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On the afternoon of January 12, 2010, a One of the early forms of this long-term
7.0-magnitude earthquake struck just twenty- support was the series of Food for Work projects
five miles west of densely populated Port-au- held between February and April 2010, through
Prince. Between the initial quake and the fifty which nearly four thousand local Haitians
major aftershocks that followed in the next two received hot meals in exchange for cleaning Hope Rises from the Rubble
weeks, three hundred thousand were killed, their own neighborhoods.
1.5 million were left homeless, and a full three
million—one third of the entire population— Beginning in March 2010, Tzu Chi provided
were affected in some way. guidance, funding, and food for a temporary
school initiated by local volunteer Jean Denis
Emphasizing timeliness—one of Tzu Chi’s Petit Pha that took 120 students out from the
five disaster relief principles—volunteers rubble and put them back into classrooms. After
wasted no time in offering their assistance. local schools reopened that fall, the temporary
An emergency coordination center was school grew into the Happy Campus Program,
immediately set up at Tzu Chi USA Headquarters an ongoing project through which Tzu Chi
and volunteers across the country started now supports more than two hundred students
street fundraising the very next weekend. After at three primary schools by paying tuition,
ensuring the situation in Port-au-Prince was providing tutoring and nutritious vegetarian
sufficiently safe, then-CEO William Keh led a meals, and visiting students’ families to stress
group of volunteers into Haiti on January 21, the importance of education and address
just nine days after the quake. As the airport in individual needs.
Port-au-Prince was overloaded with incoming
relief supplies, this first of many volunteer Building on relationships forged in
groups traveled overland from neighboring the aftermath of the quake, Tzu Chi and the
Dominican Republic. Montreal-based Congregation of the Sisters
of St. Anne broke ground on Christ the King
During the immediate relief period, Secretarial School and Collège Marie-Anne
generous donors in 36 countries contributed primary and secondary schools on January 21,
funds while 262 volunteers paid their own 2012, and celebrated their reopening on May 17,
way to Port-au-Prince to hold 84 distributions 2013. Newly rebuilt, these schools will continue
that benefited 196,411 people with more than to serve hundreds of Haiti’s best and brightest
110 tons of instant corn powder, nearly 80 young students. On October 26, 2012, Tzu Chi
tons of instant rice, and nearly 6,000 tents and and the National Association of Guides in Haiti
40,000 tarps, among other goods. In addition to jointly broke ground on Centre Préscolaire
material relief, medical volunteers held a series Carmen René Durocher. When completed in
of free clinics, in which 73 volunteer doctors late 2013, it will again serve as a beacon of hope
treated more than 15,000 Haitians with both for its local community.
general and alternative medical treatments, as
well as dental and chiropractic care. Since 2011, local Tzu Chi volunteers have
also tended an orchard outside Port-au-Prince
Tzu Chi’s international disaster relief where they grow, distribute, and promote
motto is “first to arrive, last to leave.” Even moringa—an exceptionally nutritious and
when immediate relief ended in May 2010, drought-resistant tree that offers solutions to
volunteers remained committed to the work the plagues of malnutrition and deforestation.
still to be done. Understanding that Haiti’s Like the Happy Campus Program, the orchard
deep-rooted difficulties call for thorough and is entirely operated by local Haitian volunteers.
lasting solutions, Tzu Chi volunteers slowly They also exchange knowledge and expertise
transitioned to a long-term focus on sowing on moringa with others, such as the Cité Soleil
seeds of goodness by encouraging locals to community organization SAKALA and local
take on projects with a volunteer spirit while philanthropist Michaelle Saint-Natus, in order
supporting them with food, funding, and to reach more communities with this valuable
administrative support. resource.

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