It has been more than ten weeks since an earthquake devastated Haiti. As the UN convenes donors for Haiti today, more than a million homeless Haitians take shelter under tarps, blankets and lean-tos in massive temporary camps called “tent cities” — and for many of them, Olyset® Nets are providing additional protection.
Haiti will need an estimated $11.5 billion US over the next decade to rebuild, according to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who wrote:
“During the coming days, the world’s leaders will rise to stand by Haiti — a solidarity to be measured in years, long after the initial shock of disaster has passed. I am confident that, together, we can set Haiti on the road to a very different future.”
Sumitomo Chemical was proud to provide Olyset Nets to Haiti as part of the immediate response to the earthquake, and encourages our partners to support the UN’s call to rebuild Haiti.
In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, Sumitomo Chemical delivered Olyset Nets to the Department of Peace Keeping Operations (DPKO), who wrote: “The powerful earthquake that hit Haiti on 12 January 2010 has left many including the United Nations Employees who were working on the ground homeless and without shelter. Your precious gifts will be delivered directly to them and their friends and families….your help will assist many people in dire need.”
Lauren Swartzbaugh of the Genesis Project writes:
“Our objectives were met as far as distribution of our supplies to individuals most in need. …at least 90% of Leogane has been reduced to rubble. Half of our Olyset Nets went to a school/church in Leogane for use within temporary classrooms and the remaining went to an orphanage/school in Carrefour where the community (about 80 displaced families) is living in tents and under tarps. Both of these locations are situated within wooded areas and soon to be inundated with major increases in mosquito populations once the rains come. In a matter of hours, the tents brought to the orphanage and its community were set up. The orphans have hung the nets within their tents, providing protection while they sleep. I believe the rural communities will be the catalyst to a ‘contagious’ desire to reclaim pride and freedoms – individually and as a country. The Genesis Network is now planning an initiative within the same Leogane community to rebuild their school as well as a community vocational center.”
Similarly, the Wall Street brokerage ICAP donated tents and Olyset Nets to Hijas de la Caridad Orphanage in Cite’ Du Soleil on the outskirts of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Sumitomo Chemical donated 5,000 Olyset Nets to PSI for distribution in the hardest-hit areas, in partnership with the Haiti NMCP. PSI writes:
Thanks to your generous donation, our Port-au-Prince based staff have begun to distribute these much needed nets to internally displaced people (IDP). On March 11, PSI staf in collaboration with 20 youth volunteers from FOSREF, a local Haitian organization, distributed and hung-up approximately 800 nets in an IDP camp located in Place Boyer Petionville with a population of 5,000 people. Education radio messages also complimented this distribution….All subsequent distribution and hang-up campaigns will be conducted in cordination with the National Malaria Control Program bsed on immediate needs in areas such as Leogane, one of the hardest hit areas. Given that malaria is endemic in the country and the rainy season is fast approaching, the timing of yoiur contribution has been critical in helping to reduce the risk of malaria transmission for many Haitians…”
Photos courtesy Lauren Swartzbaugh / The GENESIS Network