wfn.org | CWS - Haiti: Many small successes six months into recovery

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

> Church World Service
> 475 Riverside Drive
> New York, NY 10115
> (212) 870-2676

Haiti: Many small successes six months into recovery

Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 9, 2010 - Humanitarian groups such as
Church World Service are the first to acknowledge that, six months after
the devastating Jan. 12 Haiti earthquake, the road to recovery will be
long and difficult.

"We are all frustrated by the apparent lack of speedy recovery for
Haiti," said Aaron Tate, the Haiti earthquake response coordinator for
Church World Service, in anticipation of the half-year anniversary of
the quake, which falls on July 12.

Tate, based in Port-au-Prince, noted that there "were a lot of dreams
early on that this was an opportunity to build a 'new Haiti' better than
the old Haiti."

"But the reality is that with such devastation, it is an incredible
effort just to rebuild at all," he said. Still, on a smaller scale, "you
do see successes."

In Port-au-Prince, Tate said, children are back in classes now, in a
safe and standing building that Church World Service helped purchase;
the community center is run by Fondation Oecumenique Pour La Paix et la
Justice, a CWS partner. The new structure, which replaces a building
destroyed in the quake, houses educational and vocational training
programs, as well as programs that provide meals and health and
psychosocial services.

"Despite the multiple challenges of implementing programs in the
post-earthquake environment, CWS has accomplished much, and continues to
work to address unmet needs," Tate said.

From the immediate hours after the quake and ongoing, in all, CWS
efforts - including the distribution of hygiene, school and baby kits,
tents, wheelchairs, medical kits and other supplies -- have directly
assisted at least 41,750 individuals so far; CWS is also working as a
member of the global ACT Alliance, which has provided assistance to
341,000 Haitians.

Drawing on its long-time commitment to support and empower local
partners, Church World Service continues to support work by both Haitian
and Dominican organizations in their responses.

Early on in the response CWS began planning for longer-term
rehabilitation projects, including supporting the expansion of existing,
successful rural agricultural coops made up of over 3,000 families, so
they can provide food security for earthquake victims outside of
Port-au-Prince. The agency also is helping vulnerable children through
emergency food and psychosocial support.

Future plans for Church World Service work in Haiti include supporting
long-term and permanent housing for the displaced and vulnerable;
participating in plans to move families from temporary camps to
permanent solutions; providing tools and working capital to nearly 500
individuals to re-establish their micro-businesses; strengthening
services for vulnerable children; providing counseling and case
management to an additional 600 people with disabilities; and crafting
long-term strategies for sustainable development in Haiti.

One of the most visible successes for CWS has been its work with
long-time partner Service Chretien d'Haiti, to assist and empower people
with disabilities. Six-hundred people are currently participating and
another 600 will participate later in the year.

Participants receive a modest monthly stipend of $75 for six months to
help them get through the current difficult times. Many of those in the
program are using their grant to help restart businesses lost in the
quake. Others are using it to buy food. Still others are using it to pay
for their children--or for themselves--to go to school, to get education
and improve their future.

Among those participating in the program is Marlene Derley, an amputee
who lost her right arm after a building collapsed during the devastating
Jan. 12 earthquake. Derley is using her CWS grant to restart her small
restaurant business at home - a much-needed boost since she
and her
family are depending on the restaurant income. Derleyâ??s husband, a
former factory worker, is at home to help her and raise the couple's
9-year-old daughter.

"We depend on the money from the restaurant," she said, explaining that
the grant is helping restock supplies, all of which were destroyed in
the quake.

In the U.S., Church World Service has also assisted badly injured quake
victims to resettle at least temporarily in communities like Louisville,
Ky., and Atlanta, Ga., after they were medivaced to the U.S. for special
care and recovery.

And in cities across the U.S., Board of Immigration Appeals-accredited
staff at CWS offices in Miami, Fla., New York City and Lancaster, Pa.,
and 15 CWS refugee resettlement affiliate agencies have been offering
immigration legal services to assist eligible Haitians with Temporary
Protection Status (TPS) applications, before the July 20 federal filing
deadline.

How to Help: Contributions to support this work can be made online at
www.churchworldservice.org/haiti, by calling 1-800-297-1516; or by
mail to Church World Service, 28606 Phillips Street, P.O. Box 968,
Elkhart, IN 46515.

> ###

Media Contacts

Lesley Crosson, (212) 870-2676, media@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin - 24/7 - (781) 925-1526, jdragin@gis.net