During the following weeks and months, I felt an acute desire to continue to help Haiti. By this time I had relocated to Washington, D.C. and taken a job working for a member of Congress. Although my office was heavily involved in Haitian and Caribbean affairs, I still wanted to do more. My three best friends in D.C., as it turned out, were also Peace Corps volunteers who had served in Haiti. We quickly discovered that we all longed to continue to help Haiti, and soon formed a group to stage fundraisers for initiatives in health and disaster relief.

Through contacts in the International Red Cross and other health organizations, we began to throw fundraisers. We raised thousands of dollars for a measles vaccination campaign, to build a hospital, and for flood relief. As an informal group, however, we faced many limitations.

In January of this year, through the help of friends, family, and other former Peace Corps volunteers, we organized formally to create Haiti Innovation, Inc., a nonprofit volunteer organization to help Haiti. Our unique experiences as volunteers, as well as our careers in Washington, D.C., provided us access to parties interested in international development. Through the use of our web site, we connect thousands of potential donors to developmentally appropriate projects that need help in order to sustain themselves and grow.

While Haiti continues to fall further into privation, loans from the international community will scarcely remedy its problems. It will only be through sustained work in educating and empowering the people of Haiti that lasting success will be achieved.

As one last sell, please visit us at www.haitiinnovation.org.

Robert Miller
Economics (BA ’02)