Groups come together in Scarborough to help Haiti

MIKE ADLER

January 25, 2010

When you think of Haiti, don't focus on banditry, looting or other horrific images the world has seen since the Jan. 12 earthquake.

Instead, admire the resilience of the Haitian people, who are "rising up and trying to rebuild with whatever they have," Matt Capobianco of GlobalMedic told a gathering of community leaders in a Scarborough restaurant Friday, Jan. 22, morning.

The Etobicoke man, a manager for emergency services volunteers who are in Haiti providing clean water and medical care, said doctors there were forced to do amputations without anesthetic, but a nine-year-old suffered the loss of her hand with courage.

"The entire time the little girl was singing hymns."

GlobalMedic was one of several relief agencies at Star Walk Buffet Friday urging all Canadians to keep up an intense level of support for Haiti, a country they said will need long-term commitments, planning and fresh ideas to recover.

Many at the meeting were from ethnic communities who benefitted from Canadian generosity after other calamities devastated their homelands.

Scarborough-Agincourt MP Jim Karygiannis, who called them together as a "round table" on relief for Haiti, said it was time to return the favour.

"You have felt the earthquakes, you have felt disasters," said the Liberal MP. "The rest of the community went to your aid. Now it's time to go to their aid."

Haiti is still in chaos and "there are oceans of people" needing help, said Dr. Aslam Daud, chairperson of Humanity First Canada, a Vaughan-based group of volunteers with one medical team in the Caribbean country and another on the way.

"You just step out on the road and you will find them."

Toronto's International Development and Relief Foundation has a team going to Haiti to perform surgeries and provide rehabilitation for people injured in the disaster, "so they are not left on the sidewalks when everyone has gone," said Penny Fancy, the group's resource development director.

Sam Sotiropoulos, a local executive, said he would act as liaison for any community group who wanted to plan or promote a fund-raising event for Haiti, and that he can be reached through Karygiannis's office.

Toronto public school board trustee Soo Wong said every school in her district is raising money, with no donation considered too small.

Wong asked the media to be sensitive, however, in describing Haiti, saying social workers and psychologists are in schools helping children disturbed by images from the disaster zone. "These pictures, these stories being told, have significant post-traumatic stress on our students," she said.