Penn. Delegation Sees Haiti Devastation First Hand

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – A delegation from Pennsylvania’s credit unions that is in this country has visited with several credit unions that were destroyed during January’s earthquake.

The  Pennsylvania Credit Union Association said the two-week fact-finding mission in Haiti to explore opportunities for credit unions to help restore the remittance system already has included meetings with the relief group Plan International, which is conducting Cash for Work programs and other micro-financing through Fonkoze, Haiti’s Alternative Bank for the Organized Poor. Fonkoze is the largest microfinance institution in Haiti and serves more than 45,000 women borrowers, most of whom live and work in the countryside and constitutes more than 200,000 savers, according to PCUA.

The Pennsylvania group has also visited a hospital that was destroyed in the earthquake and which is working to recreate its records.

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