Partners In Health is not a disasterresponse agency. But years of investment in training community leaders on the ground and marshaling local and outside expertise put this Boston-based organization in a prime position to help after the catastrophic January earthquake in Haiti. Executive Director Ophelia Dahl CE/DS ’94 discusses PIH’s work in the Caribbean nation since the disaster and looks ahead at Haiti’s future.
A WAY A WAY FORWARD FORWARD FOR HAITI FOR HAITI
When the 7.0 magnitude earthquake destroyed
most of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, on Jan. 12, Boston-based Partners In Health became a leader in responding to the disaster.
Ophelia Dahl CE/DS ’94, a cofounder of PIH and its executive director, says in the months since, there has been no shortage of generosity from people and organizations wanting to
By Amy Mayer ’94
help. But ensuring that the Haitian government receives aid, in addition to the estimated 10,000 nongovernmental organizations in Haiti that have been deluged with donations, remains a challenge. Further, Dahl says that Haiti was never properly built in the first place, and that “rebuilding” Port-au-Prince essentially constitutes building it—right—for the first time. That task, she says, “is hard, though not impossible.” Wellesley magazine spoke with Dahl three months after the quake.
26
Wellesley Summer 2010