Unlikely though it might sound right now, there is hope for Haiti, and that hope is called Aceh.
As I discovered during a recent five-day visit, the Indonesian province — devastated by the Christmas 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami — has made a remarkable recovery.

I’d last been to Aceh shortly after the Christmas 2004 tsunami, which turned the coastal areas into a wasteland. Up to 170,000 people lost their lives in one of the most destructive natural disasters in modern history.

As with Haiti today, it was hard to imagine back then, amid the death and destruction, how the place could ever get back on its feet.

But five years on, and Aceh has been transformed, thanks to a billion international aid effort.

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By Robert Bazell, NBC’s chief science and health correspondent
 
There are so many organizations doing great work in Haiti — and most certainly deserve financial help.

But I want to call attention to one I reported on this past week. I know it well and have visiting  from there for decades. GHESKIO is a group of medical workers who have been carrying out heroic efforts  to combat HIV/AIDS for some 27 years. As soon as the quake struck, the group immediately took on the task of providing food, water, shelter and medical care for thousands from the nearby slums.
 
If you can contribute, please go to http://www.gheskio.org/  to donate money. Please don’t send anything else. They will use the money well.
 
When the organization began Haitians were suffering intense discrimination around the world because of AIDS. Under the Duvalier government in Haiti, it was literally a crime to mention AIDS. But these doctors carried on and, recently, they have been giving out life-saving HIV therapy to tens of thousands of Haitians. Amazingly, immediately after the earthquake they were able to resume giving medications to about 80 percent of those patients (probably close to the number who survived the quake), on top of all the other challenges they faced.

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By Amna Nawaz, NBC News Producer

LEOGANE, Haiti – Every morning aboard the USS Bataan, the officers’ mess turns into a meeting room and the ship’s decision makers gather to share information and plan for the coming days.

It’s been six days since the ship arrived off the coast of Haiti. It’s been five days since ground operations were launched. And a complete picture of what’s needed on the ground is still emerging.

Amna Nawaz / NBC News

Lt. Col. Robert Fulford (left) and Capt. James Birchfield fly over western Haiti to assess the earthquake damage.

Col. Gareth Brandl commands the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). At the conclusion of the security, systems and information updates on Friday, he addressed the room. His assessment was blunt.

“It’s a logistics fight out there,” said Brandl. “I don’t think we’ve got the total picture here.”
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