Thank you for highlighting the difficulty of transporting donated items ("Haiti relief stuck in limbo," Feb. 7). The article raised the question of what we can give to Haitians that will reach them and make a true difference in their lives. A suggestion for an invaluable donation: Urge Congress to support a multilateral Global Fund for Education.
Why fund education rather than send bandages? A child is twice as likely to survive to age 5 if his mother is educated, and if that child then goes to school, he is half as likely to become infected with HIV/AIDS. Education is a long-term treatment for a country's economy, too: Every year of education increases a person's wages by 10 percent.
Despite the panacea that education is to a developing country like Haiti, 72 million children around the globe are deprived of a primary school education. Imagine telling a child you know that she cannot go to school. Contact your member of Congress in support of global education and send something that future generations in nations around the world can use when bandages cannot be delivered.
