12804: Re: 12789: relief in the bateys or in hayti or for the poverty industry?(fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Matt Ray <mraymus@yahoo.com>

Well, I must agree that I wonder the same things about this Batey organization going to the DR.   I'm glad that they're doing something, but it seems to me that the need is much greater in Haiti.   Our organization, Healing Hands for Haiti, focuses all of our efforts in Haiti.    We have a clinic that operates 5 days a week in Haiti and we don't charge for our services there.   Our focus is on helping the handicapped in Haiti (over 100,000 amputees) and in providing education to those who wish to help the handicapped.    Last year 18-20 of our 30 students found employment because of the education we provided.

(Why are there so many amputees in Haiti?   I'm asked this all the time.   Well, take a country that has no medical care or very little medical care, no free clinics, etc., and then throw in a few things like, oh, say, Diabetes, and other medical problems, and you end up with a lot of bad infections that require amputation.   Not to mention all the accidents that occur in Haiti that go untreated (because there's nobody there that can medically treat them, of course) as well as birth defects (birth defects bring up a whole other list of cultural and traditional issues in dealing with the handicapped in Haiti)).

So, I'm with you on this response.    We shouldn't really discourage people from helping the DR, but we all know who's in greater need.

Matt

Matt Ray
Healing Hands for Haiti Foundation, Inc.
http://www.healinghandsforhaiti.org
mraymus@yahoo.com
661.588.4400 - phone
413.740.0772 - efax