The Zakat Foundation of America

Sep 03, 2010

During the month of Ramadan when Muslims are called on to practice generosity with greater vigor and to be extra-conscious of the plight of the poor, Zakat Foundation and its donors felt obliged to share the bounty of Ramadan with poor Haitians living in IDP camps. This year Zakat Foundation representatives in Haiti chose to distribute Ramadan food packages at key camps that had received insufficient or no assistance.

One such camp is called Karade (Caradeux) in the Delmas area of Port au Prince. An estimated twelve-thousand people live in the camp in fragile tents. These camp dwellers are part of an estimated 1.5 million Haitians who were made homeless by the devastating January 12th earthquake. Many of these people are living in camps for ìinternally displaced peopleî and lack basic amenities for healthy stable lives. Approximately one-thousand three-hundred spontaneous camps in the Port au Prince area have been officially registered with the United Nations and the Government of Haiti. Some of the residents in these camps have yet to receive any assistance and have spent the eight months since the Earthquake ìfending for themselves, î having been left alone to provide for their basic needs.

Zakat Foundation representatives worked with camp management to choose hundreds of the neediest families in the Karade camp who would receive Ramadan food packages. These packages include the basic staples of the Haitian diet: rice, beans, sardines, and cooking oil. The packages are made to provide adequate food for an average family of five for several weeks.

There is no doubt that the people in Karade have a long list of critical needs which include pressing needs for health care, education and employment opportunities that will allow them to become self-sufficient. Zakat Foundation is honored to be able to provide the families in Karade with vitally needed food supplies. At the Karade camp food packages were given to three-hundred families, reaching an estimated one-thousand five-hundred people. Additional distributions are taking place in other camps in the Tabarre and Delmas areas of Port au Prince where Zakat Foundation hopes to reach thousands more people with the caring generosity of Ramadan.