Live For Haiti

THE PROBLEM:
The simple fact is that despite incoming aid, more than 1 million Haitians are still struggling daily for food, water, sanitation and shelter just to survive.  While there are many relief workers, NGOs and other entities working to help on the ground, there are still many urgent needs that are not being met.  Among the most urgent is the lack of emergency shelter.

The UN and President Preval have requested 200,000 tents to shelter the more than 1 million people displaced by the earthquake.  According to IOM, there are only 10,000 tents set up on the ground, and 50,000 tents in the pipeline.  This only meets ¼ of the stated need, leaving hundreds of thousands of Haitians including women and children without shelter of any kind.  With the rainy season and Hurricane season right around the corner, they are resorting to plastic sheeting because there are not enough tents on their way down to Haiti.

THE SOLUTION:
Through the “Live for Haiti” campaign, we are working to ensure that every Haitian family has emergency shelter before hurricane season begins.  Jesse Sullivan, the founder of the Live OneWorld organization, initiated the “Live for Haiti” campaign in order to help struggling Haitians by raising awareness amongst the American public and directing funds to effective relief and reconstruction efforts.  When you donate funds through “Live for Haiti,” USAIM—an international disaster relief charity that delivers emergency shelter, warmth and dignity to people affected by disaster—will immediately put your dollars to work by purchasing and setting up new tents on the ground, instantly saving lives and relieving suffering.  “Live for Haiti” campaign hopes to inspire a movement of people all around the nation to host their own “Live for Haiti” fundraising and solidarity events.  The “Live for Haiti” campaign has the support of the Haitian Embassy, where Jesse Sullivan is currently working during the day as a special assistant to the Ambassador and his staff in relief and reconstruction efforts.

How is the “Live for Haiti” campaign different?  It’s more than just writing a check!

Writing a check is only the first step, but it is not even the most important one you can take.  While the devastation in Haiti requires immediate action and the resources to fund them, there is a deeper mission at the root of the “Live for Haiti” campaign.  We must live in solidarity and compassion with our brothers and sisters suffering around the world.  We must use this crisis in Haiti to reflect upon who we are as individuals and who we are becoming as a nation.  When we look into the tears of the impoverished Haitian people, we must begin to see our own reflection, to see ourselves as we truly are.  We are the citizens of the wealthiest, most powerful nation the world has ever known and sit at the top of the global political and economic structures with our hands on the levers of power.  At the same time we the leaders of a world that has 1 billion people living under a dollar a day and 30,000 children dying a day from hunger related causes.  What does that say about our leadership? We must do more, we must risk more.

To this effect, I, Jesse Sullivan have decided to fast and live in a tent for 30 days in the most powerful city in the world down the street from the White House and the Capital Building.  It could be viewed as a symbolic gesture to raise funds for the people of Haiti, and it is, but it is also more than that.  It is a reminder to the American people that we are so incredibly blessed, and we have the responsibility to use our blessings and power to do more to serve our neighbors around the world who are in need.  It is also a way for me to personally grow in love and compassion by remaining in solidarity with the people that I am working to help.  I prefer to stay in a tent over the luxury of a hotel room because I am reminded daily about who I am living for, and what I was placed on this earth to do.

We have it backwards, we think that Haiti needs us and that we will save them, when really we are the ones that need to be saved by the people of Haiti.  They are the only ones who can make us step back from our own materialistic individualistic climb up the social ladder and realize that instead, true fulfillment is the result of living for those who are most in need.  Haiti has the potential to humanize us again, to bring out the better angels of our nature, as individuals and as a nation.

Join the Movement:
I challenge you to do more for Haiti.  Please join the “Live for Haiti” movement by doing one of the following:  

• Donate to provide emergency shelter relief.
•  Sign up to host your own solidarity event.
• Follow Jesse in his tent via his blog, facebook, and twitter.
• Contribute your own thoughts and ideas.
• Get the latest up to date info and photos on Haiti’s relief and reconstruction efforts.