Dear Saybrook Faculty, Staff, Board Members, and Alumni,
Earlier, I spoke with Saybrook alumna and immigrant from Haiti, Marie Fonrose, Ph.D. ’03, who thinks that mental health issues are going to become more serious in Haiti as this crisis progresses. She has an uncle in Haiti who is already showing signs of earthquake related stress, including delusions. The lack of food and water, and the potential for disease are systemic, and the situation will no doubt continue to get worse. People living in suburban areas just outside the city are already out of water and food, and relief efforts have not reached them. Marie would like to go to Haiti and offer therapy and counseling, especially in areas that are going unnoticed by larger humanitarian efforts.
The Alumni Association and Saybrook University would like to help Marie with the purchase of a plane ticket and living expenses, so she can go to Haiti for a month or two as a therapist/counselor. Marie has experience as a therapist, has worked with Haitian immigrants in the DC area, and knows the language and culture of Haiti, having immigrated to the US at the age of 12. She is also experiencing this current devastation from a personal perspective, with 11 of her relatives having died in this quake, including a half-brother, aunts and uncles, and cousins.
If you’d like to help Marie go to Haiti, send Tax-Deductible Donations written to Saybrook University to my attention at the address below. You can also make a donation on the website to the Alumni Campaign Fund https://dev.saybrook.edu/phs/support . Please send an email to the [email protected] , letting me know what portion of your donation should be designated for this effort.
May our hearts and prayers go out to the people of Haiti,
George