Content Profile
Fritz Gutwein
Bio
Fritz Gutwein is currently a Co-Director at the Quixote Center and Coordinator of our Haiti Reborn Program. Prior to joining the Quixote Fritz was Field Coordinator of the Climate and Energy Campaign of the National Council of Churches, Farm Bill Reform Organizer for the Presbyterian Hunger Program (USA), and Director of Crossroads Ministry of St. William Catholic Church in Louisville, Kentucky. An ordained Baptist minister and Presbyterian elder, Fritz is educated in international and religious studies from the University of South Florida and theology and ethics from Southern Seminary. His travels to Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa as well as his experience as a therapeutic foster parent have opened Fritz’s eyes to the needs of people living in poverty and have helped to make the spiritual practice of doing justice his life’s passion. He's also learning to transition from being a Tampa and Louisville based sports fan to a DC one. Hence the Rays cap.
Content Created by Fritz Gutwein
Press Release from Initiative for a New Haiti
Mon, 03/08/2010 - 11:40am | 
Since the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti the Quixote Center has been working closely with the newly formed Haiti Response Coalition. Within days the HRC was able to get supplies and medical teams in Jacmel ahead of much larger NGOs and developed a distribution system in Port-au-Prince (PAP) to deliver food and supplies to 19 camps in the area.
Below is a press release from a two-day meeting in PAP where over 100 Haitian leaders developed a plan known as "Initiative for a New Haiti".
Check back at quixote.org as more reports from this important meeting are available.
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After the great and incomparable earthquake hit the country of Haiti, on January 12, 2010, more than three hundred thousand (300,000) people, from all areas and of all ages, died. State infrastructure and all its institutions have been destroyed. Many have been wounded or have become handicapped. Many are hopeless. People have lost family members, their possessions, money, and work.
When we look at the absence of the state, the inadequate manner in which aid is being distributed, it has diminished our sense of dignity even more as people. Where only strangers who do not fully share our interests are managing emergency aid, where many Haitians are not confident in the people and the manner in which aid is being distributed, a coalition gathered a group of Haitians from all social aspects and from all organized sectors, who desire to become one, to reconstruct their country. On February 23 and 24, 2010, at the historic park “Parc Historique de la Canne A Sucre,” these individuals met to come up with good solutions and answers, which will be good for all those in the country for the moment, for the days to come, and the future.
Tags: Canada's Flaherty: Haiti needs a break on its debt Reuters
IQALUIT, Canada (Reuters) – Group of Seven countries have told earthquake-ravaged Haiti that any debts it owes them needn't be repaid and international lenders should do the same, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Saturday.
"The debt to multilateral institutions should be forgiven and we'll work with these institutions and other partners to make this happen as soon as possible," Flaherty said at press conference closing a two-day gathering of finance ministers from the G7 industrialized nations.
Read the entire article here.
Treasury Announces Support to Cancel Haiti's Debt and Provide Grants, Not Loans for Recovery
Jubilee USA Welcomes US Government Support of Haiti Debt Cancellation
As G7 Finance Ministers Prepare to Meet, Treasury Secretary Geithner Announces Support to Cancel Debt and Provide Grants, Not Loans for Recovery
For Immediate Release February 5th
Jubilee USA Network
Members of Congress Urge Debt Cancellation for Haiti
Ahead of G-7 Finance Ministers Meeting, 94 Members of Congress Urge Treasury Secretary Geithner to Cancel Haiti’s Debt, Provide Grants instead of Loans for Recovery
For Immediate Release February 4, 2010
Jubilee USA Network
As Finance Ministers from the Group of Seven prepare to meet tomorrow in Canada, pressure grows for the leaders to commit to definitive cancellation of Haiti’s debts to international institutions.
Open Letter to Congress on Delays in Aid to Haiti
Dear Members of the United States Congress,
The outpouring of aid from U.S. citizens and their government to Haiti in the wake of this immense catastrophe has been important and welcome. However, it is also clear that there have been serious mistakes that have unnecessarily delayed the delivery of medical supplies, water, and other life-saving materials.
Currently, there are major shortages reported of food, tents, and water.
The most costly unnecessary delays had until recently been in the area of medical supplies.
An Open Letter to David Brooks
Our good friends at the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti have organized a public letter to David Brooks' awful column last week on Haiti. Please read the response and add your signature to the letter.
First Medical Relief Team Arrives in Jacmel, Haiti
One week after the devestating 7.0 earthquake that has devasted Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other communities, the first medical relief team of foreign surgeons landed in Jacmel. Here is the initial report from Karen Carr of the Community Coalition for Haiti. For more information on the situation in Jacmel, see this report in the Miami Herald.
KOFAVIV Earthquake Report
KOFAVIV, The Commission of Women Victims for Victims, sent this message via Melinda Miles on January 18, 2010. It was written by Eramithe Delva and Malya Vaillard.
Haiti Earthquake: Less than 100 Hours In
It's hard to believe the quake that has decimated Port-au-Prince and impacted over 3 million people was less than 100 hours ago.
These are long days for us in the States with loved ones in Haiti but they are even longer days and night for those in Port-au-Prince and throughout Haiti.
The Haitian Earthquake in Pictures
The Boston Globe tells day one of the terrible story of the Haitian Earthquake through pictures.
National Palace Collapses in Haiti
We are continung to get updates on the extensive damage in Haiti and specifically Port au Prince.
Major Earthquake Hits Haiti, Report from Gros Morne
A powerful 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti Tuesday afternoon around 5:00 p.m. The epicenter was just 10 miles west of Port au Prince, Haiti's most densely populated city. Initial reports indicate major damage to infrastructure including collapse of hospitals, schools and government buildings. Phone service is out in much of the country making communication, damage assessment and response efforts difficult.
Haiti: Elections Without Voters
Melinda Miles, Executive Director of KONPAY and former Co-Director at the Quixote Center authors this analysis of the current electoral situation regarding the upcoming elections in Haiti.
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Elections Without Voters
Eroding Participation in Haiti
January 11, 2010
Twenty years after its first democratic elections, Haiti is preparing for a vote to fill all but one seat in its Chamber of Deputies and ten of its thirty Senate seats. However, as the election date of February 28 rapidly approaches, the United States and other donor countries should withhold funding and observers from what is shaping up to be a selection rather than an election.
Recent reports and statements about the elections have focused on one key issue that is likely to undermine the election: The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), appointed by President Rene Preval, has excluded fifteen political parties from fielding candidates in the February contest. However, even if these parties are included in the election, the disenfranchisement of the majority of Haitians will still render the results of the election invalid.
AP: 225,000 Haitian Children Work as Slaves
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Poverty has forced at least 225,000 children in Haiti's cities into slavery as unpaid household servants, far more than previously thought, a report said Tuesday.
The Pan American Development Foundation's report also said some of those children — mostly young girls — suffer sexual, psychological and physical abuse while toiling in extreme hardship.
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/12/22/3664916-report-says-225000-hait...
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