Haiti Earthquake: and solidarity work New Orleans Women's Health Justice Initiative and INCITE

Dear Colleagues, Friends and Allies: The New Orleans Women's Health Justice Initiative (which emerged out of INCITE-New Orleans  http://www.pomegranatecollective.org/resources.php?articleincite  )  is one of many organizations trying to coordinate a response to the devastation in Haiti. Please see Shana Griffin's message below as well as useful links if you would like to donate. The way that Shana draws the historical connections between New Orleans/Katrina and Haiti is brilliant and important to note. If you would like to help  NOWHJI  coordinate  efforts with these organizations (and women's groups in Haiti) PLEASE contact me and I will pass the word to Shana, Alisa, Nada and other sisters from INCITE. All help and information (esp with people and organizations on the ground) will be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much, In solidarity, piya chatterjee ************** Peace. ...but in reaching out to folks I know, the following groups are consistently being recommended: Haiti Emergency Relief Fund http://www.haitiaction.net/About/HERF/HERF.html Partners in Health's Sister Organization in Haiti – Zanmi Lasant Clinic http://www.pih.org/where/Haiti/Haiti.html Partners in Health http://www.pih.org/home.html Doctors Without Borders http://doctorswithoutborders.org/ Yele Haiti http://www.yele.org/ Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti www.ijdh.org Also, Janvieve, has recently send out a post regarding efforts folks in Atlanta are organizing.  See email below (They're organizing medical supplies, basic toiletries, and related items).  I just emailed her about who they are sending supplies to, as much of what I have been reading and seeing online, people are being advised to send money instead of supplies due to failing infrastructure and the ability of relief workers to move supplies to communities and areas that need them most.  I haven't heard back yet, but I'll keep you all posted.  Locally, we are considering sending medial supplies, sexual & reproductive health disaster kits, and money.  Also, folks here are organizing a city-wide campaign, as New Orleans and Haiti share a long rich history linked by resistance, geography, and family ties, as the Haitian revolution started 1791 inspired the largest US slave revolt here in New Orleans, which also double the population of free people of color in the area in the early 1800s.  The success of the Haitian Revolution, led to the Napolean decision to "sale" Louisiana to the U.S.  So, as you all can see, besides Hurricane Katrina and the continual tragedies of the hurricanes on the people of Haiti, the devastating situation of the earthquake hits home.  -shana From: Janvieve Williams C. <info@lacccenter.org> To: ambakeysha@yahoo.com Sent: Wed, January 13, 2010 7:11:52 PM Subject: Please support the people of Haiti through your generous medical supply donations For Immediate Release January 13, 2010 Media Contacts Janvieve Williams Comrie (404) 610 2807 Fredando Jackson (404) 877 8594 Please support the people of Haiti through your generous medical supply donations   It is with great sadness and responsibility that we reach out to you.   As you may well know by now, the earthquake that took place on January 12th of the present year has devastated the country of Haiti.  The Latin American and Caribbean Community Center, Project South and the Georgia Hunger Coalition have joined efforts and are personally seeking your support in gathering the following donations in an effort to provide much needed relief supplies. We are in need of the following supplies:   Blankets Cotton or Thermal Blankets (Aluminum) Reading Glasses (Used if used, please indicate prescription) Feminine Hygiene Products such as Tampons and Sanitary Napkins Disposable Underwear for Adults (ei. Depends) Gauze/ Wound Dressing Eye Pads/ Patches Bandages (all sizes and uses) Blood Pressure Monitors Slings (Arms) Feeding Tube Attachment/ IV Bags and Medical Tubing Skin Sanitizer Diabetes Blood Sugar Indicators and Testing Strips Urinary Drain Bags Saline Solution Calamine Lotion Case, Pins, Scissors & Forceps Cough Mixture Crutches, Adjustable with rubber tips Detergent, Emulsion Drinking cups, wax (Lilly type) Ear Drops (Mineral oil or olive oil) Ligatures, with needles Magnesium Sulphate Milk of Magnesium Medicine droppers Mosquito Netting Medicine glass, graduated Pencil, indelible Baby Diapers & Wipes Soap (Preferably Bar Not Liquid) Tooth Brushes & Toothpaste Batteries (Any size) Anti-Biotic Ointment such Neosporin or Equivalent Alcohol Wipes Aspirin or Motrin Cotton Balls Q-tips Medical/ First Aid Supplies Latex Gloves Ice Paks & Heat PaksPencil, Dermatographic (Skin marking) Personal Insecticide (Lice) Petrolatum, Liquid (heavy) Pins, Safety (assorted) Plaster of Paris (Rolls) Salt tablets Water Filters Scissors Sheets and pillow cases (all sizes, waterproof preferred) Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) Splints, wooden 18" x 3-1/2" Thermometer, clinical Tongue depressors, wood Vitamins- multi caps, oral liquid, Injectable, infant, child and adult- these are a huge priority. Infant Formula Eye solutions and cleanser- antibacterial Nebulizers, Inhalers IV supplies- needles, bags of fluid, tubing Anti-inflammatory If you are coordinating large donations of the above, please contact Brett Cave at 678-349-4751 for more details and information. You can also drop off supplies or your large commercial contribution at Project South located at 9 Gammon Avenue Atlanta, GA 30315. We will also need financial contributions to cover shipping costs to Haiti, please consider making a contribution at www.lacccenter.org and click Haiti Medical Relief Effort.   Thank you for your time and together we can do our part to help.   If you would like to make financial donation to organizations working on the ground in Haiti, LACCC suggests Partners in Health.  Donate online at: www.pih.org/inforesources/news/Haiti_Earthquake.html or send your contribution to Partners In Health, P.O. Box 845578, Boston, MA 02284-5578 Doctors Without Borders.  Donate online at www.doctorswithoutborders.org, or toll-free at 1-888-392-0392.  24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  USA Headquarters 333 7th Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY  10001-5004.  The mission of the Latin American and Caribbean Community Center (LACCC) is to empower the marginalized communities and people of Latin America and the Caribbean who reside in the United States so that they may assert their economic, political, environmental, cultural and social rights www.lacccenter.org. LACCC is based in the Atlanta Georgia and works regionally to educate and organize for human rights, democracy and racial justice in the Americas. Project South is a grassroots organization based in the US South. For over 23 years , we have created critical spaces for movement building. We work with communities pushed forward by the struggle to strengthen leadership for long-term transformation. Our programs focus on communities of color affected by social control and economic degradation created by historic and current trends of privatization, exploitation, and structural racism in the US. We provide popular political education through our dynamic leadership development models, and we build relationships with organizations and networks across the US and global South. We believe in bottom-up movement building for social, racial, and economic justice on local, regional, national, and global levels. The Georgia Citizens' Coalition On Hunger (Hunger Coalition) is a statewide network of grassroots organizations and about 700 active individuals, with a mailing list of 2,500 people. The Hunger Coalition works in urban and rural communities in Georgia working with low-income women, public assistance recipients and former recipients, low wage earners and the unemployed.     PS – Please give generously now. Let's take advantage of this uniq