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Blogs about: Haiti

In a country already marred with a tragic history came the news that a catastrophic earthquake destroyed most of Haiti’s capital and caused untold death and destruction. We weep with those who weep in Haiti, and do what we can to help those who are suffering.

To see the latest posts from WordPress.com users writing about Haiti, read below:

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Triple "A": Art, Apology, and Anniversary
reinventing the event horizon

A few updates on this travel day.  (Yes, hopefully I’ll be in Port-au-Prince by Saturday evening.)  Be sure to keep reading, as I’ll share some new art at the end. First, I want to apologize for not reading anyone’s blog yesterday.   Leaving a house for several months and traveling internationally with a dog require a good bit of preparation.  Given this, I’ve been insanely busy over the last couple of days, so please forgive this lapse.  Actually, reading your posts is a favorite activity of mine, so I promise to get back to regular reading early next week. Second–yesterday, it was a month since I was Freshly Pressed, so since I’ll be traveling today, I thought you might enjoy looking at that post.  I know it’s not been that long, but so many of you have only begun reading my blog in the last 2 or 3 weeks, a decent number may not have seen it yet.  If you haven’t read “A Tale of Miserable Failure: Moanings of a Second Language Lear

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Luxuries Most-Missed in Haiti: an Inventory
reinventing the event horizon

Item #2—(Without a doubt)—bandwidth— First a bit of context— Most of you reading this post will do so using a high-speed internet connection, the speed of which exceeds the old dial-up connection by hundreds of times.  Do most of you even remember how slow dial-up was?  Yes, I know, when you think “dial-up,” you think dinosaur, not so much from the last decade, but from the remote history of the previous century.  (Does anyone even use dial-up any more?) More context— I have given up my career teaching writing to live on island with the infrastructure of 19th-Century London, given it up, hoping to make meaning from the work of ACTUAL writing, rather than the work of merely teaching writing.  Given this, the tools of the trade tend to matter.  At least they matter to me. Herein lies my problem—namely that I’m blogging, and blogging requires bandwidth—or, at the very least, the option of up-loading text and images at a reasonably decent speed—and by “decent” I mean—able to post 1000 word

The Latest Posts in Haiti
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Haiti aftermath..a day to remember by Niko Guido
Welcome to BB Planet

The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 M earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately 25 kmwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater had been recorded. An estimated three million people were affected by the quake; the Haitian government reported that an estimated 316,000 people had died, 300,000 had been injured and 1,000,000 made homeless The death toll has also been suggested to be much lower at somewhere between 92,000 and 220,000, with around 1.5 million to 1.8 million homeless. The government of Haiti also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged. The earthquake caused major damage in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other settlements in the region. Many notable landmark buildings were significantly damaged or destroyed, including the Presi

Make Green, Not Greed: Sustainability in Haitian Art
reinventing the event horizon
Serving or Sightseeing?
Because I Have Something To Say

It’s just about Valentine’s day again, and for most people this is a reminder to show care to those they love. Feburary 14, also means that my mailbox will once again be filled with letters asking for funds to support teens or young adults who are ready to embark on a short term mission trip in the summer. Their trips will take them to a remote area in which they will be given a chance to show love and care to the local people of that area. Do short term mission trips really embody the command of loving others as we love ourselves? Or could the resources be used in a more effective ways? Perhaps it is time to take a fresh look at short term service trips. I grew up in a small town in Minnesota and attended a Methodist church in Minneapolis called Emmanuel Methodist Church. It was there that I first understood what a missionary was. I remember reading the true-life Paul White series. Paul White spent his life as a medical missionary in Tanzania, Africa. The books inspired me and g

Haiti Moment : Conga Line
Liquid Cloud Eleven
Haitian Press Aggressively Hunt Their Prey
Repeating Islands
Tunisia, Montreal and a Peoples' Revolt
Wikileaks & Haiti; What Latest Cables Show.
Truth For News
Baby Doc's return to Haiti
Follow The Money
Megan Coffee, M.D.
Vic Hinterlang Photojournalist Blog
BLOG 1: Where do you get your political information from?
Missouri Communication

I  sympathize with the camp that feels pretty overwhelmed by the amount of information, political or not, available today.  While politics is not a special interest of mine, I do believe that it is important to be an engaged citizen. For this reason, I try and at least familiarize myself with major political events and figures. I have a lot of pride in where I come from: Denver, CO and I hope to serve the city in some capacity through my career or volunteer work.  Much of my political interest thus revolves around Denver, the state of Colorado and issues relevant to these places.  Consequently, I look to local news sources for political information.  These include: The Denver Post The Denver Government Website (linked above as well) 5280 Magazine 9 News and occasionally Westword 5280 has great feature stories about Colorado politicians or issues especially hot in Colorado like immigration and marijuana legislation. As far as national political news goes, I usually skim over headlines t

CWTL Production Diary: Day 20/21 + 2 Years
Conversations with the Living: The Haitian AIDS Crisis

21:50 EST: After reading LC’s post from the other night, I’m not sure I can live up to the sheer volume she can crank out when she’s feeling her inner writer. That being said, I don’t have much to report on my end, aside from practically blowing up our official website. It’s currently down thanks to my magic hands. Tomorrow, I’ll be reaching out to UNICEF and Save the Children to get some movement on getting background information on the adoption process in Haiti. Right now, it just seems like a murky black hole in a semi-functioning bureaucracy where nobody really knows what to do and is ripe for exploitation. But that’s a whole other documentary. Speaking of murky black holes, I have made no progress whatsoever regarding narrative. It’s driving me mad and I think if it wasn’t for Leadbelly, I might have gone mad. But thank the lord for Huddie. Just got off the phone with GC re getting our new “official” site together a

Haitian President: Duvalier Must Face Justice
colareboenglish

Port-au-Prince, Jan 24 (Prensa Latina) Haitian President Rene Preval affirmed that former dictator Jean Claude Duvalier, “Baby Doc,” must face justice for his crimes and cannot leave the country until that process concludes. Preval recalled that the Constitution stipulates that every Haitian citizen has the right to come back to the country, but every person has to answer for their acts. Duvalier, who was in power from 1979 to 1986, was accused of corruption, embezzlement, torture, and other crimes against humanity. Nearly 30,000 people were killed and one billion USD was diverted from public funds during his 15-year administration. Duvalier must be brought to justice for the crimes he committed, stated Evans Paul, leader of the political opposition group Alternative Front.

Port au Prince
Ineffable Ideas

In “The Road to Carcasse” I mentioned the first 6 hours of the trip in passing, not going into any detail.  We left at 2am and I spent this portion of the trip attempting to sleep in the back of the car.  Yesterday I returned to Port au Prince in the day and, for the first time, saw the magnitude of the earthquake’s destruction. We finally bean driving on paved roads about four hours from Port au Prince.  It is also around this time I began to see the damage caused by the earthquake.  Large fissures jutting through the concrete walls like lightning bolts splitting the night sky.  Some so large the buildings now stand crooked; I sat baffled as I tried to figure out how these buildings still stand intact.  A short distance closer to Port au Prince many aren’t intact.  Buildings reduced to dusty piles of concrete only identifiable by their still standing signs; schools, churches, businesses, and hospitals, all reduced to nothing.  Roughly two hours away from Port au Prince 1/3 of the buil

Haiti is a shame on the world
Red Ant Liberation Army News

by JUAN DIEGO NUSA PEÑALVER Havana. January 24, 2011 Nurses Pedro Vladimir Caleiro (left) and Alejandro Fores Arafet (right), administer rehydration i.v. which saved the life of cholera patient Angela Morris.The sole mention of Haiti evokes images of destruction, poverty, disease, death, the same inferno, but in relation to the island of La Gonave, belonging to this sister Caribbean nation, there are no adjectives to describe the horrific poverty endured by its population, virtually abandoned to its fate, and now tormented by cholera. Located to the west of Port-au-Prince in the gulf of Gonave, to any outsider it presents a desolate landscape, barren and dry, which prevents agricultural cultivation, and where the lack of drinking water is threatening human life. Nevertheless, on Gonave, Cuban doctors are wasting no time in confronting not only the cholera epidemic, but as many other health problems that they come across in the Cholera Treatment Center that they established their this m

Al Jazeera Video: Haiti, the Election, the International Community, Duvalier and Aristide
haiti-cuba-venezuela

Luckily, this panel discussion includes Peter Hallward, author of the recent book:  “Damming the Flood:  Haiti, Aristide, and the Politics of Containment” which I recommend highly.  It is Hallward who provides the background on what happened to Aristide and why.  Of course, the main focus is Haiti and the ridiculous election.

Haiti : Story of Survival
Liquid Cloud Eleven

I remember being at the beach watching the news unfold of this devastating earthquake that had hit Haiti. I remember exactly where I was when we grabbed our cell phone to text a $10 donation to help the Red Cross relief efforts. I cannot imagine the sheer devastation. I cannot imagine what being on the ground must have been like. A new TRAGIC discovery around every corner, or what was once a corner. For some, it is just too overwhelming to grasp. As news of this devastating earthquake broke, organizations like the Humanitarian International Services Group were already at work. The HISG mission is simply to connect resources to human needs. Here is the story of one of those tragic discoveries and how HISG worked to connect resources… to a dire situation. Here, Executive Director for Humanitarian International Services Group, Michael McCausland (@McCauslandM) posts an update on their network for first responders… January 2010… Below is the most updated information from

Amendments to Black History Month Curriculum
Contentiousbenjamin's Weblog

I think that it’s about time for Black History Month curriculum to be amended to make up for some of the Black Americans who have been overlooked in their accomplishments to our society. I think that young people have learned about the same 15 people (give or take 5) for the past 25 years. Just to name the familiar: Martin Luther King Jr., W.E.B. Dubois, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, George Washington Carver, and Rosa Parks. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t still talk about these great human beings because the further they move into our past the more likely we are to forget  or even disregard  their impact but there should be a new generation of people added. Closer in age and in some regards relevance to the people who will be studying them. At the least break the people down into various categories:  Science, Education, Humanities, Business, Entertainment, and even countries. Here are some recommendations of who could (should) be included in new curriculum that

Violence Against Women Increasing in Haiti
The Younger Women's Task Force

Among the many issues that Haiti faces currently, violence against women is a major problem. In the many tent cities something as simple as walking around at night can be dangerous for a woman trying to survive sexual violence. Rapes are a common occurrence on many of the camps in Haiti especially the larger ones. Rape survivor, Maricia Jean states, “At first I felt very ashamed to even walk and I did not feel like a human being”. Violence against women has been the highest among women living Haiti than any other country in the Western Hemisphere. The number of rapes has increased more since the earthquake in January 2010. Many of the camps do not have lights and people are able to move from tent to tent at any given time. Numerous reports have shown that teenage pregnancy is on the rise on the camp sites. By not having access to health services, medical care, and education makes pregnancy dangerous for these young girls. The earthquake has destroyed many clinics and today many women a