Hurricane Matthew

Haiti is a country that cant seem to catch a break.  They had 6 years of relative political stability and were beginning to see investments from outside entities, only to have the presidential race fall apart and lead to a situation where there was a complete vacuum of leadership.  Once the political situation seemed like it would be straightened out and begin to move forward, Hurricane Matthew hit.  We are lucky in that Cap Haitien was not damaged to the extent that cities to the south and west were.  All of our folks have reported in and are ok.  The issue that we have now is a race against time against Cholera.  The rain, will have sent raw sewage from the mountains and poorly constructed latrines, into the areas where everyone walks and plays.  Since many of the people do not have shoes, access to clean water and other basic sanitation needs, we can expect dire circumstances in the near future.  The last time Cholera spiked in Cap Haitien and the surrounding areas, we worked with local doctors to spread diluted bleach water on all the paths and commons areas to help.

The longer impact for Matthew is that locally sourced food supplies will be even harder to come by.  The price of food will go up and further put pressure on people in the communities we serve.  As many of you know, we have been running a food program for several years, but the grant for that program has expired and we are running low on funds.  If you want to donate to help support the relief efforts, please consider donating money for either the feeding program or for the purchasing of Bleach to help combat Cholera.