wfn.org | WACC - Haiti: Communicating Solidarity

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> Haiti: Communicating Solidarity

By José Luis Soto, Member, WACC-Caribe

(translation by Cándida González-López, Vice-Chair, WACC-Caribe)

Since the we were alerted about the 7.1 earthquake that shook Haiti
January 12, we have continued to receive and disseminate news about
this devastating tragedy.

Mobilization to follow up the news was immediate. Each and every
member of WACC-Caribe and WACC Global responded. In the beginning we
wanted to learn about the well-being of the personal members of our
organization, but also about the conditions of the partner
communication institutions with whom WACC Global has worked for more
than two decades. It was then that in the Dominican Republic, for
example, we took the initiative of locating our colleagues and members
of WACC-Caribe in Haiti.
José Luis Soto reporting from Haiti

> 	

The task has not been an easy one. We still have not been able to
locate several colleagues: Doctor Herold Toussaint, Herold Jean
François, and Franklin Pierre and, in fact, we still have very little
information about the institutional member organizations.

We have information about the total destruction of the office of
Groupe Medialternatif and of the Sosyete Animasyon Kominikasyon Sosyal
(SAKS), but we still need to find out about 9 organizations affiliated
to WACC. This is a commitment of solidarity and communication with our
personal and institutional colleagues on the part of a global
organization working for social change, love and service to the poor
of this world.

We have had Haiti in our hearts before and after the earthquake. This
has been a commitment of WACC-Caribe?s members. We thank those who
have been continuously communicating their solidarity with our
colleagues in Haiti, in particular we thank ur President, Dennis
Smith, the vice chair of WACC-Caribe, Cándida González-López, and
staff at the WACC headquarters who have been following the tragedy of
our sister Haitian nation and communicating regularly through their website.

This is a continuing challenge but we are inspired to help Haiti
reconstruct its society and especially to rebuild its community  communications.

José Luis Soto is a personal member of WACC as well as the Director of
Espacinsular, a WACC partner news network based in Dominican Republic.

Meanwhile, a long time project partner of WACC, SAKS (Sosyete
Animasyon Kominikasyon Sosyal - Society for the Animation of Social
Communication), a small non-profit that works with community radios
and promotes popular communication in Haiti has launched a series of
video dispatches chronicling latest updates in the country.