“Is Haiti slowly disappearing from the news?” asked Rob, a journalist who interviewed me today. It doesn’t look like it yet. Certainly it is not disappearing from the hearts and minds of people in the North West, who, in less than two weeks, have donated to the DEC Haiti Appeal a staggering £3,610,000. A massive thank you to everyone who has donated so far!
So, this proves that you don’t have to be George Clooney or John Travolta to help the people of Haiti really. It also shows that, in the face of a disaster of epic proportions, which has caused the death of hundreds of thousands and affected millions, people in the North West are prepared to dig deep into their pockets. Never mind the recession and all that.
Rob carried on with his questions: “Is there anything else that one can do to help people in Haiti? Is it all hard cash that it is down to then?”
Well, my dear scousers, lancastrians, mancunians (apologies if I don’t name everyone here-I don’t mean to leave anyone out, but the list is too long!), there are another couple of things that you can do apart from donating money- and they can be done very quickly, by just comfortably clicking on your laptop, phone, whatever. Honestly!
Firstly, exercise your campaigning muscles: e-mail Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the leader of the International Monetary Fund, to cancel immediately Haiti’s debt with foreign donors and international financial institutions.
Haiti currently owes over $891 million in debt. If these debts aren’t cancelled, Haiti will have to send tens of millions to the IMF and other international bodies whilst it is struggling to rebuild.
Secondly, exercise your persuasion power on people around you: encourage everyone to fundraise for Haiti, by donating to the DEC Appeal if they haven’t done so yet. Use your social networking power and spread the word!
So, what are you waiting for? You can donate to the DEC Haiti Appeal, campaign to cancel Haiti’s debt, and encourage as many as possible to do the same or to gang together for a fundraising event.
Believe it or not, Rob was persuaded and took action today…So he said at least!
Join the thousands of people from all over the North West who have donated their money to the DEC Appeal for Haiti on www.dec.org.uk