[COAT] Support Cuban Medical Brigades in Haiti !!

[coat AT list.openconcept.ca]

Dear friends,

I, like many others no doubt, had been wondering how to send financial
donations to support the excellent work of the Cuban medical brigades in
Haiti. I called the Cuban embassy to inquire and received a positive call
from them today.  I also received an email this afternoon from the
Hamilton Friendship Association with Cuba, which conveyed the same good
news. Yes!  We can indeed donate money to support Cuba's medical
brigades in Haiti and, if this matters to you, we even get a tax
receipt.  The material is appended below. 

All of the money will go to support the 300 Cuban medical personnel who
had already been working in Haiti for years before the earthquake. Plus,
Cuba sent additional doctors and supplies immediately after the quake
(before the US took control of Haiti's main airport). There are also 500
Haitian doctors in Haiti, who were trained -- free of charge -- in
Cuba!  (In striking contrast, there are many more Haitian doctors
than that working in Canada who were encouraged to leave their country
and come here by the Canadian government. (It's called the "brain
drain" and it is one part of the problem now being faced by Haitians
in need.)

I hope you will consider supporting Cuba's exemplary humanitarian relief
efforts in Haiti by donating to the charity described in the letter
below. Please encourage others to do likewise!
In solidarity,
Richard Sanders
Coordinator, Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)
http://coat.ncf.ca

P.S. The email below refers to the Mac-Pap Battalion and an NGO
called the Mackenzie-Papineau Memorial Fund, which is collecting the
money for the "Cuba for Haiti" campaign. In case people don't
know this history, the Mac-Paps were a group of Canadians (mostly
communists) who volunteered to go to Spain between 1936 and 1939 to fight
in the civil war against Franco's fascism. (As an interesting aside, the
Canadian government tried to stop the Mac-Paps from going to Spain and
eventually refused to give them passports. Then the Canadian government
refused to let them return! When they finally did let the Mac-Paps come
home, many were persecuted by the RCMP.  Their sacrifice has never
been recognized by the Canadian government and the Mac-Paps are not
commemorated in federal war memorials or in Remembrance Day
services.)
---

CNC's Cuba for Haiti Fund
The Hamilton Friendship Association with Cuba (HFAC) is
pleased to forward the letter below from the Canadian Network on Cuba
(CNC) announcing the launching of the Cuba for Haiti campaign. This
campaign will raise urgently needed funds so as to provide humanitarian
aid to the people of Haiti after the devastating earthquakes they have
faced that have caused great human loss and devastated large parts of the
country. The HFAC calls on all Canadians with a humanitarian striving to
provide such assistance to do so through this fund which can be trusted
to deliver the needed aid. 

All Out in Humanitarian Support for the People of Haiti!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canadian Network on Cuba
www.canadiannetworkoncuba.ca 

January 18, 2010 

Dear Friends,  

In response to the horrendous suffering of the Haitian people resulting
from the earthquake and its many aftershocks, many Canadians have been
wondering what the most effective way to provide aid is. The
Canadian-Cuban Friendship Association of Toronto has proposed the Cuba
for Haiti fundraising campaign which is also endorsed by the Canadian
Network on Cuba as a national effort.  

Cuba has an unequalled record in helping people in crises such as the
earthquake in Pakistan and natural disasters in many other
countries.  In fact it has set up a special emergency unit, the
Henry Reeve Medical Brigade, to respond to such disasters.  At the
time of the earthquake in Haiti, 402 Cuban internationalists, 302 of them
medical personnel, had already been helping Haitians.  These
together with many of the 500 Haitian doctors who had been trained in
Cuba free of charge formed the essential early group of lifesavers,
attending to 1,102 Haitian patients in the first 24 hours after the
earthquake. They have continued their work, boosted by an additional
medical brigade which arrived promptly from Cuba.   

We believe that this kind of unprecedented and invaluable help which Cuba
has been giving Haiti for eleven years deserves to be supported as
strongly as possible.  The CNC urges you to support Cuba in this
work by giving a donation to “The Mackenzie-Papineau Memorial Fund,”
indicating on your cheque’s memo line “Cuba for Haiti”.  

Charitable receipts will be issued by the Mackenzie-Papineau Memorial
Fund (Charitable Org - Revenue Canada Reg, #88876
9197RR0001).   

Your donation should be mailed to:  

The Mackenzie-Papineau Memorial Fund &  
Friends of the Mac-Pap Battalion, Int'l Brigades 
Att: S. Skup 
56 Riverwood Terrace 
Bolton, ON L7E 1S4 

The “Cuba for Haiti” contributions will go into a special account,
ensuring that 100% of all donations are used for medical support and aid
to Haiti. We are working directly with The Cuban Embassy in Ottawa and
the Consulate General in Toronto.   

Sincerely, 
Isaac Saney, CNC Co-chair & and National Spokesperson,
Tamara Hansen, CNC Co-Chair
Keith Ellis, CNC Coordinator  “Cuba for Haiti”