Ruth Adomunes has never felt as if life was driven by technology. Yet for the past week, this local nurse and humanitarian has found herself glued to the computer and the television for information about Haiti since a magnitude 7.0 earthquake tore the impoverished Caribbean nation apart. More specifically, she is riveted by news about Jeremie, a coastal village located about 100 miles north of the epicenter of the catastrophic earthquake.
Haitian linguist and journalist Nicolas André sent this account of the hours and days after the Jan. 12 earthquake to BHR contributor Emmanuel W. Vedrine in Boston. Vedrine has translated his report from French to English.
For anyone who missed it (where were you??), here's the closing performance of last night's impressive Hope for Haiti telethon, in which Wyclef Jean and fellow Haitian musicians played a medley. The highlight: 'Clef saying: "Hold up, hold up. Enough of the moping. Let's rebuild Haiti... Let's show them how we do it where we come from." Solid indeed.
The Washington Post published an interesting op-ed piece on Thursday from Elliott Abrams, who served as assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs in the Reagan administration and was a deputy national security adviser to President George W. Bush. This veteran of two Republican administrations makes the case that many Democrats would likely agree with: We need to open the doors to a new wave of Haitian immigrants as one way to help Haiti in the aftermath of Jan. 12.
The Longwood Symphony Orchestra at the New England Conservatory are planning a program called "Symphonic Relief For Haiti: A Global Concert to Benefit Partners In Health" for Sunday January 31, 2010, from 12:30—2 p.m.
Here is the release from NEC:
Goal is to Raise $250,000 for Earthquake Ravaged Country
An event benefit for Haitian relief through Partners in Health will be held on Sunday, Jan 24. at OM in Harvard Square. It will run from 6p.m. to 10p.m., with a $10 donation to gain entrance or $20 and your first Pinnacle vodka drink is on the house, as well as food specials all night (with a large percentage of sales being donated by OM). Fifty percent of all Pinnacle vodka sales will also be donated all night.
Here is a facebook page for the event.
The Reggie Lewis Center Gymnasium will be the venue tonight for a special gathering to support the nationally televised Hope for Haiti telethon. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the televised program starts at 8 p.m. The telethon will be shown on two big screens at the RCC facility.
Partners in Health, the Boston-based organization that has thousands of medical personnel and volunteers on the ground in Haiti right now, has put out the call today for volunteers and supplies that they say are urgently needed both in Haiti and in Boston. Read their latest update here.
In a new post in the Huffington Post, Toussaint L'Ouverture biographer Madison Smartt Bell presents this novel idea as a key ingredient to re-building Haiti: "Hire Haitians."
Catholic Charities says that it will work with immigration attorneys from Boston law firms to provide free advice to Haitian nationals who are eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) under a directive issued by the Obama administration last week. The legal assistance clinics will be held on Friday (1/22) and Saturday (1/23) from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. at Catholic Charities Haitian Multi Service Center in
Dorchester.