Message from Maggie Austin – Former Executive Director at Konbit for Haiti

In addition to providing relief to the people of Haiti, our mission guides us to build capacity for the South Florida Haitian community. In the aftermath of the earthquake the outpouring of support from across the world was extremely generous and the response of Haitians living abroad and local organizations has been astounding. The Haitian Diaspora represents a critical force for the country’s reconstruction. With an estimated 87% of Haitian professionals living in the United States, the pool of Haitian Diaspora offers diverse expertise.

Prior to the earthquake, Haitians sent over $1.2 billion per year to Haiti in remittances, more than double the values of Haiti’s export economy.  Networks of Haitian Americans have existed for many years in the U.S., but the earthquake has brought the significance of these networks to the forefront. It’s clear that there’s enormous potential for mobilizing this interest among the Haitian Diaspora and wider solidarity movement to take part in Haiti’s reconstruction process and in supporting the people of Haiti.

Konbit offers considerable capacity to the efforts to continue the meaningful engagement of the Haitian Diaspora and the wider range of diverse organizations in the relief and rebuild process as well as policy issues pertaining to Haiti. In addition to our collaborative efforts with the Haitian American professional organizations and the numerous Haiti Hometown Associations, Konbit will be holding advocacy and leadership development workshops for community members. Konbit will build upon the capacity and generosity of its partners and allies to continue to engage the Haitian Diaspora in Southern Florida, and to extend the Konbit model to other U.S. cities with a significant Haitian population.