The Martlet

UVic staff and students were quick to open their wallets in the wake of a massive earthquake that devastated Haiti on Jan. 12.

A day after the quake, the UVic Global Water Brigade put on a bake sale in the Clearihue lobby and raised over $600, with people still donating well after the food had run out.

“We felt compelled to do something substantial to be of service to them,” said brigade member Lara Miramontes.

“Students, faculty members and staff crowded the table and emptied their pockets. Many commented that they had wanted to help, but didn’t know how, or that they didn’t have $50 — often the minimum suggested donation to give to aid organizations online.”

The group had originally planned to use the bake sale to raise money for their upcoming trip to Honduras, where they intend help a rural village find clean water solutions like a well, pipeline or rain-catching unit.

Members are responsible for paying for their own transportation and accommodation, as well as the project costs itself — which they estimate at $2,500.

All the proceeds from the fundraiser will instead be donated to Doctors without Borders (MSF) for their work in Haiti.

“Wednesday night, as planned, we all made cookies and brownies to support our community development cause,” said Miramontes.

“By Thursday morning, we had reached a consensus: the UVic Global Water Brigades bake sale would be reshaped to benefit relief efforts in Haiti.”

Following the bake sale, members of the brigade solicited donations from friends and family to bring the total donation to $1,000.

The donation will be doubled, thanks to a pledge by the federal government to match all donations made by Canadians.

Over 700 national and international staff from MSF are currently working in Haiti, according to a Jan. 19 video release. MSF is still looking for some of its own permanent staff who were located in Haiti.

MSF self-describes as an international medical humanitarian organization. Created by doctors and journalists in 1971, their mandate includes both providing neutral medical care to those who need it most, and bearing witness to circumstances — often of atrocity, violence, and neglect — in the places they work.

The organization calls Haiti’s current situation an “unprecedented challenge.”

Haiti is the poorest western member state in the United Nations (UN). According to UN calculations, the earthquake left one third of Haiti’s nine million occupants homeless and in need of aid.

The UVic Global Water Brigade is a secular, not-for-profit group that is part of the international aid group, Global Brigades.

Ten of its members will travel to a rural part of Honduras in February to implement a sustainable water project.

“Although our group is committed to clean water solutions in Honduras, we know your donations could not have gone to a more important place than Haiti at this time,” said Miramontes.

“Thank you everyone for your earnest, big-hearted and timely support.”