In the wake of the terrible earthquake in Haiti, we are all moved to reach out in whatever way we can to people suffering devastation. Here are some ideas.

Learn about Haiti's history and about U.S. policy (this will be unsettling reading!):

from books:

Tracy Kidder, Mountains Beyond Mountains 

Paul Farmer, The Uses of Haiti

Peter Hallward, Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide, and the Politics of Containment 

Jean-Bertrand Aristide, In the Parish of the Poor

Randall Robinson, An Unbroken Agony: Haiti from Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President

from advocacy websites (for recent developments): 

The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti

Haiti Action Network

Pray for the Haitian people

Donate: currently the massive need requires that aid flow through established organizations like 

The American Red Cross

Episcopal Relief and Development 

UNICEF

--and organizations with proven track records of delivering just and needed care, like 

Doctors without Borders and

Partners in Health

Note: Haiti is one of the most "missionized" nations in the world--and much of the money given to small private "missions" goes to support "missionaries," not the poor who need it. Right now Haitians do NOT need 

• a lot of American church groups flying in to "help"
• donations of used clothing ("Pepe," the Haitians call it)
• imported U.S. rice (which undermines the Haitian agricultural economy)

advocate much needed change in policy toward Haiti: join

The Episcopal Public Policy Network (subscribe free for important news and action alerts)