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Robyn Couper
An emergency relief initiative to help Haitians following
last week's devastating earthquake is being launched from
Oamaru.
Project HHH - Hearts and Hands for Haiti, is headed by Robyn
Couper, who is back in New Zealand after working as a
missionary in Haiti for 33 years.
She is the only known New Zealander to have been a long-term
Haitian resident.
The project, aimed at giving long-term assistance, will
target Cap Haitien, where she was mostly based and the city
to where refugees from the devastated Port-au-Prince will
head.
Miss Couper, who returned to Oamaru at the end of August last
year, is well-known to community leaders in Cap Haitien.
They will support an invitation for her to return, bringing
additional personnel for a short-term relief effort
continuing as long as needed.
In a statement, Miss Couper and North Otago resident Bruce
Albiston, who is also involved with the project, said Project
HHH teams might include medical, surgical, orthopaedic,
general practitioners-physicians and nurses recruited locally
or further afield.
Teams would serve for no less than eight weeks and would work
in partnership with local health professionals.
It was estimated up to $120,000 would be needed annually.
The second largest city in Haiti, Cap Haitien is the size of
a provincial town such as Oamaru, but has up to one million
residents within its catchment.
It is being designated as the main container port for
emergency supplies and general shipping that will add huge
additional traffic to a grossly under-resourced port region
and poverty-stricken population, the pair said.
An administration support base, comprising civic, church,
professional and business leaders, is being set up in Oamaru.
Friends of Project HHH will be be needed for fundraising and
support.
A public meeting will be held in the RSA hall in Itchen St on
Sunday at 2.30pm.
Waitaki Mayor Alex Familton has agreed to be patron.
Donations will be received at the meeting and can also be
sent to Project HHH Oamaru Baptist, PO Box 420, Oamaru, 9444.
