MetaFilter posts tagged with charity and haiti

Adventures in celebrity charity.

Nomyte — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 14:47:16 -0800

“If I had depended on Yéle,” said Diaoly Estimé, whose orphanage features a wall painting of Mr. Jean and his wife, “these kids would all be dead by now.” (SLNYT)

Another look at international development from someone who's been there

divabat — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:47:05 -0800

Blood and Milk is the blog of international development worker and writer Alanna Shaikh, who consults on global health development and writes for publications such as the UN Dispatch. Her views, based both on her work in the field and her study & understanding of sociology, international relations, and other such subjects, tend to be contrary to most other opinions on international development: voluntourism isn't helpful, development work is mired in a culture of nice, don't bother starting an NGO (or, if you will anyway, here's how to succeed), global health doesn't need innovation, and microfinance is a disappointment. Also, here's how to tell if your health project is doomed, and Haiti doesn't need your shoes (some people vehemently disagree). Educated well-researched iconoclast, or pessimistic Mary Contrary?

On the frontlines in Haiti

spicynuts — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 07:01:53 -0800

"Surgically, things have gotten so much better in the last 24 hours." Direct view into the daily challenges on the frontlines of the medical situation in Haiti, via the Hershey Medical Center Team and Operation Smile. Written by the surgeons on the ground. Some direct detail via one of the surgeons' wives (I've anonymized his name): "Just wanted to update everyone on how Dr. X is doing. He's definitely gotten into the groove down there since my last email. They are in a town called Ford Parisien, about 45 miles outside of Port au Prince. They are at a well established orphanage called Love A Child, which is run and operated by an older American couple from Tampa, FL. They have a large property, so they have established a medical site and a displaced persons site on the property. It's basically a huge tent city. When they arrived there were doctors there from Boston organizing the medical effort, and there was a surgical team from the Dominican Republic. With the surgeons and nurses with Dr. X's team, the operating capacity multiplied. They "sterilized" a classroom in the orphanage school which they have been using as 2 ORs. They have converted 2 tents into pre-op and PACU areas. The tents are just plastic sheets for a roof and walls with bare ground, so you can imagine how dusty it is, and how challenging it is to prevent wound infections. They have been doing up to 20 surgeries a day! They have 2 surgical chief residents with them, and like the exemplary chiefs they are, they conduct rounds on the hundreds of patients there every day, have created "medical charts" for everyone with information about the type of surgery they have had, when they had it, what there current medical needs are, and whether or not they have received a tetanus vaccine. The word is that besides the off-shore military medical unit (USS Comfort), they are really the most well-established surgical unit in the area, and they built it all from scratch. It is really amazing what they have done. In spite of that, Dr. X is absolutely clear that they have barely scratched the surface. Operation Smile has the next team of doctors/nurses ready to go to relieve them. The 2nd team will arrive next Wed, get oriented, and the 1st team will leave by Wed afternoon for the Dominican Republic. The plan is that they will take a commercial plan from D.R. to Norfolk, VA on Thurs, and hopefully be back home shortly after that. There own personal facilities have improved from sleeping outside on concrete--a previous medical team left there camping tents behind, so they actually each have their own pup tent. They take bucket showers--Dr. X says he's pretty dirty :). Dr. X told me last night he had a beer! He said it was the best part of the trip so far. His team brought all their own food--strangely enough he said he has taken a liking to chicken noodle soup out of the can. Its too hot (90 degrees) for hot food and the salt is good after a long dehydrating day. Dr. X says that their was a CNN filming crew there a couple days ago, but I have no idea if/when it may air. There is a program called Heroes in Haiti on tonight at 8pm (and 11pm, and Sunday at 8pm), but I don't know if it will be there or not.

Truly Inspirational

xedrik — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:59:45 -0800

Seven-year-old Charlie Simpson of west London set out to raise money for earthquake victims in Haiti. His efforts were wildly successful, and he has been heralded as a "shining example" of Britain's compassion for Haiti. His goal? £500. The amount he's raised so far? Over £170,000.

Toussaint Louverture Strikes Back

ilovemytoaster — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 16:42:27 -0800

Wyclef Jean's charity is coming under heavy fire for being unaccountable and ill-prepared to actually distribute emergency aid, despite aggressive fundraising. By contrast, CARE had a staff of 133 in Haiti even before the earthquake hit, has a long track record of providing disaster relief around the globe for decades, and the highest rating from CharityNavigator.org, an independent site that evaluates nonprofits' efficiency and capacity. CARE staff are blogging from the field and you can follow their Haiti updates on Twitter. The dark side of disaster donations - Charitable organizations like the Red Cross and NetworkforGood know that donations spike after disasters, if fleetingly (PDF). It's only human to respond to the immediate need, but then quickly fades as people become saturated with requests, and move on to the next thing drawing their attention. What's the solution? Take the long view. (Companies can, too) - Do look at a variety of agencies before giving - Do look for organizations with prior experience and expertise - Don't donate to a project just because it's "sexy" - Don't earmark funds - Don't expect the funds to be spent immediately