For Disaster Relief, Sometimes Smaller is Better

On the afternoon of Jan. 12, 2010 the earth shook violently in a small island nation in the Caribbean. The aftermath shook the collective conscience of the developed world.

Haiti, one of the world’s poorest countries prior to the 7.0 magnitude earthquake, suffered widespread devastation. Death, displacement, and disruption of supply lines were plastered on newspapers and TV screens worldwide. Cracked beyond repair, the presidential palace symbolized a fractured nation.

The world responded.

Celebrities held a massive “Hope for Haiti” telethon to raise money. Text message based giving, where $10 would be added to a cellphone bill, allowed small, impulse donations. Millions of dollars flowed from donors to aid organizations like UNICEF, Oxfam, and, now notoriously, the American Red Cross.

On the Ground

Conduit Mission, based out of Franklin, Tennessee, was a smaller organization helping in the direct aftermath. Conduit’s investment in the Haitian people started long before the earthquake—nearly a decade ago—supporting the people in the city of Jacmel. When the disaster struck, Conduit’s existing infrastructure allowed for immediate assistance, along side the other major aid organizations.

Ben Holeton, who had traveled to Haiti with Conduit before, arrived on the ground in Haiti the day after Port-Au-Prince airport opened back up to commercial traffic, about six weeks after the disaster. “To see places I knew lying on the ground in rubble was definitely a harrowing experience,” Holeton says. “It’s hard to forget.”

Waste

Over five years post disaster, an investigative report released by NPR and ProPublica challenged the narrative released by one of the biggest aid organizations operating in Haiti: the American Red Cross. The report found that, with nearly $500 million raised, only six permanent houses were constructed. This number stands in contrast to the Red Cross claim of sheltering over 100,000 Haitians.

Although the organization was on the ground early providing necessary relief, the report has tarnished the reputation of the Red Cross’s efforts in Haiti. Darren Tyler, founder of Conduit Mission, says the report confirmed what many people on the ground already knew about the Red Cross: they are not equipped for long term redevelopment.

In contrast, Conduit has built 52 homes in Haiti with only a few hundred thousand dollars. Conduit’s relationships with the Haitian people gave them a mandate for action. “These were our friends.” Tyler says. “And, so, when your friend’s house gets knocked down, you want to do whatever you can to help them.”

Holeton was personally involved with building six houses. He says part of a smaller organization’s effectiveness is the ability to adapt. Conduit has the flexibility to change course as needs arise. A large organization, like the Red Cross, is much more bureaucratic and rigid. “They operate like a government,” Holeton says.

Part of that inflexibility stops the Red Cross from looking long term, and instead seeks short-term fixes for problems. The shelters provided by the Red Cross, somehow costing $5,000, were more like plywood tents—no match for the tropical climate and hurricanes common in Haiti. Conduit on the other hand was able to provide concrete houses for a cost of $6,500. Tyler says they are looking forward at how they can innovate the housing, not just replace it. “The theory being: not only increasing the quality of life, but the possibility of life so that they are living differently now,” Tyler says.

While the methods and actions of the organizations are different, the Red Cross’s operations affect the smaller organizations on the ground. As the sentiment grew among locals that large NGOs were not addressing the concerns of the Haitian people, aftershocks rippled through the community Conduit served. Tyler recalls making an unplanned trip to meet with community leaders, who expressed concern. Protestors held signs written in Creole and threw rocks at the building, where they met. Conduit’s financial transparency was able to re-establish calm, but remains a lesson in how organizational reputations can be bundled in disaster areas.

Moving Forward

As the report makes waves in the United States, another concern is how it will affect future disaster relief efforts.

Darren Tyler, Founder of Conduit Mission

“That’s my biggest concern.” Holeton says. “The next time a Haiti happens, or an Indonesia, people are like ‘oh, the Red Cross didn’t do anything. They didn’t do nearly as good as I expected them to last time, so I’m not going to donate any money.’ That hurts.” He and Tyler agree that the relationships Conduit has built with supporters should shield them from financial backlash.

“We just really try to empower our tribe.” Tyler says. “So instead of going wide, we try to go deep.”

This allows Conduit to have a truly global reach. Besides Haiti, the organization operates in Togo, Africa, Guatemala, India, and conducts disaster relief in the United States.

A Conduit

With a stated goal to be “a ‘conduit’ of God’s power, God’s love, and God’s resources,” Conduit focuses on the humanity of the people it serves. With Haiti only resurfacing in the news because of the scrutiny on the Red Cross, Conduit’s tribe has a different perspective. “When I hear talk about what’s going on down there, to me, it’s not just a poor country in the Caribbean,” Holeton says. “It’s my friends and family down there, people that I know and love.”

Conduit is a small player in the humanitarian aid world. If its track record is a sign of effectiveness, the smaller players may end up changing the game.

In Your Own Backyard

Chief Deborah Faulkner stepped up to the microphones of a small news conference her department had called just 45 minutes earlier. Her sharp dress blues offered a stark contrast from the nondescript brick office-space she stood before.

“Franklin is a special place.”

She’s right. The town just 14 miles south of Nashville has a rich history dating back to 1799. Surviving a bloody Civil War battle, the town prides itself on beautiful aesthetics. Main Street is painted with shops, restaurants, and the neon marquee of the Franklin Theatre. In a word, it’s quaint.

This backdrop has attracted nearly 70 thousand residents. Major corporations have relocated headquarters here, taking advantage of a high quality of life for their employees. With its small-town charm and reputation for affluence, it’s no big shock that Franklin boasts one of the lowest crime rates in the state.

Yet on this day, Chief Faulkner stood before members of the press announcing raids on two businesses and four apartments related to prostitution. Police executed search warrants at the Oriental Massage Center and the Capital Chinese Foot Spa Massage in the culmination of over a year’s work investigating the businesses’ activities.

The department’s investigation included partners not typically associated with operations in this community: Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Homeland Security. Another group joining the ranks seemed out of place with the others. End Slavery Tennessee’s mission focuses on systematically eradicating human trafficking and sex slavery in the state. 

End Slavery’s prominent mention in the list of involved agencies cast the specter of sex trafficking in this picturesque community. Studies show that human trafficking is a growing problem in the state. Of Tennessee’s 95 counties, 85 of them have reported at least 1 case of human trafficking.

In Franklin?

When Chief Faulkner fielded a question by a member of the press about sex trafficking, Sergeant Charles Warner, the department’s Public Information Officer, quickly jumped in.

“We’ve never said that. We’ve never talked about sex trafficking,” Warner said.

Chief Faulkner further clarified the organization’s evolvement. “It’s our understanding from our research, and talking with other law enforcement agencies across the United States, that where you have this type of activity, you could also have people who are held against their will,” the Chief said. “We wanted to make it available to them, if in fact we did discover this.”

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Ending Slavery

Bucky Elliott is a community leader for End Slavery TN in Spring Hill, Franklin’s neighbor to the south. His red hair and goatee are the first things you notice, but his enthusiasm for End Slavery’s work soon overshadows them. He has worked with the organization for nearly five years.

Elliott explained that the law sets a high threshold for a prostitution case to become a trafficking case. If the victim is an adult, law enforcement must prove she was forced, coerced, or deceived by the alleged trafficker.

Traffickers have rigged the game against victims. They have mastered the art of manipulating their victims to maintain control. Tracey Brooks, an Intelligence Analyst with the TBI, says that many of the victims may not even view themselves as a victim.

“That is the way they have been trained,” Brooks said. “A lot of girls that we have talked to that are 16, 17 years old, they don’t view themselves as being used by somebody to make money. Even though they don’t get to keep any of the money and they are not allowed to leave.”

When a minor is involved in prostitution activities, the law automatically classifies the crime as trafficking. Even so, Elliott sees the reported cases as “just the tip of the iceberg.”

“Usually if it is a pimp situation, they’ve got three, four, five girls in their stable,” Elliott said. “So, it’s only really representing the fact that it is happening, it’s not really quantitative of how much.”

End Slavery TN fights with a multifaceted approach: Training and educating the community, aiding victims, and preventing future cases of trafficking. While no aspect of the fight is easy, raising awareness in the suburbs of Nashville has its own set of challenges. “It’s still taboo,” Elliott said. “It’s just not a comfortable topic to talk about.” The “safe” communities must see that it isn’t just overseas or in seedy downtown hotels. Sex trafficking is in the backyard.

Tracey Brooks says the TBI also focuses on community education efforts. Talking to state agencies, law enforcement, church groups, and nonprofits are all a part of getting the community to “see it for what it is, and not what they think it is.”

The End of the Day

The evening of the Franklin raids, the police department issued another press release.

“5 rescued from human trafficking; 7 arrested on multiple charges following massage parlor raids in Franklin,” read the headline in bold blue text. Successful police work and observant citizens offered freedom to 5 victims of a horrific crime in a family community.

Even though the police were careful in the morning, Bucky Elliott had a hunch the Police knew what they were dealing with when executing the search warrants.

The Capital Chinese Foot Spa Massage was behind an apartment complex and directly across the street from a public high school. Oriental Massage Center backed up to the fence line of a single-family home. A neighboring business politely declined to comment; only saying “we knew nothing about it.”

Not long after the press release was sent, a light snow fell on the city. The clean, white dusting offers the city a fresh start, and for a few Franklin residents, “not in my backyard” is true—at least for now.