Haitis future.
Haiti's future. ANSEL HERZ
It's hard to watch Haiti be devastated, again. Beyond the death toll, which continues to rise, Hurricane Matthew has wiped out crops across large swaths of the country. Cholera, a preventable disease borne by Matthew's floodwaters around the country, will sicken and kill many. This disease was introduced to the country by United Nations peacekeepers—a disaster for which the organization has not taken full responsibility.

Port Salut is a quiet, picturesque beach town in Southern Haiti. It's been "kraze net," destroyed completely, in the words of one of my friends there. She's staying in a makeshift shelter with her sister. The hotel where I used to stay has crumbled—it looks like it was hit by an earthquake. Suddenly, there are cholera cases in Port Salut:
On Sunday, the sole hospital in the smashed-up town of Port Salut recorded its first cholera death, that of a male patient who was among nine people brought in with the disease over just two days.
The body was covered with sheets in a room occupied by another cholera patient being kept alive through fluid injections.
The hospital's director, Stevenson Desravines, confirmed the cause of death.
"It's something that is starting," he said, calling cholera's spread "a fatal danger" to the local population.
He added that his facility was insufficiently staffed and supplied to tackle cholera and other health problems surging in the wake of the storm.
President Obama, who is usually more thoughtful, did the wrong thing on Friday by advising Americans to "go to the American Red Cross," in order to help Haiti rebuild.
About that:
The American Red Cross (not to be confused with the Haitian Red Cross) is not a responsible or trustworthy humanitarian actor in Haiti—it's one stark example of an NGO that raised millions in relief funds after the 2010 earthquake and then squandered them. Here is what you should do:
Again:
Your best options, donation-wise, are NGOs that are either Haitian-run or that do coordinate closely with the Haitian government. My suggestions arePartners in Health, Doctors Without Borders, SOIL Haiti, the Lambi Fund, the Mouvman Peyizan Papay, or SAKALA.