3/7/2010
USA Today
By Betty Klinck
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http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-03-08-springbreak08_st_N.htm
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In the next couple of weeks, thousands of college students nationwide will forgo relaxing with fruity drinks and flip-flops during spring break to go on educational service trips known as "alternative breaks." About 72,000 students will take part this year, estimates Break Away, an alternative-break resource representing programs at about 130 colleges.
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A number of colleges have shown interest in helping Haiti after its earthquake. But they're being discouraged. The Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI) is telling inexperienced volunteers to wait at least a few months before traveling to Haiti, center director Suzanne Brooks told the online publication Inside Higher Ed.
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"I don't think it's impossible that a year from now for spring break there may be some programs up and running, but I really don't think it makes sense for this year," she said. Inside Higher Ed also says Break Away has told its college chapters not to arrange trips there until conditions are better. "There is a lot of work that needs to be done by people who have skills to help with the immediate response to disaster before unskilled groups can start going there," said Samantha Giacobozzi, programs director. "The resources that would be utilized by alternative breakers would be better used by Haitians and people doing essential work."
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So for now, more of the alternative breaks will be in traditional service tasks. Blake LeMaster, a senior at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, will travel to Dallas to work with leukemia patients at a pediatric oncology clinic. LeMaster is co-chair of Vanderbilt's alternative-breaks program. This spring the program will send about 500 students out on 36 trips, says adviser Shaiya Baer, assistant director of the university's Office of Active Citizenship and Service.
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During her alternative break last year, Britney Holland, a senior at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, taught as part of the Kilimanjaro Young Girls in Need program in Tanzania, where she also helped revitalize the cafe the girls ran when they were not in school. Holland, an Iraq war veteran, is leading an alternative break to Colorado Springs, where she and other student veterans will rebuild the homes of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.
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Loyola Marymount is sending 18 other trips out this spring but is unable to send students to its most highly requested location, Haiti, because of safety concerns, says Joanne Dennis, alternative-breaks coordinator. "We're looking into sending a team down there this summer, if this is going to be a possibility ... but right now Haiti doesn't need unskilled volunteers taking up their resources," Dennis says.
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Florida International University in Miami is planning to send 12 students to Haiti this summer through its alternative-break program to work on humanitarian relief and health care, says Angel Garcia, assistant director for leadership and service. This spring break, Florida International's alternative-break program will aid Haiti victims by working at an orphanage with children who have spilled over into the Dominican Republic.
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Students at Xavier University in Cincinnati will be working with orphans in Jamaica, helping rebuild parts of their orphanage and through participating in developmental activities with the kids, says Christopher Bridges, assistant director of peace and justice programs.
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Another program from American University in Washington, D.C., will be traveling to the Navajo Nation reserve that spans parts of Arizona and New Mexico to work on an environmental justice program with the states' uranium and coal mines.
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Despite the diversity of alternative-break trips, which range from addressing homelessness in Washington, D.C., to geriatric care in North Carolina, the programs all have one mission: "to work toward creating active citizens through education, action and reflection," Bridges says.

By Jim Kavanagh
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When the going gets tough, the compassionate get going. The January earthquake in Haiti prompted a spike in interest in service vacations, sometimes called "voluntourism," several organizations report.
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"We've seen a tremendous uptick with groups interested in coming to Haiti," said Brett Curtis, chief operating officer of Youth With a Mission San Diego-Baja, a Christian organization that organizes service trips for young people. "We haven't turned any away yet. We're telling them we'll have some information in the next few weeks about how they'll be deployed."
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Projects-Abroad.org reported it received 46 percent more applications than expected since the earthquake.
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At Idealist.org, the number of people inquiring specifically about volunteering in Haiti in the month following the earthquake was almost three times the site's normal traffic about volunteering in general, said Erin Barnhart, the organization's director of volunteerism initiatives.
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"Absolutely, we're seeing an increase," she said. "Particularly I think it's those people who perhaps had thought of the idea before and this has spurred them into action to say, 'Hey, I've been wanting to try this. Now's the time.' "
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A group called REACH -- Reconstruction Efforts Aiding Children without Homes -- is seizing the moment. The group has scheduled nine trips between March and August for volunteers to work on a construction project at a large orphanage in Les Cayes, Haiti. Volunteers will pay a minimum of $1,775 plus airfare for the trip, the group says.
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However, it may not be the time for many unskilled volunteers to flood into Haiti. Many organizations are advising people on other ways or places they can help. "Because of logistics and security, we're not in a place right now where we're bringing volunteers into Haiti, and it may be a while before we are able to do that," said Desiree Hadaway, senior director of volunteer mobilization with Habitat for Humanity International. "Because we won't do it until we know that people can be safe and have a really great volunteer experience."
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To boost the battered Haitian economy, Habitat is hiring local residents to do some work in Haiti that otherwise would be done by volunteers, Hadaway said.
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TEAMeffort, a Christian youth camp sponsor based in Gainesville, Georgia, is re-evaluating plans to take groups to Haiti this summer, overseas director Bryant Underwood said.
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"We want to have groups there this summer but we need to know it's feasible or see if we should wait a year," he said. "We definitely don't want to get in the way of people providing aid at this time."
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Natural disasters always result in greater interest in volunteering, said Troy Peden, co-founder of GoAbroad.com, which provides information for students interested in international travel.
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Chile also suffered a severe earthquake on February 27. As was the case in Haiti, the greatest need in Chile at the moment is highly trained first responders. Chile is more developed and self-sufficient and so far has not requested outside help. However, before the earthquake there were opportunities to volunteer at schools and on environmental projects in Chile, so interested travelers may still want to check into those.
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Would-be volunteers are being encouraged to seek first-responder and search-and-rescue training at home, so they can be part of the first wave of help the next time disaster strikes, Idealist.org's Barnhart said."With past globally impacting events, for example the 2004 tsunami, there was a surge in interest, in people saying, 'What can I do to lend a hand myself? I'm willing to travel, I have vacation time, I want to do something meaningful with my time off,'" Barnhart said.
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There are plenty of opportunities. For example, between now and April 3, Campus Crusade for Christ is expecting at least 2,500 students to attend its weeklong "Big Break" conferences in Panama City Beach, Florida, where they will pack 1 million nutrient-rich meal kits for Haitians.
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"I'm hearing from students around the country who are excited about this opportunity to help ease the suffering in Haiti in a tangible way," said Mark Gauthier, the group's national director of U.S. campus ministry. After Hurricane Katrina, 17,000 students traveled to Mississippi and Louisiana to join Campus Crusade relief projects, the organization said.
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Indeed, "We're five years out of Hurricane Katrina, and there are still opportunities for people to volunteer," Barnhart said. "There's always going to be a space for people who are willing and able to help."

BY JIM WYSS
jwyss@MiamiHerald.com
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PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Jonathan Bopp arrived at the doorstep of the Red Cross in the Dominican Republic with $100 worth of supplies he had picked up at his local pharmacy, no return ticket and faith that he was needed in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
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The first person he met told the 24-year-old political science student from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., to go home.
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``They said the only thing they could do for me was put me on the next plane out,'' said Bopp, who made his way to Haiti a few days after the massive Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated much of the country. ``There were all these organizations that need help so badly, but at the point of entry I was told to leave.''
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Haiti's crisis has brought out the best in people, who have rushed to the aid of the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
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But like many things in post-earthquake Haiti, lack of communication and coordination have sapped some of the strength from the army of do-gooders.
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With hundreds of state-sponsored rescue and aid teams on the ground, there is little reliable information about the number of freelance, or informal, volunteers who have been called here by the crisis. But many larger organizations have suggested that there are better ways to help.
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The International Red Cross and the U.S. Agency for International Development have said the scarcest commodity is money. France's Doctors Without Borders said that many victims they are now treating received second-rate medical care from other volunteers. Mirta Roses, director of the Pan American Health Organization, said that many volunteer teams are arriving without clear assignments and with few provisions.
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``They may be tremendously willing, but they sometimes may not be so prepared,'' she said, adding that the public needs to understand that ``there is a place and a time to make generosity useful.''
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While vast areas of Haiti are still in desperate need of attention, other areas are awash in helping hands. On Tuesday, a group of seven doctors from American and French teams huddled around a tent pitched in the parking lot of a hospital in Pétionville and talked to each other through a translator. Inside the improvised tent was a woman with an exposed tibia and weeping wounds.
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``There are a lot of people here and it's not very well organized,'' said Rajesh Patel, a doctor from Long Island who arrived Saturday with 16 colleagues and enough supplies to be self-sufficient.
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``We don't have enough stretchers, but everyone wants to help.'' Members of a Dominican team that had been at the hospital since Jan. 13 said they were leaving Port-au-Prince to go to some other town in Haiti where their help might be needed.
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When Bopp and some colleagues tried to deliver tents to the neighborhood of Cité Soleil, a riot broke out and his group had to retreat. ``I came down here knowing I wanted to help,'' he said. ``But it's a little more complicated than that.''
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Miami Herald staff writer Lesley Clark contributed to this report.

Uninvited volunteers, useless donations can cost money, time — and lives
MSNBC
1/28/2010
By JoNel Aleccia
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No question, the two church-goers from New Jersey had the best intentions in the world when they arrived in Port-au-Prince this week to help victims of Haiti’s killer earthquake.
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Trouble was, that was all they had in a land where food, water, shelter and transportation are at a desperate premium, said Laura Blank, a disaster communications manager on the ground for World Vision, a Christian humanitarian aid group with long ties to the country.
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“They seemed very eager and very passionate about helping the people of Haiti, but they didn’t have a ride to get out of the airport,” said Blank, who had to direct the pair to assistance.
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More than a week after a magnitude-7 earthquake devastated the country, disaster organizers say they’re seeing the first signs of a problem that can hinder even the most ambitious recovery efforts: good intentions gone wrong.
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From volunteer medical teams who show up uninvited, to stateside donors who ship boxes of unusable household goods, misdirected compassion can actually tax scarce resources, costing time, money, energy — and lives, experts say.
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“Everyone wants to be a hero. Everyone wants to help,” said Dr. Thomas Kirsch, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Refugee and Disaster Response. “It’s not the way to do it.”
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Even a medical crew from his own school — Kirsch declined to identify them — arrived in Haiti so ill-prepared they had to seek sustenance from non-governmental organizations.
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“They had no bedding, supplies or food,” he said. “They ended up glomming onto some of the NGOs.”
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What to do with well-meaning volunteers is not a new problem. In every disaster, large numbers of people simply show up to help. A handbook published by California disaster officials estimates organizers can count on 50,000 “convergent” volunteers after any severe earthquake. After the Sept. 11 terror attacks, more than 40,000 unsolicited volunteers arrived at Ground Zero in New York.
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In the U.S. and around the world, aid organizations are walking a fine line, trying to encourage skilled professionals who can provide indispensable assistance — and waving off those who might not be up to the task. At the federal Center for International Disaster Information, a stern note warns the well-intentioned:
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“Volunteers without prior disaster relief experience are generally not selected for relief assignments,” it reads. “Most offers of another body to drive trucks, set up tents, and feed children are not accepted.”
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It’s an effort to help would-be Samaritans recognize the reality of the situation, said CIDI director Suzanne H. Brooks. “It’s very romantic in the TV and movies,” she said. “They think it’s flying in for a weekend. They need to think of it in terms of months.”
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Those best suited to help are probably already there, experts said. They’re trained crews who not only have experience working in disasters, but also in developing nations, Kirsch said. The best teams also have a command of Haitian Creole and French, if possible.
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When teams arrive without those skills and without their own supplies, they drain resources that could better be used for actual victims, said Dr. Kristi L. Koenig, an emergency physician at the University of California, Irvine, who specializes in disaster response.
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“Unless you’re part of a team before the disaster happens with a formal mission, you’re going to be part of the problem,” she said. Even worse, certain volunteers have required emergency intervention themselves, Kirsch noted.
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“Most people do quite well, but about 10 percent don't,” he said. “They end up totally freaking out and having to be evacuated.”
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A different but equally pressing problem is the flood of ill-advised donations that aid agencies already are facing, organizers said. A handful of “Help Haiti” food and clothing drives across the country are inspiring cringes among some workers, said Diana Rothe-Smith, executive director of the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, a coalition of agencies.
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“I would strongly recommend that no donation drives be conducted unless there’s an existing organization on the ground, in Haiti, that has asked for the help,” Rothe-Smith said. “It does pile up very quickly.”
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Donations of old clothes, canned goods, water and outdated prescriptions are accumulating, said Brooks. While such items sound useful, they’re actually expensive to sort, to transport and to distribute, she said. Cast-off drugs can be dangerous.
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Oftentimes, the household items donated are simply not useful to the disaster victims they’re intended to help.
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“I guarantee you someone is going to send a winter coat or high-heeled shoes,” Brooks said.
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In fact, after the tsunami in Indonesia in 2004, aid organizers in Sri Lanka were forced to deal with donations of stiletto shoes, expired cans of salmon, evening gowns and even thong panties, according to news reports. In Florida, a truckload of mink coats showed up during the 2004 hurricane season, Rothe-Smith said, a likely tax write-off for a retailer having trouble pushing furs.
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The compassion behind some donations is understandable — and laudable, she added. People see dire images on television or in news reports and they want to help. “It seems to make logical sense to go through your own cupboard and gather those items,” Rothe-Smith said.
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The reality, however, is that inappropriate donations actually do more harm than good. “If you buy a can of peas and it costs 59 cents, it’ll cost about $80 to get it where it needs to go,” Rothe-Smith said.
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Mathematics of donation favor cash. Many agencies try to motivate donors with the mathematics of the situation. Jeff Nene, a spokesman for Convoy of Hope, a Springfield, Mo., agency that feeds 11,000 children a day in Haiti, urges cash donations that allow his group to buy in bulk from large suppliers and retailers.
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“When people give $1, it translates into $7 in the field,” he said. “If they spend $5 for bottled water, that’s nice and it makes them feel good, but probably it costs us more than $5 to send it. If they give us $5, we can get $35 worth of water.”
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That’s a sentiment echoed by virtually every aid agency.“I would really say at this point, honestly, right now, money is the best thing to give,” Rothe-Smith said. Donors can find vetted agencies helping in Haiti on sites such as Charity Navigator.
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Still, trying to direct the flood of compassion can be tricky, Nene acknowledged.
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“Some people get a little miffed by it. They think they’re trying to help and when you don’t receive it in that attitude and spirit, they get upset,” he said. “You just have to tread lightly. You don’t want to crush people when they’re so willing to help.”
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34958965/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake/

I am a college student and a am willing to give up my spring break vacation and go to Haiti to help out. I am willing to cover my expenses.

I really want to volunteer and help the people of Haiti but because I just finished school I have no money or anyway way to get down there. If anyone has any advice about how I can help please send me an email. I would love to go down there for month and help out as much as possible.

Michael