Since 2008, the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation has committed its resources and manpower to helping the people of Haiti through projects and applications parallel with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations set in the year 2000. Although projects began in 2008, aid efforts were increased in 2010 in the wake of the Haitian earthquake of that year. Because of the devastation and damage caused by the earthquake in 2010, relief and aid efforts extended beyond short-term emergency aid to mid to long term projects, which in turn effectuated all 8 of the United Nations’ MDGs. As an international humanitarian aid and relief NGO, the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation aligns itself with all of the MDGs, and as such, implements projects and programs which fall in line with the MDGs, and to an extent the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although Tzu Chi sought and successfully implemented projects which fulfilled all 8 of the MDGs, the primary focused MDGs were on MDG 1, which is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, and also MDG 6, combating HIV/AIDs, Malaria, and other diseases.
In support of MDG 6, Tzu Chi holds preventive education classes in conjunction with medical outreaches in Haiti. In 2011 after a year of emergency relief, Tzu Chi’s needs assessment showed that because of the effects on local communities, in particular sanitation and accessing resources, preventable diseases increased. As a response to this assessment, Tzu Chi held preventive education classes in Haiti, the first was held in February 2011 with more 110 participants.
Alongside preventive education projects, Tzu Chi also holds medical outreaches in Haiti, the most recent in July of 2014, which saw more than 600 patients. Since the earthquake in 2010 and the initial emergency disaster relief period, Tzu Chi has held medical outreaches both with and without external collaborative partners, including local hospitals; and since the earthquake, Tzu Chi, through mostly the implemented medical outreach, has provided medical services, such as general medicine, oriental medicine, dental services, and chiropractic care, to approximately 16,500 patients. It was during these outreaches that Tzu Chi’s medical volunteers discovered that most patients suffer from malnutrition (especially children), skin conditions (due to poor water sanitation), respiratory conditions, communicable diseases, and dehydration.
In addition to aid and distribution, Tzu Chi has also undertaken development projects in the form of school construction and reconstruction, and also of environmental awareness and sustainability, both of which are included in the MDGs, and they are goals 2 and 7, the achievement of universal primary education and ensuring environmental sustainability, respectively. The focus has been on the reconstruction projects of the College Mary Ann, Christ the King Secretarial School, and Durocher Kindergarten. The construction for all three schools were completed in 2013 and 2014, enrolling up to 2000 students in the three schools, which together has a total of 49 classrooms. Although the World Food Programme (WFP) states, “Persistent chronic poverty and inequality, environmental degradation and continuing political uncertainty threaten achievements Haitians have made over the past five years,” for these students attending the schools, they can obtain not only primary education but food resources as well.
It is also in these reconstructed schools, the various education classes targeted for adults, and the medical outreaches that Tzu Chi promotes environmental sustainability, the most notable being the Moringa Tree planting program, which fulfills MDG 7, and to an extent, 1 as well. Tzu Chi established its first Moringa nursery in Pierre Payen in June 2011. Over 30,000 seedlings were produced and distributed within the first year. After the success in Pierre Payen, Tzu Chi has founded two Moringa Great Love Farms: one in Sibert in December 2011 and another in Cite Soleil in September 2012.
Although the provision the provision of health care and educational support is crucial, food aid still ranks at the top of Haiti’s needs.
“Today, some three million Haitians remain unsure where their next meal will come from. To provide them the essential food they require, about $28 million will be needed in 2015” World Food Programme.
The strongest projects parallel to MDG 1 are the food distributions in Haiti, which Tzu Chi has implemented since 2010 and most recently in December 2014. In the most recent distribution, Tzu Chi distributed rice as well as implemented the “Cash for Relief” program where the local community population are empowered and given the opportunity to not only provide aid and relief to their own community, but also receive cash incentives for doing so. The food distributions by Tzu Chi to help eradicate extreme hunger, and to an extent, poverty, saw the distribution of an estimated total of more than 300 tons of pre-cooked and non pre-cooked rice, 30 tons of noodles, and 150 tons of corn powder over the span of 5 years. Alongside the provision of food, Tzu Chi also distributed over 15,000 pieces of used clothing, up to 30,000 blankets made from recycled PET bottles, and reusable plastic bowls and utensils as well.
In addition to the food, clothing, and material supply aid provided to the Haitian people, Tzu Chi, beginning 2014, has also began to deliver and portable beds so that, in the flood relief for instance, individuals do not have to sleep on the ground. These provisions are all representative of the dedication and care that Tzu Chi and Dharma Master Cheng Yen has for Haiti; and with that, Tzu Chi will continue to stand by the Haiti and provide aid for its people.