KOMBIT! Coming together for Haiti: A community gathering and fundraiser

Organized by Toronto Haiti Action Committee, CUPE Ontario Racial Justice Committee, CUPE Ontario International Solidarity Committee and Toronto Forum on Cuba.

Sponsored by Latin American Solidarity Network and CUPE Local 2191.

Dinner served until 9pm.

Tickets: $20 (includes delicious dinner with vegetarian or non-vegetarian option).

Solidarty messages and Live Performances by CUPE Freedom Singers, Jacques Saint-Phard, MC Mohammad Ali, Ronald Charles, Jill Donaldson. DJ dance party to follow!

Although the surge of disaster reporting from the January 12th earthquake in Haiti has ended and the major television crews have departed, the devastation continues and Haiti remains in crisis. Even two months after the earthquake, a large percentage of the most vulnerable people are in desperate need of shelter, food and medecine, with only one quarter of an estimated 1.2 million made homeless having received emergency shelter. The over 250,00 dead and many thousands more injured is not only indicative of the failure of the current "international aid" response, structured by military occupation and a paternalistic "charity" model of assistance - but of the legacy of over a century of deliberate impoverishment and decadades of neoliberal disempowerment of the country.

Hope for the future of Haiti rests with the Haitian people, and in their demonstrated history of resistance and ability to rebound and rebuild. Even during the unprecedented suffering from the current catastrophe, the spirit of Haitians has remained strong, as has been shown in the ordinary citizens who dug out their family members with their bare hands, adopted children who lost their parents, housed the homeless, led the rescue efforts and treated the wounded.

All the funds raised will be donated to "Partners in Health" (PIH), [3]a pioneering health organization based for more than 20 years in the Central Plateau in Haiti. Prior to the earthquake it had been delivering health care to a population area of one million people, including education and training of Haitians as doctors and health professionals. Since the earthquake, PIH has been mobilizing emergency relief to affected areas throughout the country. PIH presents a model of non-governmental organization (NGO) engagement because Haitians lead the operations on the ground (based on fair wages), operates alongside the Ministry of Health and is committed to strengtheing Haiti's public health care sector.

For more information or to purchase advance tickets, e-mail us.

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