Exactly one year after Haiti was inflicted with an earthquake that left approximately 200,000 dead and cost an estimated $10 billion in damages, the College continues to contribute to Haitian rebuilding efforts. The College, which garnered national media attention for its involvement in providing aid, is currently sending medical experts and equipment to Haiti and collaborating to build a hospital there, College President Jim Yong Kim said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
"On the one hand, there's enormous disappointment with the overall global response, and that includes the response from inside Haiti from the Haitian government," Kim said. "The other part of the story is a very remarkable effort on the part of the entire Dartmouth community."
Dartmouth has accepted and enrolled both Haitian undergraduate and medical students since the earthquake, according to Kim.
"This fall, we were thrilled to have two of the very top medical students in Haiti who would have a very difficult time continuing their education in Haiti," Kim said.
Dartmouth is the only institution that accepted and enrolled Haitian students in response to the 2010 earthquake, according to Kim.
"The idea of us doing something that we do better than just about anyone else and applying it to the Haitian situation that's a symbol of how we want to go forward," Kim said. "This summer, the [Rassias Center for World Language and Culture] is going to offer Haitian Creole for relief workers who are interested in working in Haiti."
Although a year has elapsed since the catastrophe, Haiti is still in dire condition, especially due to a cholera outbreak in fall 2010. Kim said that while Dartmouth continues to lead efforts rebuild the country, contributors must first confront the continuing lack of basic health needs in Haiti.
"We've got to look forward in Haiti, but there's still a lot of unfinished business," Kim said. "Because the earthquake was so terrible and because Haiti was so poor before that, unfortunately, all of our attention has not been able to return to rebuilding."
Dartmouth is supporting Partners in Health while the organization builds a 320-bed hospital in Mirebalais, Haiti, according to Kim. The College will likely have a "close relationship" with the hospital upon its completion, Kim said.
Dartmouth is still providing temporary housing and water filters to Haiti, according to Kim.
Presidential Fellow Molly Bode '09, who serves as the Dartmouth Haiti Response coordinator, emphasized the continued efforts to provide ongoing medical support, especially during the cholera epidemic.
"We're working through the year to send four to five medical teams to Haiti," she said.
To commemorate the anniversary of the earthquake, the Jean Appolon Dance Company will perform and hold an open dance workshop on Jan. 12 as part of "Reflections on Haiti: Dartmouth Stands with Haiti One Year Later." Donations will be collected at the event, which will also feature a performance by Sugarplum, a Dartmouth student dance group, as well as updates on Dartmouth's efforts in Haiti.
Although many people at the College are still working to improve conditions in the aftermath of the earthquake, students and faculty cannot intervene in every disaster with the same enthusiasm that they did in Haiti, Kim said.
"We should be very selective so that when we do act, when we do move, we can be maximally effective in the places where we work," he said.
Dartmouth focused its relief efforts in Haiti because of the sheer impact of the damage from the earthquake and because of Kim's direct connections to the country through Partners in Health. Kim who co-founded PIH in 1987 said he asked students and alumni to consider PIH's efficiency and success administering aid when making donations to Haitian rebuilding efforts.
Kim said he did not actively encourage the Dartmouth community to focus so much effort on Haiti.
"It was the students who led the effort, which is so exciting," he said.
