Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations: Haiti

Anthony Bourdain traveled to Haiti for an episode of his show 'No Reservations.' He ventured down to Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, a little over a year after the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake. He met many Port-au-Prince natives that had concerns about so much media attention. Many residents said that they see the press come to Haiti just to take pictures, with the thought that the pictures will bring about change to Haiti once people see the massive devastation to their society. One woman stated, "...they're always taking pictures and nothing ever changes."

Most of Haiti's infrastructure was pretty poor prior to the quake. Many buildings either collapsed or suffered terrible damage and were red flagged (deemed unsafe and to be destroyed). The Grand Hotel Oloffson, a magnificent, historic hotel in Port-au-Prince, is one of the few large buildings that did not collapse. Even the Presidential Palace completely collapsed, which caused many Haitians to cheer. Hotel owner, Richard Morris, became the owner of the Grand Hotel Oloffson after an incredibly lucky cab ride. Many years ago, the original owner, Jacque, shared a cab ride with a stranger, Richard Morris. During the cab ride, the two chatted and Jacque asked Morris if he wanted to buy a hotel for $20. Morris jokingly said "sure." To his surprise, Jacque asked the cab driver to take the two to the Grand Hotel Oloffson, the hotel that Richard Morris purchased for $20.

Over 200,000 people lost their lives in the devastating earthquake. The bodies in the streets had to be disposed of immediately to prevent the spread of disease. There was no time to identify victims for their family members or to give them proper burials. Truckloads of bodies were taken to massive holes that were dug in the ground in Port-au-Prince. The bodies were dumped in and covered with dirt and cement. After the quake, 10,000 bodies were being buried per day. Foultone Fequiert, 38, one of the burial workers, said that he, and others, have been traumatized by their task. "I have seen so many children, so many children. I cannot sleep at night and, if I do, it is a constant nightmare," he said. "I received 10,000 bodies in one day alone." Thousands and thousands of bodies are buried in the ground, no names, no gravestones, no proper burial- just mass graves with thousands of nameless victims.

Sources:
Waterfield, B. (2010). Haiti Earthquake: 10,000 buried each day in mass graves.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/haiti/7045722/Haiti-earthquake-10000-buried-each-day-in-mass-graves.html

Cooper, A. (2010). Desperation grows: Mass graves found in Port-au-Prince.
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-01-15/world/haiti.earthquake_1_bodies-aid-workers-prince?_s=PM:WORLD

Anthony Bourdain- 'No Reservations: Haiti'
Television show on the Travel Channel. (2011).

Sean Penn and the J/P HRO: Part II

J/P HRO works with both government and non-governmental agencies to deliver immediate results where they're needed most. Principle efforts include providing emergency medical and primary care services, delivering needed medicine and medical equipment, rubble removal facilitating community regeneration, management of IDP camps, distributing food and water purification systems, improving communication systems, and developing housing and education facilities. The goal of J/P HRO is to help lift the nation of Haiti out of poverty and give the Haitian people a better life.

In the last year alone, J/P HRO has provided medical services to over 2,000 patients per week. They've established a full women's clinic that has treated over 10,000 women. Mobile medical units located in the camps have treated over 300 patients per week. J/P HRO has delievered over 100,000 pounds of medical supplies, and 65 tons of supplies for the cholera response. They've also educated thousands of families about cholera treatment and prevention through community health agents, and treated thousands more patients via state of the art Mobile Medical units.

Ecole de L'espoir (School of Beautiful Hope) is the primary school that J/P HRO opened in October. It is recognized by the Ministry of Education for providing over 260 students with a free primary school education- something rather uncommon in a country where there is no wide scale public education system. The J/P HRO community center offers adult literacy classes in Creole, French, and English, youth programs, sanitation education classes, and a job training program for adult camp residents. The classes are taught entirely on a voluntary basis by camp residents- providing the opportunity for those with specialized skills and trades to give back to their IDP community.

Determined to aid camp residents in the return to their neighborhoods, rubble removal became a natural extension of camp management goals. In the Delmas district, where most of the Petionville Camp residents are from, approximately 25% of the properties are declared red (unsafe or collapsed). J/P HRO has developed a reproducible and sustainable model for rubble removal that we have shared with all other entities in the country. Their quick, efficient and respectful clearing of neighborhoods has been held up as a model by prominent international organizations and local governments. J/P HRO has assisted the World Bank, IDB, Dalbergand USAID in developing ideas for community-based rubble clearance. Rubble clearance allows the rebuilding of communities, the returning of families to neighborhoods, and increased safety for all. It is anticipated that the reopening of schools and businesses will soon follow as communities are repopulated. The rubble clearing has encouraged Haitians to participate in spontaneous clearing efforts themselves. Every day evidence is seen of people clearing rubble from their home sites by hand, almost doubling the effectiveness of J/P HRO's work. The emotional, physical and spiritual impact of rubble removal cannot be underestimated. J/P HRO is responsible for removing 59,000 cubic meters of rubble and debris from the streets, the equivalent of 25-30 truckloads per day.

Before rubble removal

After J/P HRO rubble removal

Sources:
J/P HRO website.
http://www.jphro.org/

J/P HRO. (2010). Travel channel.
http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain/Special_Features/J_P_Hro_Hatian_Relief_Organization

Cooper, A. (2010). J/P HRO: Combating Cholera in Haiti.
CNN.
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/10/jp-haitian-relief-organization-combatting-cholera-in-haiti/

Sean Penn and the J/P Hatian Relief Organization: Part I

Founded by Sean Penn immediately after the January 12th earthquake, J/P HRO is effectively managing five vital programs in areas related to camp management, medical, rubble removal, education, and emergency response operations. J/P HRO manages two Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps: Petionville Camp and the adjacent Terrain Boulos Camp. As of January 12th, 2010 these two IDP camps housed over 55,000 displaced people. J/P HRO has an in-country team of 15 international long-term staff, hundreds of rotating medical volunteers, and over 200 Haitian national staff including doctors, nurses, electricians, contractors, teachers and translators, community organizers and reconstruction teams. In the last year, J/P HRO provided medical treatment to over 75,000 Haitians and delivered over 400 babies through our medical program; which consists of two primary health care clinics, a womenʼs clinic, mobile clinics, a 24/7 emergency room, 24/7 maternity care, 24/7 emergency transport, and a 24/7 Cholera Treatment Isolation Unit (CTU).

The cholera outbreak reached Port-au-Prince in October of 2010. Between October 2010 and January 2011, J/P HRO treated over 140 cases of cholera within their camp, and over 250 cases of cholera from the surrounding neighborhoods. Their medical staff and volunteers, deployed throughout Haiti, treated thousands of cholera patients and delivered over 100 tons of supplies to cholera treatment facilities. Currently, J/P HRO maintains one of the largest in-country inventories of Oral Rehydration Salts, Ringers Lactate, IV tubing, catheters, and water filters to treat an additional 25,000-50,000 patients. The cholera preparedness and response program has earned J/P HRO recognition as one of the most effective Emergency Responders by the Haitian Ministry of Health and International Red Cross. A team of highly trained air, ground, and medical experts are on 24/7 ready alert, supported by four helicopters, in cooperation with the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) and the Government of the Dominican Republic to respond to life saving missions J/P HRO manages each and every day.

Before the 2010 rainy season hit its peak, J/P HRO coordinated the relocation of over 5,000 people living in potential mudslide and flood areas from within the Petionville camp to another camp outside of the flood zone. The relocation allowed the U.S. Navy Construction Battalions to create canals and perform other mitigation to prevent mudslides and flooding in this steep hilly terrain. On September 24th, a storm ripped through the Petionville camp destroying the J/P HRO office and living quarters, but the drainage canals in the camp prevented flooding from the downpour and only minor casualties were registered. J/P HRO employs an all-Haitian construction crew, specializing in rebuilding damaged or weathered structures, which have rebuilt over 1,000 tents since the rainy season.

Sources:
J/P Haitian Relief Organization.
http://www.jphro.org/

J/P HRO.
https://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6591/p/salsa/donation/common/public/?donate_page_KEY=2085about

J/P HRO. Travel channel.
http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain/Special_Features/J_P_Hro_Hatian_Relief_Organization

Celebrity Response to Haiti: Part II

As I stated in my previous blog, celebrity response to a disaster generally has a positive result. For Haiti, billions of dollars have been raised between the U.S. and other countries towards relief efforts; the celebrity response is single-handedly responsible for raising millions of those dollars. The publicity of the celebrities keeps the medias attention there, and people generally tend to idolize "superstars." If George Clooney is on television asking you to donate money to Haitian relief efforts, you're much more inclined to do so than if a "nobody" was on television asking you to do the same. People want to feel like they are a part of something bigger, and publicizing celebrity response makes people feel as though they are also a part of this.

George Clooney co-produced and hosted an emergency fundraising telethon called "Hope for Haiti Now." This aired on January 22, 2010 from 8-10 p.m. on several channels; ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 CMT, and many others, and all without commercial interruption. Clooney hosted the show from Los Angeles, while Haitian native Wycleaf Jean co-hosted from New York City, and CNN anchor Anderson Cooper co-hosted from Haiti. All funds raised were split between five Haitian relief organizations; Oxfam America, UNICEF, Partners in Health, the Red Cross, and Wyclef's Yele Haiti Foundation. "Hope For Haiti Now" was the most widely distributed telethon in history, internationally and across media platforms, including live streaming globally on sites including YouTube, Hulu, MySpace, Fancast, AOL, MSN.com, Yahoo, Bing.com, BET.com, MTV.com, and Rhapsody and on mobile via Alltel, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and FloTV. More than 100 of the biggest names in film, television, and the music industry signed up to perform, provide testimonials, and answer phones. The two-hour fundraising telethon raised about $60 million.

Yele Haiti was founded in 2005 by Grammy-award winning artist Wycleaf Jean. It was a grassroots, non-political charitable organization focusing mainly on employment, youth development and education, tree planting and agriculture, and  emergency relief. In January 2007, Jean became a goodwill ambassador for Haiti, to help improve its image abroad. In May 2008, Yéle partnered with the World Food Programme of the United Nations to launch www.togetherforhaiti.org. In September of that year, Yéle delivered food to Hurricane Ike victims. In 2009, Yéle and the Timberland Company joined forces to help raise environmental awareness in Haiti. Their campaign was created to push to support and educate the country as well as helping to improve health care and the environment, and the community. The Yele Haiti Foundation was permanently changed after January 12, 2010. Now, the current programs include a combination of emergency relief and long-term rebuilding of the society. Wycleaf Jean and the Yele Haiti Foundation have together raised over $1 million since the devastating earthquake.

Sources:
Yele Haiti Foundation.
http://yele.org/home

Filed, D. (2010). Hope for Haiti Telethon Money Raised Results.
http://news.spreadit.org/hope-for-haiti-telethon-money-raised/

Dio, M. (2010). Hope for Haiti Now: The Telethon.
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/live/3872/hope-for-haiti-now-the-telethon/

Celebrity response to Haiti: Part I

"Not on our watch!" a humanitarian assistance program, founded by actors Don Cheadle, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Jerry Weintraub. "Not on our watch" has raised over $1 million for Haitian relief efforts. Actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, otherwise known as "Brangelina," donated $1 million to Doctors Without Borders immediately after the devastating quake. Actress Jennifer Anniston also pledged $500,000 to Doctors Without Borders. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio donated $1 million. Actress Sandra Bullock and model Gisele Bundchen both wrote out checks to Red Cross; Bullock in the amount of $1 million, and Bundchen, who had a salary of $40 million in 2009, $1.5 million.

Madonna donated $250,000 towards relief efforts. Professional cyclist Lance Armstrong, who survived testicular cancer, and his LiveStrong Foundation also pledged $250,000 to go towards Doctors Without Borders as well as the Partners in Health Foundation. Actress Alyssa Milano, who is the goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, wrote a $50,000 check to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, and asked other corporations to match her donation. Actor Tyler Perry pledged $250,000. Actor Ben Stiller is raising money for a school in Ceverine in Haiti through "Save the Children." He also asked fans for $10 donations charged to phone bills by texting "Haiti" to 90999.

Magician David Blaine, who once shot a TV special in Haiti in 1999, worked with the Red Cross to raise funds for Haitian earthquake victims by performing his street magic for 72 hours non-stop in Times Square. Lady GaGa stated that all proceeds from her New York City concert would go towards Haitian relief efforts. The concert raised just over $500,000. Irish businessman Denis O'Brien and professional golfer Tiger Woods both donated $3 million of their own money. John Travolta piloted his own private jet to Haiti on January 26th, bringing six tons of ready to eat military meals and medical supplies, as well as bringing over several doctors and ministers. Professional baseball player Miguel Trejada personally delivered several humanitarian supplies to Haiti.

Many celebrities, in one form or another, have aided Haitian relief efforts since the devastating quake in 2010. Whether it be in the form of a large monetary donation, physical help, etc., the celebrity response to a disaster generally helps it become and maintain popularity. If not for the celebrities, the mass media would probably begin to lose interest in the story over short time. At the same time, the humanitarian response from celebrities often helps them in return, by offering positive feedback, publicity, and popularity in the public eye.

Sources:
Petry, R. (2010). Should you use a celebrity?
http://www.responsemagazine.com/response-magazine/should-you-use-a-celebrity-491

Us magazine. (2010). Gisele Gives $1.5 Million to Haiti Relief Efforts.
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebritynews/news/gisele-give-million-to-haiti-relief-efforts-2010151

ROC4Life. (2010). Top Ten Celebrity donations to Haiti.
http://www.roc4life.com/profiles/blogs/top-10-celebrity-donations-to

Wycleaf Jean runs for President of Haiti

Shortly after the January 12th earthquake, singer/rapper Wycleaf Jean, a natural born native of Haiti, announces his candidacy for President. Jean was one of the first celebrities to offer aid to the Haitian community after the devastating earthquake. "I knew I'd have to take the next step,"  he said, after spending days delivering corpses to morgues in Haiti. The singer claimed that if it were not for the earthquake, he still would have ran for President of Haiti, "If it wasn't for the earthquake, I probably would have waited another ten years before doing this." He also stated, "the quake drove home for me that Haiti can't wait another ten years for us to bring it into the 21st century."

Not only is Wycleaf Jean popluar in Haiti for his music, but his charity work as chairman for the Yele Haiti Foundation. After the quake, Wycleaf was allegedly accused of mishandling funds through his non-profit organization. It was investigated that Jean was supposedly paid for performances at fundraising events, and used some of the funds to purchase advertising air-time on a television station he is co-owner of, among other suspicious irregularities. The foundation quickly hired a new accounting firm after the accusation, to whip the accounting books into shape. Jean publically denied the allegations, calling them "accounting errors," and eventually resigned as chairman, after raising more than $9 million post-earthquake.

Among Wycleaf, dozens of others announced their candidacy for President, including Jean's uncle, Raymond Joseph, who is the Haitian ambassador in Washington. Other candidates include former mayors, prime ministers, and another Haitian-born musician, Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly. Many thought Wycleaf's candidacy for President would be a huge help to the devestated society, win or lose, given his popularity here in the United States. It was thought that the media attention would be far greater with him running for President, as well as more money being donated to help victims. On the other hand, some were worried about his lack of a political career, as well as the fact that the rapper had spent most of his time residing in the U.S. His secret weapon in his Presidential candidacy is that the "enormous youth population doesn't believe in it's politicians anymore."

Sources:
CNN World. (2010). Wycleaf Jean runs for President of Haiti.
Retrieved from
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-08-06/world/haiti.wyclef.jean.president_1_yele-haiti-foundation-jean-shot-haitian-people?_s=PM:WORLD

The Huffington Post. (2010). Wycleaf Jean to run for President of Haiti.
Retrieved from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/03/wyclef-jean-to-run-for-pr_n_669480.html

Padgett, T. (2010). Wycleaf Jean to run for President of Haiti.
TIME news. Retrieved from
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2008588-1,00.html

Early Response

In the days following the earthquake, President Obama gave an inspirational speech of what lies ahead. "I’ve directed my administration to launch a swift, coordinated and aggressive effort to save lives and support the recovery in Haiti. The losses that have been suffered in Haiti are nothing less than devastating, and responding to a disaster of this magnitude will require every element of our national capacity — our diplomacy and development assistance; the power of our military; and, most importantly, the compassion of our country." He concluded his speech with a personal message of hope to the people of Haiti, "Finally, I want to speak directly to the people of Haiti. Few in the world have endured the hardships that you have known. Long before this tragedy, daily life itself was often a bitter struggle. And after suffering so much for so long, to face this new horror must cause some to look up and ask, have we somehow been forsaken? To the people of Haiti, we say clearly, and with conviction, you will not be forsaken; you will not be forgotten. In this, your hour of greatest need, America stands with you. The world stands with you. We know that you are a strong and resilient people. You have endured a history of slavery and struggle, of natural disaster and recovery. And through it all, your spirit has been unbroken and your faith has been unwavering. So today, you must know that help is arriving — much, much more help is on the way."

The United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), as well as other search and rescue teams, arrived in Haiti less than 24 hours after the quake. The teams came from all over the world, including some of the urban areas of the United States, such as Los Angeles, Miami, Virginia Beach, and New York City. Their mission called for a "swfit, coordinated, and aggressive effort to save lives," as mandated by President Obama. Together, the teams rescued a total of 136 survivors, that were pulled out of the rubble.

The United States' initial response began with a pledge of $100 million to the relief efforts in Haiti, and President Obama promised more was to come. The U.S. quickly deployed staff from 17 government agencies and departments, including USAID, the Department of Defense, etc. Our response included over 20,000 civilians and military personnel. Together, they were responsible for the largest urban food distribution in history, delivering food to 3.5 million people. Emergency shelter was immediately given to 1.5 million.

Sources:
President Barack Obama's statement regarding relief efforts in Haiti. (January 14, 2010.)
http://www.jdnews.com/articles/obama-71790-president-recovery.html

The USAID/Haiti: Post Earthquake Response Homepage.
http://www.usaid.gov/ht/helphaiti.html

Office of the Press Secretary. (2010). The United States Government's Haiti Earthquake Response. The White House.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/united-states-governments-haiti-earthquake-response