February 4, 2010
By José Luis Soto, Member, WACC-Caribe (translation by Cándida González-López, Vice-Chair, WACC-Caribe)

Since the we were alerted about the 7.1 earthquake that shook Haiti January 12, we have continued to receive and disseminate news about this devastating tragedy.

Mobilization to follow up the news was immediate. Each and every member of WACC-Caribe and WACC Global responded. In the beginning we wanted to learn about the well-being of the personal members of our organization, but also about the conditions of the partner communication institutions with whom WACC Global has worked for more than two decades. It was then that in the Dominican Republic, for example, we took the initiative of locating our colleagues and members of WACC-Caribe in Haiti. José Luis Soto reporting from Haiti

The task has not been an easy one. We still have not been able to locate several colleagues: Doctor Herold Toussaint, Herold Jean François, and Franklin Pierre and, in fact, we still have very little information about the institutional member organizations.

We have information about the total destruction of the office of Groupe Medialternatif and of the Sosyete Animasyon Kominikasyon Sosyal (SAKS), but we still need to find out about 9 organizations affiliated to WACC. This is a commitment of solidarity and communication with our personal and institutional colleagues on the part of a global organization working for social change, love and service to the poor of this world.

We have had Haiti in our hearts before and after the earthquake. This has been a commitment of WACC-Caribe's members. We thank those who have been continuously communicating their solidarity with our colleagues in Haiti, in particular we thank ur President, Dennis Smith, the vice chair of WACC-Caribe, Cándida González-López, and staff at the WACC headquarters who have been following the tragedy of our sister Haitian nation and communicating regularly through their website.

This is a continuing challenge but we are inspired to help Haiti reconstruct its society and especially to rebuild its community communications.

José Luis Soto is a personal member of WACC as well as the Director of Espacinsular, a WACC partner news network based in Dominican Republic.

Meanwhile, a long time project partner of WACC, SAKS (Sosyete Animasyon Kominikasyon Sosyal – Society for the Animation of Social Communication), a small non-profit that works with community radios and promotes popular communication in Haiti has launched a series of video dispatches chronicling latest updates in the country.

World Alliance for Christian Communication