PORTLAND, Maine — Perry Newman is about one year into his job as executive director of Konbit Sante, a nonprofit based in Maine whose mission is to support a sustainable healthcare system in Cap-Haitien, the second largest city in Haiti. There is no end to the challenges.
Haiti is a desperately poor nation where the national government has all but collapsed. In Port-au-Prince, the New York Times reports, "gangs took over much of the capital earlier this year, kidnapping and killing civilians and attacking entire neighborhoods."
Some 400 law enforcement officers from Kenya arrived in Port-au-Prince today, with about 2,000 more to follow. The hope is they can retake ports, highways, hospitals, and other institutions now controlled by dozens of gangs.
In Cap-Haitien, which is roughly a four-hour drive north from Port-au-Prince, everyday life is less grim.
"Fortunately for all of us, it's quite different up north and quite different in Cap-Haitien," Newman said. "There are not the same situations with gangs, no marauding vigilantes going through town. It has the reputation of being a quieter community, and it is. That said, the normal difficulties of working in Haiti exist."
Those difficulties are formidable. Among them: a lack of infrastructure, potable water, reliable electricity, a functioning central government. The list goes on.
And yet, Konbit Sante does not yield to pessimism. The clinics and hospitals it supports make a real difference in people's lives, providing health care to hundreds of Haitians each month.
"It's really extraordinary, the breadth and depth of the reach," Newman said. "And I should say it's our partners who do the hands-on work of tending to these people."
Konbit Sante is now in the middle of a fundraising drive. Watch our interview to learn more about it and the organization's work.