Washington Haiti seems snakebit. Hurricanes, assassinations, corruption, gang control, vigilante killings, the list goes on and on. Presidents Bush (the first) and Clinton try to raise money for rebuilding, and the problems persist. The United Nations goes in and becomes part of the problem. Days ago, someone is finally held accountable for killing the president in some crazy scene combining drugs, Chile, and for what? It goes on and on. No one seems to want to hear about more tragedy and chaos in Haiti. And, then the deluge. Catastrophic rain hits the western part of the island. More than forty perish. Perhaps several thousand have lost their homes and are now rendered homeless. What can we do? Who is left to care about Haiti and its endless tragedies.
The thing about being a membership organization, rather than an advocacy group, think tank, or whatever, is that members are real people. They believe in ACORN. When faced with unimaginable issues, who do they call? Yes, ACORN. We lived this after Katrina hit New Orleans, over and over again. Now our phones are blowing up with calls about floods in Haiti in places we can’t find on a map.
Maranatha August, one of ACORN Canada’s members in the Scarborough area of Toronto, made this all personal in a number of pleas for help which were fielded by head organizer, Judy Duncan. Here’s the report:
Hi Judy in this picture below – the blue house is my mom’s house thank God they were not there that night. Because they were told to leave and look for safer places. Is not a place where this river ever come but now since they cut all the trees any little rain the city get flooded. This is the city of Leogane where my family lives. Now they at the countryside with very little food, no clothes. They can’t charge their phones where my mom is, I have very little contact with her because her phone doesn’t have charge
She is living with my 2 sisters my nieces, and nephew my brother-in-law and my stepfather.
Flood happened on June 3. We have no government- people are on there from a few nonprofit organizations are helping with what they could.
Something has to be done, but ACORN doesn’t have an affiliate or work there, but Sister August is our member, Annicia Petit Frere is her mother, and something has to be done. In a membership organization, an injury to one is an injury to all. Haiti may seem like an endless problem without a solution, but we could make a different here for one large family out of luck that has asked for a helping hand.
If that strikes you as personally as it does us, donate to ACORN International and describe the donation as being for Haiti, and we’ll make it happen.
We have to do something.
