Shot Shot Shot Shot

Ok. Maybe not that many. I did get two shots today Typhoid and Hepatitis A (which hurt alot) and I start my Malaria pills in 3 days.

As I felt the sting of the needle and that uncomfortable pressure started to fill my upper arm, I was felt as though I had just been shot with reality.

I am leaving for Haiti in less than 10 days. O_O

I started reading over my itinerary

Sunday:
Depart Chicago 7:15 pm.
Arrive - Miami at 11:13 pm.

Monday:
Depart Miami 6:40 am.
Arrive - PAP at 7:45 am.

A night in Miami and then to Port au Prince. I am so excited and nervous about the upcoming events and the trip I can barely sleep. We're asked to keep a journal, and I think I'm going to upload all of my entries as soon as I'm home. My hope is to meet people and collect their stories. I want to share their hopes, dreams, memories, triumphs and tribulations with people here. I feel that very often Haiti is thought of as a cause and not a country. We focus on the poverty and ignore the fact that Haiti filled with an incredibly rich culture and history.

I'm very lucky to be travelling with EIU Haiti Connection. They have been doing work with Haiti for over 20 years, not just after the earthquake. I genuinely appreciate their emphasis on solidarity. Standing with our friends, not just giving charity. I like that their mission is to, "aid our Haitian brothers and sisters rebuild their lives." An important thing to understand is that the people of Haiti don't need to be rescued, they need resources. We don't need to tell them what to do to fix the problems, we need to listen as ask what if they would like our support.

I don't know exactly what work I will be doing in Haiti. I know we will be doing some water quality work, helping out at a local school, and generally lending a hand wherever we are asked. We will also be meeting with some representatives from Fonkoze, the leading microfinance institution. This is one of the primary reasons why I was interested in this trip. I want to establish some contacts and continue our conversation once I leave. I want people to be able to lend their earnings through "1 Hour for Haiti." In this way I believe we can establish a long term relationship between Americans and Haitians, rather than supporting a culture of one-time donations.

To be completely honest, I have very little idea what is going on in Haiti at the moment. I do know there is an outbreak of Dengue Fever, but that's about it. Even though I'm quite curious, I'm avoiding reading news about Haiti because what we receive here is extremely biased and limited. I don't want to go in with a presumptuous attitude that I know what is going on or that I understand what people have been through. I would very much rather go in with as few preconceptions as possible, and talk to people face to face with an open mind and heart.

Sorry if this is redundant.

Just to let you all know Illinois for Haiti is hosting two amazing events next week on the night before Reading Day!

Wednesday 05.05.10

1. iRock for Haiti 8-11pm
Foellinger Auditorium. $8 presale | $10 at the door.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=118532371493493&ref=ts#!/event.php?eid=118532371493493&ref=ts

2. iDance for Haiti: DJ Battle (OFFICIAL iRock Afterparty) Doors Open 10pm Battle:11-2am
Canopy Club No Cover Suggested donation $2-$5
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=103137329731557&ref=ts


1. iRock for Haiti is a benefit concert comprised of performers from the University of Illinois and organized by Illinois for Haiti, a collaborative, unified effort among students at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign to raise money for emergency relief and rebuilding in Haiti, a country hit with a devastating earthquake in January, 2010.

For more ticket information, visit http://www.illinoisforhaiti.org/irock
TICKETS WILL BE ON SALE ON THE QUAD FRIDAY, APRIL 30 & MAY 3-5!!

All proceeds go to World Vision and the University of Illinois School of Architecture Haitian School Project

*Sponsored by Illinois for Haiti, Office of Volunteer Programs, & University YMCA

PERFORMING:

MCs: Krukid, Shannon Swords, Emily Sha
DJ: Epilep[c]

Dave Coresh
The Definition
Floor Lovers
Girls Next Door
Identity Irish Dance
No Strings Attached
Organic Flow
The Unwritten Amendment (Porsha Olayiwola, Jake Cummings & Onyema Azunna)
Tricia Scully
Trikhala
With the Morning


2. Official Afterparty iDance for Haiti: DJ Battle

After iRock for Haiti, finish the night right at Canopy Club.

This night will feature:

10pm: m5
11pm: Tigorilla vs John Han
12am: Famicom vs CZO
01am: Space Police vs Ruckus

Suggested donation of 2-5 dollars sponsors a trip to Haiti thru EIU Haiti connection.

To make an online donation please visit: https://www.wepay.com/donate/start/1678

To find out more about this trip visit my blog: http://1hourforhaiti.blogspot.com/

Fast forward

Sorry it's been a while, I've been very very busy so I'll have to continue my story about C-U Haiti Relief another time because I have great news!

Ok lots of great news.

First iRock for Haiti is happening on May 5th 8-10pm at Foellinger Hall! We are having tons of great performers including: Epilep[c], Dave Coresh, Floor Lovers Illinois, Girls Next Door, Idenity Irish Dance, No Strings Attached, Organic Flow, Porsha Olayiwola, Jake Cumming, Onyema Azunna, Tricia Scully, Trikhala, and With the morning.

I will be MCing the event (and honestly I'm terrified) along with my good friend Shannon Swords so be sure to check it out! You can find us on Facebook or on the Illinois for Haiti page.

I'm selling presale tickets for $8 and they will be $10 at the door get them early!

Ok and even though I'm super pumped about iRock...I'm even MORE excited about iDance for Haiti!

iDance for Haiti is the afterparty hosted by Canopy Club featuring 3 DJ Battles: Famicom vs CZO, The Ruckus vs. Space Police, and another to be confirmed.

It is going to be a night of dancing mayhem. So if you like Daft Punk, Dead Mau5, Justice, MSTRKFT, DJ Funk, and Rusko come and work it.

Another reason why I'm so ecstatic about this is because the event is FREE, but we are asking a suggested donation of 2-5 dollars and 100% of your hard earned dollars will go to sponsor my trip to Haiti! If you can't make it but would still like to donate you can online but then only 96.5% will go to Haiti, which honestly is still a pretty awesome thing.

A breakthrough

I really have no idea how anyone got anything done without the internet.

I was convinced someone in this small town would be doing something and I was determined to find them. I got on Facebook and Gmail and started messaging everyone and anyone who does anything activistish with the question, "Who do you know that knows about disaster relief? What's going on with Haiti relief." The vast vast majority replied that they didn't know and that I could txt donate the money that I don't have.

The breakthrough came when I gchatted my former psych grad advisor. (I honestly have no shame when it comes to asking favors of people who I haven't talked to in years. I recently got some incredible feedback from the chess champion of my 4th grade class.) He told me all the work he has done was in India, but he knew someone that did disaster relief.

"My name is Emily Sha, and I'm interested in coordinating some relief efforts for the disaster in Haiti. I spoke with Karl and he pointed me to you, and expert with very little time. I'm working at this moment to secure some bulk medical supplies for Doctors without Borders. I am also working on a fundraiser but I would like these efforts to be sustainable as well as efficient. If you could spare any of your valuable time or expertise i would be eternally grateful.

Sincerely yours,
Emily"

Thanks to FB she replied in 20 minutes letting me know that she focuses on long-term recovery rather than disaster relief, but put me in touch with Melissa who I immediately got in contact with.

We decided to meet the very next day, and thus began my work with C-U for Haiti Relief.

What's a girl to do?

So there I am, still sitting on my bed wondering what on earth I could do to help. I mean sure I could donate money, and that's what all the news sources were telling me to do, but frankly I'm broke. I just got out of college in the midst of a financial crisis and I'm a part-time server at Steak n' Shake.

I cracked open my laptop and got to work. Luckily Google had a list of major non-profits that were providing aid in Haiti. These included well known organizations including Doctors Without Borders (DWB), UNICEF, and Partners in Health. There were also a number of organizations I had never heard of like Lambi Fund and Yele Haiti. I immediately starting making phone calls, and despite the painfully long wait times, for the most part I got to speak with a real live person.

Knowing their time was extremely valuable and their resources were probably stretched to the max, I tried my best to keep it short.

"Hi my name is Emily. Do you know where I can submit non-monetary donations such as medical supplies? Do you know what kind of supplies are needed most at this time? Do you have any suggestions for where I might find more information?"

Most of them politely declined the donations, citing the fact that the earthquake destroyed the infrastructure necessary to sort and distribute these resources. I must say that I was incredibly impressed with both UNICEF and DWB. Both of these organizations returned my phone call within 24 hours.

DWB put me in touch with their Assistant Procurement Director. He let me know that they would be accepting gauze, tape, and bandages, but only large pallets would be accepted. He also told me that I could have them shipped to their office in LA and they would finish the transfer to doctors stationed in Haiti.

UNICEF also said that they couldn't accept non-monetary donations at that time. They put me in touch with their partner organization...whose number didn't work...so then I called them back...and then we had a bad connection. Anyhow it didn't work out, but I can not express how grateful I am for their volunteer's help and endless patience.

Then both my ex and I called around all of our medical contacts, but they all had just donated substantial sums of money and didn't have bulk quantities of the supplies necessary. They suggested instead I contact their suppliers for donations. (I'm a little overextended right now but if someone wants to head up a call-at-thon to solicit donations of medical supplies let me know and I'll help you get organized)

A little exhausted, but firmly convinced that there had to be something I could do, I then turned to Facebook.

In the beginning...

Alright, I suppose I should let you all know how I got involved with Haiti.

It all started one afternoon I was sitting on my bed having a rather terse conversation with my ex-boyfriend. In attempt to find some common ground the conversation drifted away from our apparent differences towards current events. This was just a few days after the earthquake and although I do not watch the news, read the newspaper, or have cable, even I had heard rumors of the devastation.

He has a lot of family in the medical community and he wanted to send packages to Haiti, but all of the airports had been shut down. I told him the truth, I had absolutely no idea how he could help.

In fact in my enthnocentric American way, I knew virtually nothing about Haiti. I knew it was somewhere in the Caribbean and that one guy from Heroes was Haitian. I also knew that it was poor and possibly French speaking.

I certainly didn't have any answers, but Google always does.