Phillip Wearne Memorial Fund (HSG)

The Phillip Wearne Memorial Fund (Haiti Support Group)

We have taken the decision to dedicate this GoFundMe page to honour the memory of Phillip Wearne, a longtime supporter of and contributor to the Haiti Support Group. We sadly lost Phillip far too soon on Wednesday 14th March 2018 following a sudden cardiac arrest in North Devon.

Phillip was one of the Haiti Support Group's most passionate activists and advocates. He was instrumental in all our campaigns during the post-earthquake years and was the main author of our Haiti Briefing from 2010 to 2015. After UN peacekeepers introduced cholera into Haiti in October 2010, unleashing a lethal epidemic, Phillip threw himself into the campaign in support of victims and their families. He was relentless in gathering the evidence to support policy arguments which he took into the corridors of power of New York and Washington. Beyond reparation and compensation, his aim was to change the protocols for screening peacekeepers so that no other country would suffer as Haiti had suffered as a result of UN negligence. 

Phillip found it hard not to get involved with any cause to which he felt he could usefully contribute. These campaigns all had one thing in common – the struggle for social, economic and political justice for those excluded by those in power. For that we thank him for his drive, determination and resolve.

As Phillip often signed-off: “Keep going” or in Kreyòl: Kenbe fèm, pa lage!

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Last summer, the Haiti Support Group  (HSG) launched this Gofundme page to celebrate 25 years of solidarity with the Haitian people. The HSG is a small but extremely active group. Launched at the Houses of Parliament in June 1992, for over two and a half decades we have collaborated with the poor majority in Haiti, reflecting and amplifying the views of grassroots, popular, participatory groups on the ground.

Any donation, no matter how small, will help us with the day-to-day running costs of our organisation. This includes the production of our Haiti Briefing. The publication provides our members, Haiti watchers and decision-makers with analysis of Haiti’s development issues, reflected through the voices of popular organisations on the ground.

We work with trade unions, women’s organisations, peasant groups, neighbourhood associations and human rights defenders who - we believe - are the best placed to represent and defend the vast majority of the Haitian people’s desire for real democracy, justice and equitable development. We also strive to support Haitian art, culture and history across the UK and overseas.

Your donation will ensure that our team of Haiti watchers, grassroots activists, campaigners, members of the Haitian Diaspora, legal experts, journalists, academics and development specialists can continue to amplify the voices of Haitian civil society to everyone and anyone that will listen. This includes calling out Donald Trump for his recent "shithole" comments. It also means we add an important counter-narrative to many of the larger charities and international NGOs who, lest we forget, all too often have overridden the needs of the Haitian people in pursuit of their own interests and agendas.

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#SolidarityNotCharity #HaitiSupportGroup