“It is very encouraging to see we are not so cynical that we have lost the human touch to care about people we do not know…” said Minister of Human Services, Priya Manickchand. Manickchand – the chair of the Guyana National Committee for Haiti Relief said she liked the response thus far. Emanating from the pledges made on Thursday night, several individuals and companies fulfilled their pledges yesterday with more being made.
Among the larger donations, the minister disclosed, is the New Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation – which has pledged $6 million in pharmaceuticals; the Pomeroon Oil Mill – $500,000 in oil; Banks DIH- two containers with biscuits and other items; and Courts – which undertook several initiatives including using the store as a collection point for dry foods and clothing and a soon-to-be-announced promotion. The Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry has also pledged a donation while the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association yesterday handed over a cheque for $500,000.
Meantime, in a statement yesterday, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) said that it has made a donation of $600,000 to the Haiti Relief Committee. “The federation…was moved to collect and contribute this sum for its affiliates as little persuasion was needed in the face of the horrific devastation by the earthquake in the already depressed Caricom sister country,” FITUG said. It noted that there is the possibility that either individually or collectively some further donation might be forthcoming from the trade union body. “FITUG mourns with the survivors of Haiti but will lobby for long-term continuous reconstruction of that Caribbean state, even after the current relief and rescue operations are completed,” it added.
Telecommunications company, Digicel has also launched a text and voice donation line to allow its customers worldwide to contribute to humanitarian efforts in Haiti. In a press release the Digicel Group said it launched the programme on Thursday. It said its more than 10 million customers worldwide can donate by texting the word ‘HELP’ or calling a short code across its 32 markets to contribute. The company said all funds it receives from the text and voice donation line will be given to support relief efforts in Haiti. It said too there are no restrictions to the number of text and voice donations a customer can send or make.
Caribbean and Central American nationals living in the Diaspora can also participate by topping up the Digicel number +1 876 295 0000 in select Digicel top up retail stores in the US, UK, the Bahamas, Canada, the French West Indies and the Turks and Caicos or via Digicel Online Top Up systems with the amount of money to donate. Digicel will send the money directly to its NGO partners in Haiti.
According to the release 15 countries including Guyana are involved in the effort. In Guyana, the short/long code is 1133 and the cost is $80. Digicel has already donated US$5 million for urgent relief efforts in Haiti and up to yesterday on its DigicelGuyana twitter page, it said that it had raised over US$70,000 for relief efforts from people donating via calls and text.
Meantime, with a Caricom team in the devastated island nation on a fact-finding mission yesterday, the manner in which Guyana’s aid will be transferred to Haiti will be determined following the visit, Manickchand said. She noted that the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) is co-coordinating the regional response and an assessment team was in Haiti yesterday and by today, they will know the requirements and act accordingly.
Guyana has already pledged US$1 million to aid Haiti and the cheque was handed over to the committee on Thursday. President Bharrat Jagdeo has urged Guyanese to be generous in helping Haiti, whose capital Port-au-Prince was flattened following the catastrophic earthquake on Tuesday.
Those desirous of contributing can do so to the National Committee for Guyana’s Assistance to Haiti by calling telephone number 226-4080 or by making a deposit at any branch of Republic Bank, account number 119-900-9.
