Remember Haiti?
Remember the tremendous international effort to help earlier this year after an earthquake devastated the capital, Port au Prince?
Remember who was first to set up a field hospital? The Israel Defence Force medical team.
The IDF has gone but IsraAid, the Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid has been there since January and have recently sent another team to assess the cholera risk following a hurricane which the embattled people of Haiti recently suffered.
The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports:
The team is preparing to meet the cholera outbreak which threatens to reach Port au Prince and its outskirts causing the death of over 200 people. IsraAID medical staff on the ground have been attending UN meetings to discuss the affect of the cholera on its Israeli aid programs in the region.
The team will gauge the impact of ongoing projects undertaken by two IsraAID member organizations – Tevel B’Tzedek and the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development (NISPED).
IsraAID has had Israeli staff on the ground in Haiti since January 16 – four days after the earthquake. Over this ten-month period, IsraAID teams have provided various essential services to thousands affected by the earthquake, including emergency medical treatment, primary family medical care, medical rehabilitation, informal education, food production, women empowerment and children safe-spaces programs.
From Haiti the team will travel to New Orleans to participate in November’s upcoming General Assembly in New Orleans. IsraAID will bring to the Assembly one of the IDF medical tents that was used in Haiti. The tent was then donated to IsraAID, which turned it into the first official school operating in the camps of Port au Prince, Haiti.
Israel once again punching above its weight.