Foundation donates school supplies to quake-ravaged Haiti

Progress in Haiti is slow, and it will take years to rebuild, the Haitian Consul General in Miami said while visiting Tampa this evening.

"The situation in Haiti is improving, but not enough, very slowly," Ralph Latortue said. "It's going to be a very long process."

With time, he said, Haitians eventually will restore their country, where more than 200,000 people were killed, 300,000 injured and another 100,000 left homeless after a massive Jan. 12 earthquake.

"We are fighters," Latortue said. "Haitian people are resilient people. The people of Haiti will stand together and rebuild the country."

Latortue came to Tampa to visit the warehouse for the Hillsborough Education Foundation's Teaching Tools program, which had eight pallets of school supplies to donate for Haiti.

The items included pens, markers, copy paper, crayons, poster paint, spiral notebooks, folders and maps. The organization was also donating desks, filing cabinets and cubicles. It's about $45,000 in school supplies, said Barbara Dick, the foundation's program director.

"It's a great feeling," Dick said. "It's wonderful to know that we have supplies for students that we can share."

Teaching Tools provides at-risk students in Hillsborough with basic school supplies. The store also allows teachers from county schools with special programs for low-income families to visit once a month and pick out $250 worth of free items for their classrooms.

The foundation originally announced that it expected Haitian President René Garcia Préval to visit the warehouse to see firsthand the supplies that were going to be donated. Members from the organization said that Préval was going to be in Tampa for another event and had agreed to visit the warehouse.

However, Latortue and Ian Sweeney, consul general for the Consulate General of Antigua and Barbuda, who drove Latortue to the warehouse, said that wasn't part of the plan. They said Préval was in Dominica for official meetings.

While improvements have been made in water and food distribution in Haiti, the top concern now is shelter, Latortue said.

Another significant concern is the rainy season and hurricane season, which are just a few months away. Health care is also another priority, Latortue said.

"There are so many needs," he said. "It is hard to pinpoint one or two. Now we are focusing on shelter."

Latortue said Préval doesn't want to go the tent route to help shelter his countrymen, but there is little choice at this time. A two-year building moratorium has been placed in Port-au-Prince and the country's leaders are discussing building codes to implement for the country, he said.

"We have to do what we can get," Latortue said. "We have to start somewhere. It's a very long process; it's a difficult process."

The school supplies are an important gift to the Haitian students, he said. Latortue estimated that 500 schools had been destroyed in the capital and there are a half-million children who need to go to school. Only three of the 15 universities were still standing, he said.

"I'm speechless. It's heartwarming," said Latortue of the gifts.

The supplies will be picked up Tuesday or Wednesday and delivered to a warehouse in Miami, Latortue said.

The Haitian people could still use other supplies, especially camping gear that could help with shelter, Latortue said.

Latortue would like to try to visit the Haitians who were brought to area hospitals for medical treatment, but didn't know if he would have time Friday.

He is scheduled to attend a ceremony at 10 a.m. Friday at St. John's Episcopal Parish Day School in Tampa, where Sweeney has a daughter who is in kindergarten.