Greta Greathouse was a Rick's regular during the first few years. She worked in Morocco for a USAID contractor on a project to create more options in credit and finance, building on Morocco's successful developments in microfinance. Then Greta moved on to Haiti, again in the financial sector, and, up until last Tuesday, she was running a program, also funded by USAID, to help establish credit unions for small business and entrepreneurs.
Here's Greta's first message that came on Wednesday:
Thanks for our message. I was downtown where it was worst in a car (team had two cars together after a visit to central bank). We were in the cars when it hit. After 15 minutes, we abandoned the cars and walked several miles out of downtown up to where my offices are so that we would not be downtown after dark.. My house is difficult to reach - road impassable and blocked by UN. Two guy friends hiked in yesterday to scope the situation. Not as bad as I had feared, but unlivable. Will try to send some other friends into day to try to salvage some things before the looters come
Will write m ore later. Have only a few minutes access at another friends office today. My office is also destroyed.
Hugs to all and tell them I really miss Morocco.
Haiti needs help!
g.
It's chaos there. There are many avenues through which aid relief is being channeled, and through Greta I learned of FOKAL, a foundation funded by George Soros, that is already well established in Haiti. All monies contributed are divided between organizations such as Médecins sans frontières, World Food Program, Catholic Relief Services and others who were already on the ground in Haiti before the quake hit. 100% of donated funds go to relief, FOKAL's operating expenses are funded entirely by Soros' Open Society Institute. I just sent a check through Paypal, and here's the link if you are interested in making a contribution.
http://www.fokal.org/contribution-a.htm
This is a terrible tragedy and one in which even the smallest contribution will help.
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