Canada's CHF Helps Haiti Communities Rebuild Lives

OTTAWA , Jan. 19 /CNW Telbec/ - Canadians and nations around the world are responding to the devastating earthquake that shook the Caribbean nation of Haiti on January 12 . Rescue workers continue to search for survivors while medical personnel treat those injured. Supplies and food are being distributed and the media report as events unfold.

Once the immediate rescue and relief operations have been completed, and the cameras are gone, Canada's CHF and its partner in Haiti , Fonkoze, will be there to help Haiti's poor rebuild their lives.

Since 2006, CHF has partnered with Fonkoze, a Haitian micro-finance organization, to address the needs of some of Haiti's poorest households. Now, in response to the recent disaster, CHF is working with Fonkoze in a rebuilding effort.

Fonkoze is Haiti's largest micro-finance organization, providing Haiti's urban and rural poor - mostly women - with the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty. After a devastating hurricane in 2008, Fonkoze offered support to some 25,000 Haitians who lost their homes and businesses.

Many of these same people have lost everything once more. And once again, Fonkoze, in partnership with CHF, will work to ensure that essential livelihoods can be re-established.

CHF is a Canadian non-profit organization founded in 1961 and headquartered in Ottawa . CHF is dedicated to enabling poor rural communities in developing countries to attain sustainable livelihoods.

Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and 80% of the population subsists on less than $2 per day. Even before the earthquake, access to clean drinking water, adequate housing and health services was non-existent for the vast majority of Haitians.

For more information on Fonkoze, visit www.fonkoze.org.

For more information on CHF's Haiti Emergency Fund, visit www.chf-partners.ca/haiti

For further information: Leah Geller, Manager of Communications, CHF, [phone] ext. 208, [email protected], www.chf-partners.ca