STAND WITH THE PEOPLE OF HAITI * SUPPORT THE HAITI EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND
“We are being exterminated,” exclaimed Marie (name changed) as she described the situation in Haiti
The news is unbearable:
In February, 28-year-old Eliana Thelemaque was forced to watch as armed men threw her 2-month old baby into a fire. Two weeks later she herself was dead, unable to bear the pain. On March 31st, Sisters Evanette Onezaire and Jeanne Voltaire, educators and members of the Congregation of the Little Sisters of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, were hiding in a storeroom along with others, when armed men broke in and murdered all of them.
These are just two instances of the ever increasing violence that has ravaged Haiti. In the past year alone, attacks by Viv Ansanm, a coalition of paramilitary death squads with well-documented ties to the right-wing PHTK party and its U.S. sponsors, have led to over 6000 people being killed and untold numbers of women and children being raped. Hospitals, schools and whole neighborhoods are being destroyed. There are now more than 1 million internal refugees and it’s estimated that half the population is facing extreme hunger.
Marie went on: “Yet, we are carrying on. Our communities are organizing and coming together. Women, young and old, are gathering to keep each other safe. We are teaching each other basic health, we are collectivizing our money and we are beginning the long road to healing ourselves of this trauma of abuse and violence.”
Many people have asked us. How can we help? What can we do?
Arrest warrants and sanctions have been issued against Viv Ansamn leaders like Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier. Yet no one has been arrested, despite the fact that they are operating out in the open, giving interviews and press conferences. Join us in demanding that they be brought to justice.
And finally: please donate to the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund (HERF) so that we can support neighborhood safety organizations with their basic needs: food, shelter, medical care, hygiene, transportation and potable water. Help us give women organizers the means to bring healing to their sisters.
HERF is all-volunteer. It has no paid staff. All money goes directly to grassroots organizers and communities in Haiti. THE NEEDS ARE GREAT. PLEASE DONATE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN at www.haitiemergencyrelief.org
