FEATURE: Help For Haiti

MARK McLAUGHLIN
Evening News (Edinburgh)
July 9, 2010, Friday

'IMAGINE how difficult it would be trying to run Edinburgh when all of the MSPs, councillors, and police were living in tents because their houses and offices had crumbled to the ground," says Sciennes-based charity fund-raiser John Cunningham.

"The Capital would be gone and the whole country would fall apart. There would be no food, no water, dead people piling up...and nowhere to turn for help."

This was exactly the scenario facing relief charity Mercy Corps when they landed in Haiti six months ago in the wake of the devastating earthquake.

Within hours the charity had boots on the ground offering instant aid to thousands of people, and setting up bases that would help in the reconstruction in the months ahead.

"We wouldn't have been able to do it without the support the readers of the Edinburgh Evening News," said Mr Cunningham, director of fund-raising at the charity.

Residents in the Capital raised more than GBP430,000 in the first six months of the Evening News-backed appeal, with more than half of the money spent already on Mercy Corps ongoing projects.

With the money raised Mercy Corps has been able to provide:

Mr Cunningham said: "I deliberately didn't go out there myself as it became clear that we needed someone to stay behind to coordinate the massive fund-raising effort."

However, programme officer Carrie Beaumont, 29, from Granton, was one of the people sent out. She fed regular reports back to headquarters, and the picture she painted was grim.

"All the schools in the city came down and many thousands of people were crushed," said Mr Cunningham.

"We worked closely with the United Nations [UN] but they were badly affected. Their offices collapsed and they lost a large number of their staff."

In the early days of the relief effort many non-governmental organisations [NGOs] were criticised for a reportedly poorly coordinated response to the crisis.

However, Mr Cunningham said that - from the Mercy Corps' point of view at least - this lack of coordination was a symptom of the chaos that the country was in rather than a failing of the aid effort.

Mr Cunningham is full of praise for the people of Edinburgh, who rallied round their locally-based charity to help.

"There was an instant response," he said. "Personal donations came rolling in, and we had six people manning the phones six days a week.

"Amongst the biggest responses we received was from local schools. We put together a Power Point presentation for schools showing photographs about the earthquake, and what we did to help.

"The most interesting questions we got back was from primary school children, who are a lot less reserved than secondary schools so their questions came from the heart. They asked questions like: 'Where are they living now?'; 'What do they have to eat?' and; 'Have any of them lost their arms and legs?', personal questions that many adults might be too sensitive to ask.

"Six months on, the mood in Haiti is resolute. It was already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and before the earthquake many people were depressed and frustrated at the state that the country was in, but now they see it as an opportunity to rebuild the country."

Mr Cunningham pulls out a copy of Mercy Corps six-month report, and points to a quote by 23-year-old displaced student Moïse Mackendy.

"Before the earthquake I was disappointed with how things were going in Haiti, but now I understand I must be one of the people who will make Haiti different."

HONOURS FOR DONORS

03/01/10 Itihaas restaurant, Dalkeith Charity Night

16/01/10 The Rotary Club of Edinburgh Bhangra Ceilidh GBP 5,200.00

17/01/10 The Rotary Club of Corstorphine Collection GBP 2,000.00

20/01/10 Raj Restaurant, The Shore Fundraising Appeal

23/01/10 Rotary Club of Currie Balerno Airport Collection

23/01/10 Living and Giving charity shop, Stockbridge Donation

27/01/10 Artemis, Melville Street Donation GBP 10,000.00

27/01/10 Zest Restaurant, St Andrew Street Charity Night GBP 610.00

27/01/10 Hair and Image for Men, Andy Murray racquet auction GBP 500.00

27/01/10 RBS / Royal Mail Brussels L'Atelier hotel fundraiser GBP 6,354.00

30/01/10 The Rotary Club of Edinburgh City Centre Collection GBP 5,665.95

31/01/10 The Rotary Club of Edinburgh Jubilee Charity Fund

07/02/10 Traverse Theatre Comedy Fundraiser

07/02/10 The Queen's Hall, Clerk Street Edinburgh Bands Together for Haiti

19/02/10 Cinnamon Indian Restaurant 8.5 stone fish curry auction GBP 500.00

26/02/10 Middle East Festival Donation

28/02/10 The Queen's Hall, Clerk Street Poets For Haiti

25/03/10 HMV Picture House Edinburgh Schools Battle Of The Bands

23/04/10 Voodoo Rooms She-Bang Rave Unit

*where donations were disclosed