Northwest Haiti Still in Dire Need After Hurricane Matthew

by Sebastian Africano, International DirectorFriends, Family, Colleagues,I ask for your attention again as we get critical news from Hurricane Matthew's wake in northwestern Haiti. In total, 55,000 people have been directly impacted by the storm in the two municipalities where TWP has worked since 2007. Our colleagues at AMURT have just returned from a trip to the area to assess needs, and are seeing immense challenges ahead. Roads have been washed out, irrigation systems have been destroyed, and almost all livelihood activities have ground to a halt. 70% of crops for this fall's harvest are gone. 90% of the salt basins used to harvest sea salt have been flooded with mud. The limited sources for potable water in the area have been washed out.Here is a first-hand account from our partners at AMURT."Just returned from the Northwest after a very hard trip - productive but very heartbreaking at the same time. The damage after the last inundations and heavy rains has been much more extensive than I thought. In fact when I went to the area after Matthew and compare what I saw then and what I witness now - it's several degrees more severe and critical. I visited villages that have such substantial malnutrition, whose residents have lost all of their livelihoods and have nothing left to them. Several villages had cases of infant death due to malnutrition (only 3 weeks after the hurricane!), cholera returning, no drinking water, mud covering everything, productive soil covering salt basins, eroded roads...This is a very extensive humanitarian crisis that is not talked about anywhere in the news. It's as if this region is forgotten by all and is slipping into a spiral of vulnerability that will surely deepen week by week. I wanted to send you a quick email while I'm fresh back with very strong impressions and renewed urgency to respond."Due to their economic fragility and geographic isolation, families in this region have nowhere to turn to feed their families. They can migrate to one of Haiti's overcrowded cities to live in the squalor of an informal urban slum, or they can rebuild their lives where they are. At TWP, we're supporting the latter alternative - providing emergency relief via our partners, and helping the region rebuild and reinvest their way to a livable state.Our resources for this effort are extremely limited, so we turn to you, our donors to help us with a special contribution to the effort. Again - 100% of the funds raised for this relief and reconstruction campaign will go to the communities in the Northwest Artibonite. No amount is too small. We will keep you posted as updates arise.Thank you!