Our partners in health: Urban Walk for Haiti, strolling activists

Participants at the Urban Walk for Haiti in 2007.

A three-mile walk through the streets of Cambridge, MA, on Saturday, March 27, will help change the lives for school children displaced by the January 12 earthquake. This year’s 7th annual Urban Walk for Haiti is dedicated to raising money for primary and secondary students at the Ecole Bon Sauveur school in Cange, which is located at a medical facility operated by PIH and and Zanmi Lasante (ZL), PIH’s partner organization in Haiti.

“The [annual cost] of providing tuition, uniforms, books, and one meal a day for one student is $300-$350, something that one walker could raise and feel proud about,” says Walk committee member Karen Fritsche. “Since the Walk has many students and teachers who are walking, the goal of education was appealing to them.”

Organized by a group of high school students, community activists, and now in partnership with Cambridge Mayor’s office and the Councilors of the City, the Walk brings awareness of the desperate situation faced by millions of Haitians forced to live with homelessness, hunger pains, HIV/AIDS, malaria, unsanitary water supplies, and other dire circumstances caused by poverty. In light of the January 12 earthquake—a devastating event that left 230,000 people dead, 300,000 injured, and 1.3 million people homeless, Haiti needs support from the international community now more than ever before.

“[Haiti’s] people are determined…to see their country rise up from past tragedies, including the devastation of the earthquake,” says Gerald McElroy, a member of the Walk committee. “The Walk is meant to harness the energy of countless activists, students, and others and use it to encourage everyone to think more critically about what's going on in the world and to take action on a local level to effectuate lasting change.”

Students lining up for class in Cange, Haiti.

“We have an abundance of resources at our disposal, and can easily serve as ‘living links’ between the developed and the developing world. In the few minutes time it takes to send an email to a friend about the Walk, you can provide necessary resources for Haitian children, including the tuition they need to attend school for a year.”

The organizers are planning to have a strong presence from the Haitian community at the walk, as well as Haitian food, crafts, dancing, and music—including the all-female Haitian music ensemble, ZiliMisik. PIH Medical Director Joia Mukherjee will also speak at the event.

Speaking of last year’s event, McElroy says: “Dr. Joia Mukerjee's speech was energizing and a perfect way to start the Walk. Hearing her once again combine Haiti's history as a country of liberty for all and tying Haiti's lack of economic progress to the strictures set upon Haiti by outsiders, in particular, was inspiring to walkers.”

“Haitians already have hope—they've been hopeful and determined for centuries; we aspire to instill that same sense of hope in those who attend the Walk,” added McElroy.

Since its inception, the Walk has helped equip operating rooms, provide community health education and schooling—including scholarships for over 800 students, supply medicine, construct reliable shelter, improve and expand water/food programs, and raise the standard of living for thousands of Haitians. Over the course of the last six years, the Walk has raised $250,000.

The Urban Walk for Haiti is hoping to raise an additional $60,000 this year.

The Walk begins on Saturday, March 27, at noon at 29 Mt Auburn St. in Cambridge. For more information, please visit walkforhaiti.org.

Get ideas for organizing your own event to support social justice, health care, and the work of PIH.