How the Red Cross Raised Half a Billion Dollars for Haiti ­and Built Six Homes

[SZonian]

The neighborhood of Campeche sprawls up a steep hillside in Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince. Goats rustle in trash that goes forever uncollected. Children kick a deflated volleyball in a dusty lot below a wall with a hand-painted logo of the American Red Cross.

In late 2011, the Red Cross launched a multimillion-dollar project to transform the desperately poor area, which was hit hard by the earthquake that struck Haiti the year before. The main focus of the project — called LAMIKA, an acronym in Creole for “A Better Life in My Neighborhood” — was building hundreds of permanent homes.

Today, not one home has been built in Campeche. Many residents live in shacks made of rusty sheet metal, without access to drinkable water, electricity or basic sanitation. When it rains, their homes flood and residents bail out mud and water.

The Red Cross received an outpouring of donations after the quake, nearly half a billion dollars.

The group has publicly celebrated its work. But in fact, the Red Cross has repeatedly failed on the ground in Haiti. Confidential memos, emails from worried top officers, and accounts of a dozen frustrated and disappointed insiders show the charity has broken promises, squandered donations, and made dubious claims of success.

The Red Cross says it has provided homes to more than 130,000 people. But the actual number of permanent homes the group has built in all of Haiti: six.

[excerpted]

https://www.propublica.org/article/how-the-red-cross-raised-half-a-billion-dollars-for-haiti-and-built-6-homes

Related article here:

http://www.npr.org/2016/06/16/482020436/senators-report-finds-fundamental-concerns-about-red-cross-finances

[geronl]

That is about as efficient as the federal government

[Smokin Joe]

That is about as efficient as the federal government

I haven't sent them a dime since one of their disaster vans totaled out my car during a flood in '79. I talked with numerous veteran friends since who reinforced that decision. If I send disaster relief money, it goes to the Salvation Army. After 9/11 when the RC was going to hold back some of the funds raised 'for other emergencies', I thought they had showed their true colors. YMMV, but that's my experience.

[WAC]

Haiti is a 'slush fund state"........revenue in revenue out.......with a few payoffs along the way for whatever an is at the top for the moment.

So are many other world crisis events depending on where they are and who sits in Government.

[geronl]

The US federal government is a slush fund state

[WAC]

The US federal government is a slush fund state

Very true!

[WAC]

The U.S. has revised its alert on all travel to Haiti in light of the announcement by Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council of a new election calendar....... U.S. State Department revised its March 11, 2016 travel alert on Haiti on June 10,2016. The alert remains current through February 2017.

Why? Their elections make ours look like tea time.

“Haiti’s unfinished presidential electoral process has made the political and security environment more uncertain, with possible demonstrations causing disruption to traffic and access to key locations in Port-au-Prince,” ...... “Tensions remain high and we urge U.S. citizens to exercise caution and remain abreast of the security situation as the electoral process progresses. In addition to the dates mentioned above, possible points when demonstrations could occur include June 14, when the National Assembly is due to vote on the mandate of the Provisional President, and the dates on which provisional and definitive results of the above mentioned election rounds are announced.”

The first round of elections in Haiti is now set for October 9, 2016 and a second round on January 8, 2017.

The statement also warned U.S. nationals to maintain adequate supplies of food, water, essential medicines, and other supplies that will allow them to shelter in place for at least 72 hours” and to monitor local media for any changes in the election schedule.

http://www.newsamericasnow.com/u-s-revises-travel-alert-on-haiti/

[verga]

During the Korean war my father said the Red Cross would sell them doughnuts and coffee, or make them sign an IOU. The Salvation Army gave it away for free. I will never give the Red Cross a dime.

[Texas Yellow Rose]

The US federal government is a slush fund state

I agree!!  There is no reason to hire more people to investigate fraud within the organization.  They will only increase overhead and do absolutely nothing about the fraud.   

[Smokin Joe]

After the disaster relief van driver totalled my car, the RC didn't want to pay for it (their driver failed to yield, and was speeding through a residential neighborhood--his fault).

That was it for me. Then, while muttering about it one day, a WWII vet I knew related they were sold the contents of their Red Cross care packages, and I heard the same from my Father (Korea) and a bunch of friends who were in Viet Nam.

By contrast, during that same flood, the Salvation Army had a mobile canteen truck which made rounds, which visited us while we were unloading sandbags and squeezing back a 100+ ft. long bulge in the poly liner in the dike. But at three AM, cold, wet, spirits flagging and kept going only by knowing if that poly ripped, the dike on that side of the river would breach and whole neighborhoods could be lost, here came that canteen truck with hot food and coffee... 

Seven semi loads of sandbags in the rain with a handful of college students and a local guy about the same age, and we had it reinforced by dawn.

The Salvation Army has received my donations ever since.

[mountaineer]

Agree, Salvation Army or Samaritan's Purse are legit organizations that actually help people in disaster areas. Contributions should go there, not ARC.

Many residents live in shacks made of rusty sheet metal, without access to drinkable water, electricity or basic sanitation. When it rains, their homes flood and residents bail out mud and water.

This never ceases to amaze me. Is there something lacking in these folks that it never once occurs to them to take some action themselves to try to improve their own situation, to organize their neighbors into working together? I wonder about that when I hear of places in Africa with no water. Some American charitable group has to come in a dig a well for them. Why didn't these folks think of digging a well themselves?     

[Smokin Joe]

Agree, Salvation Army or Samaritan's Purse are legit organizations that actually help people in disaster areas. Contributions should go there, not ARC.This never ceases to amaze me. Is there something lacking in these folks that it never once occurs to them to take some action themselves to try to improve their own situation, to organize their neighbors into working together? I wonder about that when I hear of places in Africa with no water. Some American charitable group has to come in a dig a well for them. Why didn't these folks think of digging a well themselves?   

If you look at Haiti on google Earth (and compare it to the Dominican Republic, for instance) you will see the island stripped of most serious vegetation. I would expect fairly primitive sanitation in most places, also, and the surface geology may preclude digging wells which provide clean water. The place has been a mess since Papa Doc. Socialism at it's finest.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Just like guberment: CEO's and administrators get most of the money. People in need get nothing.

[verga]

Is there something lacking in these folks that it never once occurs to them to take some action themselves to try to improve their own situation, to organize their neighbors into working together? I wonder about that when I hear of places in Africa with no water. Some American charitable group has to come in a dig a well for them. Why didn't these folks think of digging a well themselves?   

I can recall Comedian Sam Kinison talking about the famine in Ethiopia years ago the gist of his comments were "Pick up what ever you have and MOVE!" He was a pretty foul human being, but he did have some common sense.
Years ago when I lived up north there was a freak Ice storm that knocked down a bunch of trees and branches. I lived on the road that lead to the only hospital for miles around and the road was seriously blocked. We knew the DPW was going to have their hands full just to get to us, so my neighbor who was in his 70's at the time got out our chain saws and got the road cleared. Just as we finished the guys from the DPW pulled and and  wee able to have a fairly straight run to plow and salt the road.
If you live in a small town you know you have to pitch in from time to time and also you know you have to do for yourself when the need arises.

[mountaineer]

If you live in a small town you know you have to pitch in from time to time and also you know you have to do for yourself when the need arises.

Same here. Whenever we have a particularly bad wind storm, neighbors go out with chain saws and muscle to clear the roads of downed trees. Just imagine if we had to wait for the gubmint or the U.N. to take care of us!

[Oceander]

To be fair, building a sanitation system of a fresh water delivery system takes a lot more resources than sawing up downed trees or plowing roads.  The same with building houses; these people are generally too poor to go out and buy materials for an American-style home.  What they have is usually what they have built with their own efforts, using the only materials they can scrounge up (often from waste dumps or, to be honest, pilfered from building sites).