Stop Indifference, Show Love for Haiti!

Dec. 13, 2010 - PRLog -- NEW YORK (December 13, 2010) January 12, 2011 will mark the one-year anniversary of the catastrophic 7.0 earthquake that devastated Haiti, leaving an estimated 230,000 people dead, 300,000 injured and over 1,000,000 homeless. One year later, what is the reality for those most affected?

That is the question local NGO MOSCTHA hopes to illuminate as it launches a month-long campaign, “Stop Indifference, Show Love” to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and reveal the current situation in Haiti. Furthermore, MOSCTHA aims to inspire action that will create concrete and sustainable results.

“Not many people outside of Haiti know what’s really going on there,” says campaign co-director Alison Désir. “Billions of dollars were pledged, yet only a small fraction has actually reached the Haitian people. After seeing the situation first hand, we felt we had a moral imperative to provide Haitian people an opportunity to tell their own stories and offer their suggestions and solutions.”

In addition to raising awareness about the reality in Haiti, the campaign will mobilize action during the 30 days leading up to Valentine’s Day. With an estimated 15 million “e-cards” sent within the US last year, MOSCTHA challenges Americans to celebrate this year’s Valentine’s Day by donating their Valentine’s Day e-cards to MOSCTHA’s campaign.  MOSCTHA challenges individuals to get informed and get involved with the response to Haiti. “Do something that matters; stop indifference, show love.”

“It is clear that the effort to rebuild Haiti cannot be done by Haiti alone,”¬¬¬ says Edwin Paraison, Minister of Haitians Living Abroad.  “Together, we must demonstrate the capacity to fix the situation in Haiti and start a comprehensive international dialogue so that Haitian people do not continue to suffer.”

With a new story featured each day of the campaign, Haitians will have the opportunity to “tell it like it is.”  The stories featured will come from those living in tent cities in Port-au-Prince and those living in rural communities outside of Port-au-Prince that have struggled to absorb the thousands of displaced people, with little assistance from the international community.  MOSCTHA’s long presence, work, and reputation in Haiti will enable easy entry into said communities.

MOSCTHA co- founder and director, Joseph Cherubin, says “MOSCTHA was one of the first organizations in Haiti after the earthquake hit. Since then we have provided countless tents, tarps, and mattresses, medical care via mobile ambulance to thousands living in earthquake-affected areas, and thousands of jugs of clean water for those affected by cholera.  We are providing the immediate relief while seeking long-term solutions to change conditions in Haiti for good.  MOSCTHA is unique in Haiti because we did not pop up overnight.  We have nurtured strong relationships with the Haitian people and those with whom we work know that we are neither there for publicity nor will we leave until Haiti is back on its feet.”


Though the campaign officially launches January 12, 2011, the website is already active at www.stopindifferenceshowlove.com.



About MOSCTHA (Socio-Cultural Movement of Haitian Workers):


The Socio-Cultural Movement for Haitian Workers (MOSCTHA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1985 by Haitian laborers.  Initially created to provide healthcare to oppressed sugarcane cutters, MOSCTHA has since grown into a movement dedicated to improving and empowering underrepresented communities in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti.  In 2009, MOSCTHA-USA was founded in an effort to bring MOSCTHA’s work to the American public and widen our network and support base to impact change in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

For more information please visit: www.mosctha.org

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MOSCTHA was founded in 1985 as the socio-cultural movement for Haitian workers. It is a non-profit organization, whose main objective was initially to promote the development of Haitian immigrants in the Dominican Republic, but has grown since then, to also assist the underprivileged communities of both Haiti and the Dominican Republic. MOSCTHA is dedicated to the environmental, cultural, and social progressions of the under-represented and underprivileged communities.