MMMore than a thousand people have died of cholera in Haiti over the last few weeks. Now, a couple more have been shot dead by the UN peacekeeping force, MINUSTAH, during protests that erupted earlier this week. Rumors that the disease, never present in the country before, was brought in by Nepalese UN troops were exacerbated by a CDC announcement that the strain resembles South Asian cholera. The protests the peacekeepers are trying to keep under control are against the peacekeepers themselves....
Showing posts with label haiti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label haiti. Show all posts
11/18/10
Remember Haiti? They're Getting Cholera And Shot Dead
9/20/10
Remember Haiti? It's A Rapist's Paradise
You can't walk very far out of the airport without coming up to one of the almost 1,500 camps holding more than a million displaced people. Side-to-side-to-side sheets of plastic erected low in the sweltering heat, littered paths in the narrow dirt between rows. These would be the parts with the rape and very dubious future, where the poorest Haitians have ended up. Total physical insecurity, food and water insecurity to boot. No end in sight.Mac McClelland
2/13/10
2/2/10
Face Of The Day
A U.N. police officer unties the hands of a boy who took part in looting in downtown Port-au-Prince January 29, 2010. (REUTERS/St Felix Evens) #
1/20/10
1/19/10
Tuesday Cartoon Fun: Talk Me Down* Edition
Today's cartoon comes with a concern:
I am very moved by the Haiti disaster. New reports say as many as 200,000 have died. Many survivors still need medical attention, like amputation of their crushed, gangrened limbs. Not to mention food, water and shelter. And toothpaste for the stench.
I am unable to do anything except donate very little money and encourage you to do the same. Of course, if you are an orthopedic surgeon or an OR nurse, you should drop everything and get yourself to Haiti. Bring scalpels and saws and alcohol.
There is something bothering me about the aid effort, and I think most of us are bothered by it--the slow movement of actual stuff getting to those who need it.
I have read reports of Israel's medical team arriving, with mobile hospital, staff and equipment in tow and getting down to medical business almost immediately.
I have read about the smaller NGOs getting moving much faster than the big ones. And the reports of stalls due to leadership arguments are simply amazing and disheartening.
I have seen WWII coverage. We had amphibious landers. Right now we have giant hovercrafts that can transport frickin' tanks. I think we have the ability to drive over rubble, or move it. And I think we don't need a working port. But what the hell do I know.
The giant hospital ship (USNS Comfort) will arrive tomorrow. Tomorrow! 1 week and 1 day after the quake.
Am I being unrealistic, or has our response, even given the horrible infrastructure issues, been too slow and too careful?
I think maybe, just maybe, we should hand off coordination of the effort to a nation with some fucking balls, like Israel. Can you imagine an Israeli leader on the ground recalling doctors because there might be unrest, like the Belgian (?) leadership did when they left Sanjay Gupta to staff the facility alone? No. Israel would not do that. They would send in more doctors if they could. They are tough sons-o-bitches, as Patton might say.
I think our soldiers, if left to their own devices, would find ways to get the relief out but are hindered by leadership. We often have our soldiers led by foreign officers when working in alliances. This time, when there is no war involved, we should maybe look to others for leadership.
I am not saying we are not doing our best. I am saying our best is clearly not good enough. Thoughts?
*A Maddowism
1/18/10
Why I Chose The American Red Cross
I live in the Bay Area. I lived through the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 as well as the big fire in Oakland and the surrounding area in 1991 (not to mention the 1971 Sylmar earthquake in SoCal, but that's neither here nor there).
The Oakland fire burned the private school where I was working at the time. Being a very prestigious and wealthy school with good local connections, we were able to secure a building to use during the amazingly fast reconstruction of the school. But there was a week or so right after the fire when we were all unemployed and school-less--all of us, students, teachers, day care dudes (me).
During that week I decided I would volunteer with the Red Cross, as many many people had been displaced due to the fire--something like 3000 homes were destroyed--and the agency needed people. Given, these were upper-crust homes that burned, with well-off owners, but when everything you have goes up in smoke, whatever you might have in the bank is no match for getting what you need presently. I remember seeing people I knew and even gave vouchers to some. It was sobering.
I can't remember the details of the designation I was given, but it was something like Family Management/Services or something. (I got a laminated badge, but I've since lost it. I was proud of it!) I sat in the social hall of a local women's club (after a 1-day training) the RC was using. Families, waiting in queues and chairs like at the DMV, would come up, sit across from me at the table and tell me they had nothing. They had lost everything--the car, the house, clothes, pictures, old photos, the dog and the fish (so tragic for so many kids), grandma's silver and china, the kids' ceramic hand prints from pre-school and kindergarten. Some of the folks were dirty, tired, smelly and clearly in desperate need. Others less so. They didn't have their wallets, or any way to get money. All their phone numbers were burned back in the house so they had to rely on memory. Nobody was a freeloader as far as I could tell. It was a disaster and all were thankful, especially we volunteers. It feels good to help. And it's helpful.
My job was to assess the veracity of their claim, figure out what their immediate needs were and then give them a voucher for a good or service to meet those needs. I gave out vouchers for coats, food, hotel rooms--lots of hotel rooms. Sometimes I would have to call a merchant to convince them to take a voucher, pleading with them that the Red Cross is good for the money. They all took them, eventually. At one point I made a house call to an elderly gentleman who had been taken to a convalescent home and left there! I was able to get him found, fed, and confident he would be fine. All good.
I have placed a link in the sidebar to the American Red Cross for you to donate money for the Haiti relief effort. The Red Cross was fantastic in the aftermath of the fire in Oakland in 1991. I saw this first hand as a volunteer with responsibilities and some limited authority (to dole out vouchers). The system was incredible.
The Red Cross attends every disaster in the world. They are indispensable. They need cash in the coffers BEFORE a disaster. That is why I think you should donate to the Red Cross. And you should donate monthly, if you can. Haiti is going to be expensive and take some time.
Donate. It's there on the upper left of this page. (Of course I don't really mind if you give in some other way or to some other NGO. Just do your part.)
The Oakland fire burned the private school where I was working at the time. Being a very prestigious and wealthy school with good local connections, we were able to secure a building to use during the amazingly fast reconstruction of the school. But there was a week or so right after the fire when we were all unemployed and school-less--all of us, students, teachers, day care dudes (me).
During that week I decided I would volunteer with the Red Cross, as many many people had been displaced due to the fire--something like 3000 homes were destroyed--and the agency needed people. Given, these were upper-crust homes that burned, with well-off owners, but when everything you have goes up in smoke, whatever you might have in the bank is no match for getting what you need presently. I remember seeing people I knew and even gave vouchers to some. It was sobering.
I can't remember the details of the designation I was given, but it was something like Family Management/Services or something. (I got a laminated badge, but I've since lost it. I was proud of it!) I sat in the social hall of a local women's club (after a 1-day training) the RC was using. Families, waiting in queues and chairs like at the DMV, would come up, sit across from me at the table and tell me they had nothing. They had lost everything--the car, the house, clothes, pictures, old photos, the dog and the fish (so tragic for so many kids), grandma's silver and china, the kids' ceramic hand prints from pre-school and kindergarten. Some of the folks were dirty, tired, smelly and clearly in desperate need. Others less so. They didn't have their wallets, or any way to get money. All their phone numbers were burned back in the house so they had to rely on memory. Nobody was a freeloader as far as I could tell. It was a disaster and all were thankful, especially we volunteers. It feels good to help. And it's helpful.
My job was to assess the veracity of their claim, figure out what their immediate needs were and then give them a voucher for a good or service to meet those needs. I gave out vouchers for coats, food, hotel rooms--lots of hotel rooms. Sometimes I would have to call a merchant to convince them to take a voucher, pleading with them that the Red Cross is good for the money. They all took them, eventually. At one point I made a house call to an elderly gentleman who had been taken to a convalescent home and left there! I was able to get him found, fed, and confident he would be fine. All good.
I have placed a link in the sidebar to the American Red Cross for you to donate money for the Haiti relief effort. The Red Cross was fantastic in the aftermath of the fire in Oakland in 1991. I saw this first hand as a volunteer with responsibilities and some limited authority (to dole out vouchers). The system was incredible.
The Red Cross attends every disaster in the world. They are indispensable. They need cash in the coffers BEFORE a disaster. That is why I think you should donate to the Red Cross. And you should donate monthly, if you can. Haiti is going to be expensive and take some time.
Donate. It's there on the upper left of this page. (Of course I don't really mind if you give in some other way or to some other NGO. Just do your part.)
1/16/10
Satan's Letter To Pat
From Jay at swimming freestyle (sans links):
A letter to Pat Robertson
OK, is there now anyone left who doesn't think Pat Robertson is a despicable, heartless dick and the very antithesis of Christian charity and compassion?
Via Swampland came this link to a letter to the editor of a Minneapolis newspaper.
Dear Pat Robertson,
I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I'm all over that action. But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished. Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth -- glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven't you seen "Crossroads"? Or "Damn Yankees"? If I had a thing going with Haiti, there'd be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox -- that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it -- I'm just saying: Not how I roll. You're doing great work, Pat, and I don't want to clip your wings -- just, come on, you're making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That's working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.
Best,
Satan
1/14/10
Haiti, Updated Again
I don't have much to say that hasn't been said by everyone else, I just wanted you all to know that I am painfully aware of the horror and am proud to be an American. It is times like these that restore my faith(?) in humanity, with the outpouring of aid and money and concern.
So, with that, some Haiti history:
Toussaint Louverture. From a group of engravings done in post-Revolutionary France. (1802)
From Wikipedia:
Update: Here is a link I should have included with ways you can help Haiti, sent to me by a reader.
Update II: Here is another link to a great piece that gives some background about what Pat Robertson was erroneously referring to when he invokedhimself the Devil.
So, with that, some Haiti history:
Toussaint Louverture. From a group of engravings done in post-Revolutionary France. (1802)
From Wikipedia:
François-Dominique Toussaint L'ouverture, also Toussaint Bréda, Toussaint-Louverture (20 May 1743 – 8 April 1803) was a leader of the Haitian Revolution. Born in Saint Domingue, in a long struggle for independence Toussaint led enslaved Africans to victory over Europeans, abolished slavery, and secured native control over the colony, Haiti, in 1797 while nominally governor of the colony. He expelled the French commissioner Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, as well as the British armies; invaded Santo Domingo to free the slaves there; and wrote a constitution naming himself governor-for-life that established a new polity for the colony.Santana also has a song titled Toussaint L'overture
Especially between the years 1800 and 1802, Toussaint L'ouverture tried to rebuild the collapsed economy of Haiti and reestablish commercial contacts with the United States and Britain. His rule permitted the colony a taste of freedom which, after his death in exile, was gradually destroyed during the successive reigns of a series of despots. Translated from French, his name means "the awakening of all saints" or "all souls rising". His last words were to his son in France, "My boy, you will one day go back to St. Domingo; forget that France murdered your father."
Update: Here is a link I should have included with ways you can help Haiti, sent to me by a reader.
Update II: Here is another link to a great piece that gives some background about what Pat Robertson was erroneously referring to when he invoked
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