Hoping to volunteer to go to Haiti? Here's how

Donna Barry, chief policy director for the Boston-based Partners in Health organization, says that the organization is now registering health care workers who are willing to go to Haiti.
"If you are a health professional interested in volunteering, please send an email to volunteer@pih.org with information on your credentials, language capabilities (Haitian Creole or French desired), availability, and contact information."
Go here for more info.

Breaking News: Kerry, Kirk call on Obama to grant TPS to Haitians

Massachusetts Senators John Kerry and Paul Kirk are calling on President Barack Obama to lift a ban on granting Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to all Haitian nationals now living in the U.S. , Kerry and Kirk joined 13 other senators in issuing a letter to the president this afternoon.

The letter follows an announcement made by the Office of Homeland Security earlier in the day that said the U.S. would halt "returns" of illegal Haitian immigrants to Haiti "for the time being." That brief statement made no mention of revising the TPS policy.

From the Archives: Catastrophe: Haiti hit with 7.0 earthquake

On the anniversary of the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake, the Reporter goes back into its archives for a look at how we covered those first hours. Below is a record of that coverage, starting just minutes after word reached Boston.

Tuesday, Jan. 12
(5:50 p.m.)- Haiti, a country besieged by deadly hurricanes and grinding poverty, has experienced yet another catastrophic natural disaster today. CNN is reporting that the island nation has been rocked by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake centered some 10 miles off the coast of the capitol Port-au-Prince.

Kenson Calixte, a Haitian-American from Abington, has talked to two relatives on the ground in Delmas, a community about 15 miles from Port-au-Prince. Calixte said they reported widespread devestation, including a hotel that had collapsed.

"My uncle said he'd never felt anything like this before," said Calixte. "The house shook and there was much damage inside the house. There are houses that have collapsed in his neighborhood."
"My cousin thinks there are casualties there at the hotel. He was walking the street saying there are a lot of people hurt."

Local author reads from L’Ouverture book at Harvard

Local activist and author Veronica De La Croix held a book signing co-hosted by the Haitian Harvard Alliance (HHA) on December 3 for her recently published text “Presenting My Hero: Toussaint L’Ouverture”. As its namesake indicates, De La Croix introduces Toussaint L’Ouverture, a leader of the struggle for Haitian independence and abolition of slavery, with her own historical assessments.
The book includes addendums such as poetry, photography, and statistics on Haiti’s 18th century economy. The central fixture of the book is L’Ouverture’s autobiography.

Let voters, not bureaucrats, decide elections

Last month Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council (PEC) took the undemocratic and dangerous step of eliminating 13 political parties, including Haiti’s most popular party, Fanmi Lavalas, from Parliamentary elections scheduled for February and March 2010. The decision threatens not only Haiti’s democracy and stability, but billions in foreign investments. Fortunately, prompt action by the United States, the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of American States (OAS) can avoid this looming disaster.

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