Responding to the catastrophe in Haiti

The poverty-ridden challenges of living in Haiti before last week's earthquake were morally upsetting. There is a sad history of exploitation behind those challenges. The current catastrophic devastation from the earthquake follows on the heels of a previous natural upheaval -- a recent series of highly destructive hurricanes. The resilience of human beings is being harshly tested among Haitians, a people chronically provoked.

How we respond is a measure and reflection of our humanity, global citizenship, and morality. That makes it tough in the current situation where only those who are part of a rescue organization can got into the country, and even few of them can get where they are most needed inside the country.

There are two obvious ways of reaching out: donating money to the bona fide rescue organizations, and volunteering with them.

DONATIONS:

To avoid scams, it is best to donate only to well established rescue organizations, especially those that have deep familiarity with Haiti. Although there are many more with the bona fides, in order to minimize the need for inter-organization coordination within Haiti, and to minimize administrative costs, we recommend:

Action Against Hunger http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/where-we-work/haiti Penn Nursing has a special relationship with AAH through which graduate students may be placed for at least 3 months

American Red Cross http://www.redcross.org/

CARE https://my.care.org/site/Donation2?df_id=5080&5080.donation=form1&s_src=171040040000&s_subsrc=redghaitiearthquakebrand110&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=c.a.r.e&utm_content=careisbringing&utm_campaign=redhaiti5080
Also https://twitter.com/care ; also http://apps.facebook.com/causes/191170

Clinton Foundation – Haiti https://re.clintonfoundation.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=3882&gclid=CMe8jY_CsZ8CFdA65QodUyb-1A

Doctors Without Borders https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=197&hbc=1&source=ADR1001E1D01

Oxfam https://secure.oxfamamerica.org/site/Donation2?df_id=3580&3580.donation=form1

Partners in Health (Paul Farmer's org) http://www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti

Penn Volunteers in Public Service annual drive will run from Tuesday, January 19 through Friday, February 5, 2010. Proceeds will go to Yele Haiti: http://www.yele.org/ Collection jars are set up at the OTIS Helpdesk in 213 CFH and in Cherry Sturdivant’s office at LIFE.

UNICEF http://www.unicefusa.org/?gclid=CJr50vDBsZ8CFYNo5Qodc2v6kQ

* Note that some credit card companies are taking a fee of about 1-3% on charitable contributions. However due to pressure from media columnists, Amex and Visa have waived the fee through February. Nonetheless best to check your credit card company's policy on this before donating.

VOLUNTEERING:

We as a school can lead some humanitarian efforts. We can mobilize to provide care after transportation and communication systems open up. We could join trauma teams which the Department Medicine or teams at CHOP or HUP have put together.

Some suggestions already received include:
 add the link to your preferred aid organization to your personal emails, your facebook, your blog, your website
 If you didn't catch 60 minutes and want to hear from medicine on the front lines in Haiti, check out this clip: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6108550n&tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

What are YOUR ideas for what members of our school ought to do now within our limited human capital resources and while insuring the safety of our school members? Please post your suggestions below. I would love to hear from you.