Matthew Reconstruction, Les Cayes

I am Scott Millslagle. Over the past six years I have lived in, worked in, and become a student of Haiti. When hurricane Mathew hit I was conducting ethnographic field work for my graduate thesis at an orphanage in Les Cayes. My research is aimed at understanding how youth and directors at an orphanage perceive and understand the aid and help that they receive from aid organizations, missionaries, and individuals who work with them.

Many international aid organizations are currently landing in Haiti to provide immediate relief to folks affected by hurricane Mathew. While this relief is needed and beneficial, it doesn't always reach folks who truly need it, and it may not be what they identify as high priority needs. This is because relief support is meant to get people through the present; it is meant to satisfy urgent and immediate needs. However, relief is not sustainable and it isn't going to improve people's livelihoods in the long run. Most importantly, folks are not asked what they need - they are given what relief and aid organizations, as well as foreign governments, package and fly into disaster zones.

Some people don't have the means or ability to actively pursue aid that doesn't directly come to them, some don't have personal connections that expedite the delivery of aid, and then there are those who seek aid but never receive it, or receive things they don't need. In an effort to contribute to the long and time consuming process of working with folks to rebuild their homes and lives after the earthquake, I have decided to create this GoFundMe page so that I can work with folks so that they can get the things they identify as their high priority and or long term needs.

I will continue to reach out to people in the communities I have either lived in, worked in, or visited over the past 6 years.