Students to spend break providing relief

Students are trading Solo cups for hammers and donation buckets as they spend their spring break in Haiti or organizing aid to Chile, helping to restore countries ravaged by recent earthquakes to normalcy.

While some students will be spending their spring break sleeping in, tanning or going on road trips, some students will be spending their vacations trying to rebuild Haiti and raise funds to send to Chile. The students, who all have different reasons for their philanthropy, agree they would rather spend their time helping these nations because it's the right thing to do.

Next week, a group of 21 students and community members will travel to Haiti to teach those affected by January's devastating earthquake how to build eco-friendly and weather-resistant shelters. The coalition is operating under Brothers and Sisters International, an organization that works to educate, connect and expand economic stability for developing nations around the world. Although some students have gone to Haiti individually for relief efforts, this will be the first group of students to make the trip together.

"A lot of people have been placed out of their homes ... and in a few weeks Haiti's rainy season will be here ... so if you have people sleeping outside there's more opportunity for infection and a good possibility of more people losing their lives," Brothers and Sisters International Director Paul Pumphrey said. "It's influenced those of us who are concerned about our fellow woman and man to help."

But relief efforts are not only geared toward the devastation in Haiti. Students are also coming together to send aid to Chile, which was hit with large aftershocks this week after an magnitude 8.8 earthquake shook the country late last month.

Newly formed student organizations, such as the Chilean Earthquake Relief Group formed by Chilean student Rodrigo Herrera, have set up tables outside of Stamp Student Union asking for contributions to raise funds for Chilean relief. Larger student groups such as the Black Student Union and the university chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People are organizing larger events, such as benefit concerts, to help relief efforts in both countries.

The students actually going to Haiti had to pay about $850 per person, as the trip is being run independent of the university. Once in the country, the students will help build and teach others how to build earthbag homes — houses built from dirt-filled bags stacked atop one another that have been used by international organizations such as the United Nations for quick and cost-effective relief.

"What makes our program different is that we're giving people a skill in solidarity," said Desta Anyiwo, a senior mechanical engineering major. "This will help them better than Red Cross donations. This is empowerment to people."

hampton@umdbk.com