27 Aug
NSBE Supports Communities in Crisis
NSBE Family,
The leadership of the National Society of Black Engineers is deeply distressed by the escalating crises around the world. Our hearts go out to the people of Haiti and Afghanistan, as the latest catastrophes and displacements add to far-reaching consequences of decades of suffering and injustice.
On Aug. 14, the nation of Haiti, still shaken by the assassination of its president, Jovenel Moise, in July, was devastated by an earthquake that struck the country’s Tiburon Peninsula and took the lives of more than 2,200 people, injured more than 12,000 and severely affected millions more, including an estimated 500,000 children. The quake impacted a nation still recovering from its catastrophic earthquake of 2010, which killed more than 100,000.
The response to this disaster by the National Society of Black Engineers is one of empathetic collaboration and committed action with our Haitian members, who are advising our relief efforts. NSBE’s World Headquarters staff is in contact with relief organizations to provide our members with reliable information and direction to assist the Haitian people. In addition, NSBE national and regional leaders and general members are providing on-the-ground and digital support to relief organizations.
An event of this magnitude impacting Black people anywhere would have elicited action from our Society, but Haiti’s sacred place in the past and present struggles for liberation throughout the African Diaspora makes the heartfelt impetus to act even stronger and connects Haiti even more firmly to our U.S.-based organization and its membership around the globe.
Now is the time to connect with our brothers and sisters of Haitian descent within the Society and beyond; to make financial contributions to the recovery effort if you are able; or to donate your time as a volunteer, either remotely or on the ground, through the organizations listed at the end of this message. Separate communications, including more details about how to volunteer, are forthcoming from NSBE’s National Executive Board and National Professionals Executive Board.
It is incumbent on NSBE to help Haiti ensure its future. Its great past, as the world’s first Black-led republic and the first independent state in the Caribbean, has fed the dreams of Black activists throughout the Diaspora, who, in turn, have fought for the freedom that many of us enjoy today. We owe Haiti a great debt, and now is the time to repay.
In Central Asia, another horrific humanitarian crisis is unfolding, with growing violence and chaos surrounding the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. The seedlings of Western democracy planted 20 years ago by force are being quickly uprooted by the country’s former regime, which has a long track record of denying educational and economic opportunities and basic human rights to women. NSBE stands in solidarity with people in Afghanistan and around the world who are committed to freedom, gender equity and social justice there.
NSBE celebrates the safe exodus of members of Afghanistan’s renowned all-girls robotics team, which represents the brilliance and potential of women in STEM everywhere, and we urge our members to welcome and support the entire community of Afghan refugees now fleeing their home country in search of a better life.
We also acknowledge the service of the military veterans, including those in our Society, who were deployed in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, many of whom sacrificed physical abilities, mental health or their lives on the battlefield.
Please see the list of resources below and join us in working toward an outcome in Afghanistan that reflects the global social justice goals of the National Society of Black Engineers.
NSBE is a family as committed to social justice as we are to academic excellence and professional success. Responding to the current hardship and heartbreak in Haiti and Afghanistan today is an integral part of our work as aspiring or practicing engineers or technologists in the National Society of Black Engineers, as we strive to make a positive impact on the world community. Learn more about our Call for Justice, which is empowered by our Game Change 2025 Strategic Plan.
Yours in service,
Favour Nerrise
2021–2022 National Chair
National Society of Black Engineers
Janeen Uzzell
Chief Executive Officer
National Society of Black Engineers
RESOURCES
Note: These organizations have been vetted by Haitian NSBE members and cross-checked with reputable organizations such as Essence Magazine, Obama.org, etc.
Haiti Relief:
ATL4Haiti (donations, care packages, mission-based in Atlanta, Ga.)
Ayiti Community Trust (ongoing partnership with Miami Dade County)
Hope for Haiti (on-the-ground efforts in Haiti)
Ayiti Demen (support for organizations in the Southern Peninsula of Haiti)
Capracare (donations and Amazon wishlist for care packages)
Zanmi Lasante (humanitarian relief efforts)
Haitian Roundtable (roundtable discussions, vigils and referrals to other organizations to support)
Obama.org 4 Haiti (additional reputable relief organizations to link to
Afghanistan Relief:
Note: This information was compiled in partnership with Stanford University’s Markaz Resource Center for Engagement with the Cultures and Peoples of the Muslim World.
Donations
- Northern California’s Soft Landing Fund: Support for Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) families from Afghanistan as they start their new life in the Bay Area
- Upwardly Global: Connecting Afghan refugees to professional careers in the U.S.
- Emergency Relief Afghanistan: Cash-in-hand relief to the internally displaced
- Islamic Relief: Direct aid agency working in Afghanistan during the military incursions
- Review this Congressional Advocacy How-To, and contact your representatives.
- Sign this appeal to the U.S. government to support Afghanistan's scholars, students, practitioners, civil society leaders and activists.
- Attend a protest in San Francisco’s Union Square on 8/28 organized by the United Afghan Association (UAA)
- Resource guide created by advocates on Instagram to help educate the public and promote action for the atrocities that are going on in Afghanistan at this moment.
- Opinion: Monsters, Inc.: The Taliban as Empire’s bogeyman: expert analysis on situating the current crisis within a historical and political context.
- TIME magazine op-ed