The Association québécoise des organismes de coopération internationale (AQOCI) is hosting a Forum on Haiti on May 9^th and 10^th to discuss the work of the various organizations from Quebec and Canada that are working on post-earthquake reconstruction and development projects in Haiti. The AQOCI is bringing these actors together to dialogue on lessons learned from the field, and to ensure that Haitians are the ones guiding the process.

Monday 4 p.m. and the first shots are heard. In these circumstances, we always ask ourselves if this noise is simply a car engine exploding. But after the 10^th detonation in 15 minutes, we no longer ask ourselves this question. For a moment, there is a lull, but the shots begin again around 7 p.m. I was at a restaurant with Gaston Goro, Emergencies Coordinator with Caritas Mali. We were meant to go pick up Ary from the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB), who was arriving that night, but his flight was delayed by a sand storm that hit Bamako.

It seems like just yesterday that I was 20 years old and a law student at the University of Laval in Québec. I had just been selected by Canadian Crossroads International to go to Africa – Mali to be precise. I was leaving North America for the first time. In fact, it was the first time that I was travelling by plane! Was I excited? I can still remember singing with the nuns next to me on the Alitalia flight! They were on their way to visit Rome, which for me was just stopover on my way to Bamako.

It’s been just over a year since Japan experienced one of the worst natural disasters in its history. An earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 on the Richter Scale triggered a massive tsunami with waves exceeding 10 metres that devastated the north-eastern coast of the country, and creating estimated 28 million tonnes of debris.

Canadians showed tremendous solidarity and generosity towards the people of Japan and donated $1.2 million to Development and Peace for relief efforts.

The Filipino community is very active and a source of inspiration…

It was with these words that Michael Casey, Executive Director of Development and Peace, opened a meeting yesterday with two representatives of the Federation of Filipino-Canadian Associations of Quebec (FFCA).