Youth Action for Haiti!
A 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti shortly before 5pm January 12th. The areas most affected are the South West and Central provinces, which have a population of over 2 million people. The most affected cities are Port-au-Prince, Carrefour and Jacmel. Plan has been working in Haiti for 36 years, and since the earthquake, Plan has been working around the clock to deliver aid.
Take a look at what's been going on in Haiti & find out how you can help!
Haiti's youth take action in their communities
What does Plan do in Haiti?
More photos, videos and information about the recovery in Haiti
How you can help take action for Haiti!
Haiti’s youth take action in their communities!
“We the young people are the ones who have to rebuild the country. We couldn’t do this kind of thing before in this country, but I think now we have a chance.”
— MC, youth volunteer in Haiti.
Read: Young volunteers boost Haiti's earthquake response
What does Plan do in Haiti?
Plan has been operating in Haiti since 1973 (37 years).
Plan has 10 program offices in Haiti. They are located in the Central Province, in the South-West and in the North-East.
Plan has more than 143 staff working on projects that reach over 46,000 children in 92 communities.
Plan’s work in Haiti is in four main areas:
- Health care and basic nutrition
- Quality education for girls and boys
- Household economic security
- Youth and community leadership
- Feeding 1,500 Haitian families every day with local food cooked by Haitian volunteers;
- Distributing emergency shelter, including tents for more than 30,000 people in Jacmel and Croix des Bouquet;
- Providing kits with emergency supplies for more than 33,000 people;
- Protecting children and providing psychosocial care especially to those who have lost or been separated from their families;
- Training youth to manage the temporary camps their communities are living in; and
- Planning for the long term recovery effort, and so much more.
More photos, videos, and information about the recovery in Haiti
The first phase of Plan’s response to the earthquake is to bring items such as food, water, and tents for safe sleeping as quickly as possible to the people in Haiti affected. See a video of Plan aid in Jacmel.
It has been hard to watch the images and hear the stories about the damage caused by the worst earthquake in 200 years to hit Haiti, but for the resilient children in Haiti, laughter can be one of the best medicines.
Children need to be put at the center of the disaster response, to make sure they are protected and helped emotionally, as well as for their participation which can benefit the aid work and their lives. Read more.
How you can help take action for Haiti!
The world has united in the past two weeks to help the people of Haiti. Have you heard the expression, "every little bit helps"? That expression is now truer than ever. Larry King's CNN blog asked us to "Imagine if just 1% of the world youth population committed to raise $5 each for . . . relief in Haiti. They would raise $150 million." And that is only talking about youth's ability to fundraise, imagine the power of using your voices to raise awareness!
Tooolkits to download, brainstorm from, and use include:
- Do's and Don'ts for the best ways to get involved in disaster relief efforts for Haiti
- More information on Haiti, Plan's work in Haiti, the earthquake, and how disaster relief efforts run
Make a donation today to help children and families in Haiti!
If you have any questions, ideas, or suggestions, we're here to help, just send us an email!
Thank you for all your help and concern for Haiti. As always, we'd love to hear how you take action!
