Here is an open letter from the African Society of Georgetown’s board to all Georgetown clubs, encouraging support in the aftermath of tragic events that took place in Haiti.

Happy New Year and welcome back to campus. This letter is sent out in the worst of times, with the deadly 7.0 magnitude earthquake and its 24 aftershocks that hit near Port-au-Prince on the island of Haiti on Tuesday. Reports coming out of the region have communicated a high sense of urgency and chaos on the island as it is believed that 3 million people have been affected in the city of 4 million and the death toll is somewhere between 45,000 and 50,000 according to the Red Cross. Other reports have the death toll as high as 100,000. Though we reside far away here in DC, with such a high scale of human suffering, we cannot stand idle at this time.

This letter will let you know a few places where your help is needed. As an organization, we do not endorse the idea that money is the sole solution to development challenges and we understand our positions as low-income earning students, but we do not accept either of those challenges as justified obstacles to contributing to relief efforts at this critical time.

A few different efforts are being started on campus to respond to the crisis. There will be a Vigil (click for the Facebook event) on Friday at 1:15PM in Healy Circle and different ways to donate to different organizations have been formed. The Center for Social Justice has put up a website (http://socialjustice.georgetown.edu/86785.html) to direct donations to Save the Children, Jesuit Refugee Services and the Partners in Health. Please go to this website and do what you can.

Other organizations working on the ground include YeleHaiti through which singer Wyclef Jean has set up a Haiti fund that you can contribute $5 that will be added to your phone bill by texting ‘YELE’ to 501-501. It takes only a few minutes.

You can also donate $10 through your phone by texting ‘HAITI’ to 20222 for the UN Foundation.

To donate to the Red Cross: http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&s_subsrc=RCO_ResponseStateSection. Or text ‘HAITI’ to 90999 to donate $10.

To donate through UNICEF: https://secure.unicefusa.org/site/Donation2?df_id=6680&6680.donation=form1

We could go on listing organizations, or we can just give you the link to a Huffington Post article with different organizations: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/12/haiti-earthquake-relief-h_n_421014.html

And to not just give, but understand the situation, this link to Bill Clinton’s Op-Ed in today’s Washington Post is pretty informative of the great humanitarian crisis that the earthquake represents: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/13/AR2010011304604.html. This time is not only about immediate response, but about understanding the foundations that have been laid for decades that have allowed for such devastating effects that have affected the lives of millions when hitting the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere, when an earthquake of similar magnitude (6.7) only killed up to 72 people in Northridge, California in 1994. The comparison is weak, but an important lesson to keep in mind while discussing the crisis.

We hope that you will be able to donate to whatever organization you feel most comfortable with and would like to leave you with Haiti’s motto: L’Union fait la force (Unity makes strength). Let’s stand together on this.

Love,
The ASG Board

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