haiti update

although there's a backlog of other topics it'd like to hit upon that have been mulling in my head for some time, for the next couple of posts, i'm going to focus mostly on the haiti earthquake. having been traveling back to the states, it's been hard keeping up with the situation in haiti for the past couple of days...

when i got home last night, i read haiti articles from sunday's la times. this one stood out:

For the first time since a catastrophic earthquake shuddered across Haiti last week, there were real signs of relief Saturday, with U.S. helicopters ferrying emergency supplies from an aircraft carrier off the coast and bulldozers taking to the streets of Port-au-Prince to shove through mountains of debris.

But there also were signs of the immense problems ahead: the stench of decaying bodies rising from neighborhoods; the sprawling tent cities springing up across the capital; the challenge of getting help to the victims in the face of the breathtaking scale of destruction and need.

LOOTING: Looting continued in Haiti on the third day after the earthquake, although there were more police in downtown Port-au-Prince.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

TENT CITY: One of the many tent cities that have sprung up around Port-au-Prince catering to the thousands left homeless after a 7.0 earthquake.
(Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

another article today said that preliminary figures from haitian officials estimate that up to 100,000 are presumed dead.

an audio slide show entitled, "so many people need help" can be seen here.

graphic photos can be seen here. some images may be disturbing.

president obama has asked his former predecessors w bush and clinton to help with private fundraising efforts, and the ex-presidents have jointly launched the clinton bush haiti fund to solicit donations from the us and abroad.

i just transferred the leftover $200 from the power of one fund and an additional contribution to partners in health's stand with haiti campaign to deliver life-saving medical supplies and health-care to injured haitians. if you'd like to help with donations or would like more information on how you can help, please visit this post here for more information. every little bit helps.

i'll try to put up an oxfam donation page in the next day or so to try to do more direct fundraising.

closing up at safe haven / the power of one update

i just got back into chiang mai from safe haven orphanage yesterday. my colleague josh and i spent the last couple of days fine tuning the water system that we put in. the second spring that we tapped went dry, so we connected a third one that will hopefully hold out and provide water to the orphanage through the dry season. in addition, we made some provisional improvements to the boys' shower area and fixed leaks in water storage tanks.

for those who have been following my power of one fund idea, here's how things panned out at the orphanage:

3 people decided to contribute to the fund, with donations totaling $220. One person donated $20 to Partners in Health Malawi, with the remaining $200 still yet committed to one cause. if you are interested in doing something similar and/or spreading the power of one idea, please do. every little bit helps.

i tried to match this to the best of my ability to buy lots of fruit for the kids (about 55 of them); outfitted the kitchen with some utensils, cutlery and other supplies; bought more drinking containers; and also bought more than 100 trees for the orphanage to start growing its own fruit and better develop its own food security and lessen dependence on outside party food donors. i was limited at times with what fruit were locally available for purchase, as the orphanage is located 3 hours from the nearest market hub either way on the road. i also put money towards odds and ends around the orphanage, like buying wire and electrical parts to put a light at the older girls' shower.

picking up fruit trees in mae sot

of 12,016 THB ($1 USD = 33.13 THB)going towards these expenses, i payed 6,116 THB ($184.61 USD) and was able to have my organization offset the reamining 5,900 THB ($178.09 USD). as $220 was pledged to other organizations, i still have to match another $35, and will donate the remainder to a charity when i get back stateside in a week.

just a quick update of itemized accounting-i will give more about my feeling and reflections on working at safe haven in the next post. [there are of course plenty of conflicting thoughts about how to best to help others, with much time and energy spent trying to reconcile good intentions versus actual impacts on communities. i.e. are we actually strengthening communities, or making them more dependent on others/ what is (mal)development? i'll try to flesh out some of these often times at-odds ideas in later posts].

december 28, 2009
20 apples
5 kilos of oranges
(free bag of tart, apple-like fruit)
total: 400 THB

december 29, 2009
9 bunches of bananas
10 small watermelons
5 bags of tamarinds
total: 395 THB

december 30, 2009
10 kilos oranges
5 pineapples
12 pomelos
total: 428 THB

december 31, 2009
12 pomelos
50 apples
total: 600 THB

january 1, 2009
10 kilos oranges
4 bunches bananas
15 small watermelons
total: 470 THB

january 2, 2009
none: got to town too late, stored closed

january 3, 2009
4 bags sweet guava
5 bags tamarind
5 pineapples
5 kilos dragonfruit
total: 588 THB


january 3, 2009 tree run to mae sot
5 lumyai trees @ 40 THB/each
20 chomphu / rose apple trees @ 35 THB/each (i gave one to one of the local workers)
10 orange trees @ 45 THB/each
10 mango trees @ 30 THB/each
20 papaya trees @ 20 THB/each
10 noina / custard apple trees @ 40 THB/each
10 pomelo trees @ 35 THB/each
10 guava trees @ 30 THB/each
10 mangosteen trees @ 35 THB/each

105 trees (104 for the orphanage, 1 for a local worker)

total: 3,500 THB

setting up the tree nursery at safe haven

january 4, 2009
22 apple pears
10 kilos of oranges
3 pineapples
4 small watermelons
6-pack of liquid dishwashing soap
2 peelers
2 water scoops for kitchen
3 packs of steel wool/sponge/mini-soap sets
3-pack of sponges
1 ladle
1 12-pack of spoons
1 pair of school shoes for one girl
total: 1,480 THB

january 5-6, 2009
no fruit, in mae sot visiting migrant schools

january 7, 2009
50 apples
5 kilos of dragonfruit
total: 659 THB

january 8, 2009
20 kilos of oranges
8 pineapples
46 apples
1 small water container
wire, switch, and other electrical components for putting a fluorescent light at the older girls' shower
total: 1,725 THB

january 9, 2009
2 small water containers for widow weavers
16-pack of plastic cups
2 bags of tamarind
6-pack liquid dishwashing soap
2 laundry brushes
2 12-packs of spoons
40 apples
2 liters of gas for motorbike
total: 1,018 THB

the power of one (/ jeremy's birthday) fund

how's it going? hope you're all enjoying the holiday season. in case you didn't know, tomorrow's my b-day. just wanted to use it as a shameful opportunity to promote my new blog. the subtitle sounds pretentious, but is an allusion to bryce courtenay's the power of one book, which i just finished reading. a great book (kh, don't read it if you haven't yet, i just sent my copy).

i also just started a small experiment called the the power of one fund to help out at the orphanage where i'm working. if you don't have money, that's ok. you can still help out. for my b-day, i'm just asking that you read the whole following post...


so guys, this is it. this is my first concerted stab at making an appeal for others to take action to make the world a better place. and i'm using my b-day (tomorrow) as a nice cover for it. interested? all i'm asking is that you read to the bottom of this article, the rest is up to you. the best part of it is how you take action is completely in your control. no pressure. honest.

so most of you know that for the past few months i've been working in thailand with a small start-up ngo called aqueous solutions. we focus primarily on providing clean water to communities in need and also work on building sanitation infrastructure and provide hygiene education.

one of our current projects is safe haven orphanage, a home to about 55 ethnic karen children who have no home or whose parents or family are not able to care for them. as the orphanage sits right on the border between tak province, thailand, and karen state, burma, it also has a transient community that fluxes. at the height of fighting on the burma side earlier this year, more than 300 karen fleeing the fighting fled to the orphanage for food and shelter. while i was there, more than 80 displaced persons were still living there. they have since left, but the thai military wants to relocate them back.

for the past couple of months, i've been working at the orphanage to put in a gravity fed water system, improve drainage, and promote good hygiene habits. i'll be going back tomorrow to work on improve water distribution and water storage, fix the boys' bathroom, protect the spring catchment system we built, and construct a baby cleaning area. some pictures of my work can be seen here. note, that we did not provide the ceramic filters or install any of the toilets pictured. the toilets sunk into the ground are at another site housing 100+ displaced karen.

for all intensive purposes, the orphanage is, in my opinion, run like a mini refugee camp--donors with competing interests and conflicting, often times misguided, goals; and children who are malnourished, plagued by malaria, have very basic water and sanitation services. luckily, most of the children are able to go to thai school, and that they seem very happy. many of them have come a long way before coming to the orphanage, having to deal with issues such as physical abuse, medical issues, and neglect.

the idea of the power of one fund came from my best friend who heard about the situation at the orphanage and asked how he could help. as many of the children there are without sandals, he offered to purchase flip-flops for the children. when we talked more about the food situation, we decided to split buying fruit for them for the next month or so that i'll be there this time around.

the power of one is the idea that our shared humanity helps us relate to the difficulties that those less fortunate than us are facing. many of the pressing challenges that millions of people face exist primarily due to apathy, indifference, ignorance, and inertia. we can each individual do what we can to surmount these four horsemen*. all of us cannot respond the same way, but by responding however we can as individuals and individually tapping into the power of one, this collectively makes the world a more humane and compassionate place.

[*the four horsemen idea comes from don cheadle and john predergast's not on our watch book, pg 10 (2007)]

this is how the power of one fund works:

you can contribute in 2 ways.

if you want to contribute financially, you can. the best part of it is that you don't give me a single cent.

if you can't contribute money, that's ok. keep reading to the end!

if you can help out with cash, you tell me (email me at tharsis133 @ gmail [dot] com) how much you want to contribute to the orphanage for things like buying fruit, school supplies, or hygiene products. another focus that i want to work on is to help develop the capacity of the orphanage to be more self-reliant so that they don't have to depend on outside help. i've done some training on constructing water systems and hygiene, but much more needs to be done.

a good idea is for capacity-building to extend to food security. meals mostly consist of mealie rice, fish paste, and some vegetables. fruit and eggs are very rare. by buy seeds and giving trainings, we can improve garden yields and lessen independence on donors. your contribution can also be put towards reaching this end.

so, based on how much you want to give, i will match your contribution dollar for dollar, up to $500. i will pay out of pocket for these non water and sanitation improvements, and in return, you contribute the amount that you pledged to any nonprofit that you believe in back home. no contribution is too small. this way, by doing both of our parts, we collectively think globally and act locally.

for example, if you want to pledge $15 to the orphanage. i will spend $15 on things like fruit, soap, garden improvements, stationery, kitchen supplies, etc. in turn, you donate to a nonprofit of your choice back home.

the following are organizations that i have supported in the past and whose work that i think is really valuable and timely. click on the organizations' names in grey to link to their sites.


partners relief and development "5 alive campaign"
delivering life saving supplies that will help keep a displaced family of five in burma alive for one month. $50 buys a cooking pot, a lighter, a machete, a plastic tarp, and rice and salt. fleeing persecution, fighting, and egregious human rights abuses, families flee from approaching government and pro-government troops, living sometimes for years without proper shelter, or adequate amounts of food and/or medicine. they are often shot on sight and vulnerable to landmines and tropical diseases like malaria.

save darfur coalition
campaigning to stop the genocide in darfur, the first new act of genocide of the 21st century.

oxfam america "unwrapped"
alternate gifts to fight poverty globally

practical action
using appropriate technology to challenge poverty worldwide.

stop genocide now
working to end genocide

i haven't had time to donate to the human rights campaign, but have been meaning to. the fight for lgbtq equality rights at home is the fight of our time.

the human rights campaign

i won't have access to regular access to email, but you can also call my thai cell and let me know +66 87 214-two five five four from outside of thailand or 087 214 two five five four from inside thailand. if you email i'll do my best to get back to you soon. and after this visit to safe haven, i'll put more photos up. i've already taken out $300 from my us bank account.

***whatever you decide to do, don't give through the safe haven paypal account for the moment. there's a technical issue that needs to be worked out***

if you can't help out with cash, that's ok. this is how you can contribute to the power of one fund. you do 3 random acts of kindness for strangers. you tell me how many sets of random acts of kindness you do, and i will do 3x that amount. for example, if you stop to give a lost person directions, help someone load his or her car at the supermarket, and open the door for someone, i will do 9 acts of kindness. hopefully, this will build up slowly to a movement of paying it forward.