Sharing our recent dialogues on Haiti
With so much going on in Haiti today, we’re thankful that many of you have reached out with your concerns and questions. Here are responses to commonly asked questions that we wanted to share with our community.
To be honest, we don’t have all of the answers as this level of insecurity is new to most of us. Our team and our partners are talking weekly and troubleshooting together with the goals of ensuring the safety of our team and families and finding a way to keep progressing our work forward. We welcome further questions, thoughts, conversations if you’d like to schedule a time with us. We’re all ears!
Question: How does insecurity affect WORK's programming and progress with our families?
A: The proliferation of gang violence and throughout Port-au-Prince, and layered with knowing the fact that they’re targeting anybody to demand extreme amounts of any sum of ransom, has been difficult on everyone. The concern for safety is top of mind these days. Everyone from our team to our families, and in all neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, are looking down their block every morning before they go outside. They’re calling their friends to see how the situation is in neighboring communities before they travel through. They’re paying more for transportation to take a moto in lieu of a tap tap to get from point A to point B more efficiently. They’re staying home from work and from school when they know it’s not safe to be out.
Gangs have taken hostage of the local supply chain, creating choke points that make it impossible for goods to reach the population. The current fuel shortage is a key example. Over the weekend, we paid $15USD/gallon for diesel to help our families transport essential items. It’s even more costly in Les Cayes, where our earthquake response work continues.
All of this is affecting our work. Logistically, some of our programming has had to be put on paused, delayed and rescheduled, or conducted virtually where possible. We’ve made sure all families have a means of communication and we’re spending more time checking in with everyone than we’ve done before. We’re helping our students transfer schools so they can be in safer areas. We’ve even moved our community classroom due to gang activities.
Safety protocols are reviewed regularly against the work we need to do to accompany our families. For our kids, they simply want a chance to continue school. We’re doing everything we need to make sure they can get from home to their classrooms safely and have the ability to learn from home. Pivots are being made daily, and as long as progress can be made, our work continues.
Question: How are the team in Haiti and our families doing?
A: They’re worried about their day-to-day, their future, and for their country. They’re frustrated and scared about the unknowns. However, being able to continue to make progress and having the resources to support each other during this time, keeps them strong and hopeful that they can move forward. They’re constantly showing up for each other and finding comfort in the sense of community, one that includes our entire WORK community, including you.
Question: Has the team in the US traveled to Haiti this year?
A: No. The last trip we made was in early 2020. We’ve invested in our Haitian team who is doing an incredible job under the leadership of our Senior Program Manager and with our support from all of us in the US. We’ve hired new team members in the country to expand our work. While we wish we could see each other live, we agree that having our team in the US visit during this time will put all of us in an unsafe situation that wouldn’t help to advance our work.
Question: Is it safe for anyone to visit Haiti now?
A: While not everyone would agree, we genuinely don’t think this is the right time to visit the country. We will be back in the country at some point, and we’ll open up our trips to anyone who’d like to join us then. For now, all travel to Haiti will remain on hold until our team there tells us otherwise.
Question: What’s the outlook?
A: Things have never been more difficult. All of the major neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince are currently run by gangs, and that cuts off the provinces. There’s a leadership vacuum that won’t be filled anytime soon, which doesn’t help with the need for external support. The government is in a mountain of debt. However, the population is there to work and to lead. Our work has never been more purposeful - to address the ability for the people to work themselves out of poverty and have a voice in shaping Haiti’s future. It’ll take time, but we’re not wavering even the least bit.
Question: What can I do?
A: Continue to learn about the situation. These are a few of the articles we read and discussed this week.
‘It’s Terror’: In Haiti, Gangs Gain Power as Security Vacuum Grows - NY Times
As Haiti reels from crises, U.S. policy decisions are called into question - LA Times
A 3-step plan to squash Haiti’s gangs, solve the country’s problems | Opinion - Haitian Times
Delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Haiti has never been more dangerous - NPR
Ask questions, have a conversation with our team. Drop us a line if you’d like to schedule a call.
Continue to support our families. This is an incredibly challenging time, and your financial support will help us ensure the progress our families have made can continue. More WORK families are earning an income this year than in the past, and that’s because our community has stood by us. Our monthly giving program, the 1:1 Campaign, is the best place to give today that will provide us the flexibility to respond quickly. Join us at $5, $10, $25, $121…every dollar counts.
Despite the challenges, you have accompanied our families to many successes with many more to come. From November 29th to December 6th, we’ll spend the week highlighting these successes with you at Bright Futures, our virtual event, and take time to celebrate the work, and keep our momentum going. Thanks to our sponsors, the event is free to all. RSVP here.
Thanks for your support. Look forward to continuing the conversation.
For our families…,
The WORK Team