“It is the small organizations that save lives” (Haiti Update, Jan 20)

At a UN meeting on the current relief work, it was pointed out that the little aid that is reaching Haiti all comes from small organizations that send resources through the Dominican Republic.

“It is the small organizations that are saving lives today,” Amber reports. “The international agencies are stranded for now, and no resources are actually reaching the Haitians. Also because many of these agencies suffered immense losses of life.”

In high spirits, despite a bout of food poisoning this morning, AMURT coordinator Dharma Russofav made an appeal for more donations, medicines and qualified volunteers to help in the relief efforts in the capital.

“Our goal is to get people out of the city,” says Dharma. “The city is so toxic that it is impossible to live there. There are many bodies scattered about and the water supply is polluted.”

“This is a very, very traumatic event. Even for adults… I see myself, who have practiced yoga and meditation for years, and I feel somewhat traumatized… I imagine all these children… I don’t even know the trauma going on in their heads. There is a general sense of loss, nobody really knows what to do or where to go…”

One of the strengths of AMURT is yoga and meditation, so the staff in Port-au-Prince have already begun efforts to set up centers where children can receive these tools of self-healing.

“For now we are assisting the poorest, and we will help the children with centers where yoga, arts and meditation are practiced,” Dharma explained. “This is an effort being made by several organizations, and this time it is going well.”

AMURT has decades of experience and fieldwork in Haiti, with many projects under way. It is responding to this catastrophe very quickly and efficiently, and is committed to staying as long as necessary to relieve the suffering of thousands of people.

The AMURT team in Haiti has set up an online blog with regular updates from the frontline work. www.amurt-haitilive.com/

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