SOIL’s Hurricane Relief Effort – October Summary Report
As our direct hurricane relief work winds down, the SOIL team wanted to share an update about the impact of our work in the wake of Hurricane Matthew, and to sincerely thank everyone who donated to support communities impacted by this natural disaster.
We are honored to share that all together SOIL supporters from around the world contributed more than $76,000 for our Hurricane Matthew relief effort, and as of October 31st, we have distributed over $60,000 of these funds through trusted community organizers to assist with immediate relief efforts throughout the most impacted regions of southwestern Haiti.
SOIL Hurricane Relief Activities – October 2016
- On October 6th, $500 was donated to Sakala to support the clean up of flooded areas in Cite Soleil.
- On October 8th, the SOIL truck went to Jeremie and distributed $1,700 worth of food, medicines and hygiene supplies to local authorities in a zone just outside of Les Cayes.
- On October 10th, a cash contribution of $500 was given to each of the 12 SOIL employees with extended families who lost homes as they returned to help their families rebuild. These employees travelled to the south with the SOIL caravan on October 15th to deliver support and supplies to their families while assisting with the more general distribution.
- On October 15th, SOIL sent 5 rented trucks loaded with medicines for the Jeremie hospital, $20,000 worth of food (packed into “food kits” containing beans, rice, spaghetti, and oil for 1,300 families), roofing (1,000 sheets), tarps, nails, and bleach.
- On October 15th and 16th, a group of Haitian doctors conducted an emergency mobile clinic in Kanperen and Savann (outside of Les Cayes), providing more than 300 patients with emergency medical assistance. With your support SOIL was able to provide $1,000 worth of medicine and supplies to this clinic.
- On October 17th, our partners at OKZEDEL (Oganizasyon Kole Zepol pou Developman Lakay) crossed a river and climbed a mountain, on foot, to bring over $10,000 of emergency supplies to communities in Roche-à-Bateau that were hard hit by the hurricane but hadn’t received any emergency aid.
- On October 18th, $1,000 was donated to the Pernier Baptist Church to help them transport the donated supplies they collected to Cavaillon in southern Haiti.
- On October 21st, SOIL worked with our Haitian partner organization, SOPUDEP, to hire a local truck driver from Jeremie to transport $20,000 worth of food and building supplies to Jeremie for distribution through local officials in the rural mountain areas.
We are now temporarily holding the remaining $16,000 of hurricane relief funds as our partners assess the ongoing need in the impacted areas. Sadly we expect to see many more negative effects of this natural disaster for months to come. Already there are reports of increased cholera rates as a result of the widespread flooding and increased food insecurity due to crop loss. Over the coming weeks we will work with our partner organizations to decide on the best long-term actions for SOIL to take to support Haiti’s recovery. In the meanwhile we are no longer soliciting emergency relief funds, but, as we are a small organization that relies of individual gifts, we welcome you to continue to support SOIL’s work building sustainable sanitation solutions and livelihood opportunities in Haiti to help prevent future disasters of this magnitude.
There’s a Haitian proverb that says, “Nou se wozo. Nou pliye men nou pap kase.” / “We are like reeds: we bend but we will not break.” At times this seems impossible, but yet “Nou la.” / “We are still here.” And we are strong in our commitment to build a more green and resilient Haiti.
Thank you for your support.
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