word so others may join and with any donations you can make to this major effort.
Love from Mathilde Aurelien Wilson

Bruce Wilson Jouk Li Jou - Haitian CookShack Cafe