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| December 30, 2010 |
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| December 28, 2010 |
Here is the link to the tribute-- the one on this site doesn’t seem to be working
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c4O0YiDGJQ
| December 21, 2010 |
Free the Children
UNICEF
| December 16, 2010 |
Hinche General Hospital has one of the largest in-patient cholera treatment centers in the region. Since Oct. 23, when they received their first cholera case, the hospital has cared for over 3,500 patients. Just 27 died.
Dr Prince, supervisor of the cholera wards, greeted us by touching forearms, a precautionary greeting in Haiti's handshake culture. Craig and I had come with cholera medicines and supplies from FTC and told Dr Prince that a huge container with $2.8 million worth of meds is currently being shipped to the hospital.
The cholera wards are a series of military tents set up behind a fence on the hospital grounds. This separate unit prevents the spread of cholera to the HIV/AIDS and maternal health wings.
As we entered, our shoes were sprayed with disinfectant and Dr. Prince walked us through the units for children, women and men. Dr Prince told us that the number of new cases had halved in the past week, but that, he supposed is because people are afraid to take to the roads because of the violence. So they are dying in their homes instead of coming to the hospital.
As we entered, our shoes were sprayed with disinfectant and Dr. Prince walked us through the units for children, women and men. Dr Prince told us that the number of new cases had halved in the past week, but that, he supposed is because people are afraid to take to the roads because of the violence. So they are dying in their homes instead of coming to the hospital.
| December 12, 2010 |
In addition to his hospital in Haiti, Farmer oversees projects in Russia, Lesotho, Malawi and Peru and in Rwanda where he lives much of the time. We first met on a flight from Kigali to Uganda.
To contain the cholera, the patients are not in the main hospital but in a series of army tents. With the airport, ports and many roads closed, the doctor says they have medicines enough for just 2 more weeks.
Forseeing the violence that could accompany the elections, Dr Prince, who oversees the cholera wards, had, along with several colleagues, publically called for the candidates to postpone the elections until after the epidemic subsides. All of the candidates refused. This says a lot about the priorities of these candidates. They put their own ambitions above the needs of the people and with this decision lives are being lost. The roads are not safe and people who desperately need treatment are unable to get here. A person can die in the first 4 hours.
I can't send photos but will soon.
We are setting out for the Dominican Republic, a 12 hour drive, but hopefully we will be able to fly out of the airport there tomorrow
| December 11, 2010 |
even in the rubble, a parent teaches his child
no food today for this little boy who lives with his mother in rubble on a rooftop
| December 10, 2010 |
Things here seem to be deteriorating . Information via UNDP and the radio is that candidate Celestine's supporters in Cite Solei have received a large shipment of 9mm guns. Unless the three candidates come up with a solution tonight, it is likely that armed men will take to the streets. The result will be further suffering for the people as Haiti regresses 10 years and returns to civil war .
Yesterday's hour or so drive to Carfour Orphange was eerie. Luca was driving, fast. His wife Erin held their 6 week old son, Craig, between us. Two other cars with the Canadian crew followed. We were a convoy of three vehicles. There were no other cars on the roads, only an MSF vehicle also halted by a road block. The streets are strewn with rubble and burning things. I saw very few women but many men, just standing about, or creating more firey road blocks.
Tense moment when a gang of angry men, perhaps drunk, surrounded our car, shouting, demanding. But Luca, not a man to lose his cool, somehow turned things around and eventually enlisted the men's support for our journey to the orphanage. One by one they began lifting rocks, moving the barricades and we were off. Today, all told, we encountered dozens of roadblocks. Maybe 50.
We learned that a friend of Erin and Luca has been shot by supporters of Celestine.The airport is shut down. Also the banks, schools-everything. The hotel has to ration water -two hours today. And they have run out of fruit, vegetables and juices. Talk has turned to how we will be able to get out of Haiti safely . For now we stay on schedule and leave for a school -some 3 hours drive into the countryside- built by Free the Children. The challenge may be leaving the city. Hopefully the night was calm.
| December 9, 2010 |
The violence in Port au Prince is an expression of the people's outrage and frustration over the election, which is widely believed to be fraudulent.
Former first lady Madam Manigat got 31% of the votes, and -what has really inflamed the people- the Preval-backed candidate, Jude Celestin is said to have received 22.45 % of the votes. Nobody here believes this is anything other than fraud. There is no shortage of accounts of ballot box stuffing. The candidate of the people is Michel Martelly aka Sweet Mickey who is said to have received just 21.24% of the votes. To win the election a candidate must have 50% so there will be a run off. I was in one of the tent camps when Sweet Mickey came on the radio. Everyone was listening. He called for continued protests but asked people to stay calm and not to resort to violence. Hopefully they will heed him. We saw a man who has been shot in the leg. People were throwing rocks, setting fire to cars and barricading the streets with burning tires. When gunshots were heard and men carrying big sticks and clubs joined the march along the main street, many of the women left.
I am having problems sending photos but will catch up when I get back.
I have stories of some of the courageous women living with their children in tents. Anne Marie with her 10 children in a 10x12 tattered tent. And of one man, a Catholic Brother who, 35 years ago created something wonderful which continues to change the lives of thousands. No time now. Hopefully we will be able to out of Port au Prince to visit an orphanage supported by Free the Children.
| December 8, 2010 |
The people here are not happy with the election results. Most of the streets are closed. The UNDP people are also in this little hotel - in lockdown, listening to the radio. They say people are throwing rocks, burning tires and expressing their frustration in all ways. Our plan was to visit an orphanage outside the city but we don't think we can get out, at least not this morning. Even the police cannot get to their posts. So we are going to try to visit a tent community of mainly women and children. See how that goes.
| December 7, 2010 |
It felt as if my heart was stopping as I flew into Port au Prince. Even from the air you can see the rubble, the sea of tents. Still, our plane was met by a band of musicians. Haiti is full of artists-painters, musicians, artisans.
Craig Keilberger and some Free the Children staffers met me at the airport. Tents are crammed everywhere around the airport and we walked among them to talk to the people. Some men were making metal sculptures, some children high-fived, others watched shyly from a distance.. We met a group of women making bracelets from cardboard covered with paper from magazines. They coat them and can sell them for 9 cents per bracelet. On a good week they can make as much as15 dollars.
People have access to clean water, thanks to the Red Cross, and the latrines are also maintained by the Red Cross. We were told the government had been no help- ”If we left it to the government we would all be dead” one man told me.
In this atmosphere, the elections results will be announced in a couple of hours. People don’t believe the process was conducted fairly, ballot boxes were stuffed, they say to favor Jude Celestine, current President Prevals candidate. Tonight the tension is palpable.
| December 4, 2010 |
You could give a soccer ball or just help impoverished kids
Check out The Save the Children's 2010 Gift Catalog www.savethechildren.org/gifts
Check out The Save the Children's 2010 Gift Catalog www.savethechildren.org/gifts
Through Heifer International- you can lift a family out of desperate poverty by giving, say, a flock of chicks, or even a cow.
http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.204586/
http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.204586/
For 199 dollars you can give an indestructible laptop to a child in the developing world
http://laptop.org/en/participate/ways-to-give.shtmlFor 20 dollars you can give a wood stove to a family in Darfur and save women from risking rape as they search for firewood
| December 3, 2010 |
Woman in North Kivu.
Congo's people are on the run. In North Kivu families told me they had fled more than a dozen times but the front line is always changing and armed militia/ rapists are everywhere. In this camp, that week a one year old had been raped. people were preparing to flee again
Linkhttp://www.un.org/News/dh/latest/drcongo.htm
excerpts:
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An IMF office memorandum indicates that "Burundi does not produce gold, diamonds, columbo-tantalite, copper, cobalt, or basic metals". Burundi however has been exporting minerals it does not produce. As in the case of Uganda and Rwanda, Burundi's export of diamonds dates from 1998, coinciding with the occupation of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The coltan exports span a longer period (1995-1999), perhaps suggesting that this might be a regular activity.
-- natural resources imported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo are repackaged or sealed as Ugandan natural resources or products and re-exported. That is the case for some gold, diamonds, coltan and coffee exported by Uganda. The re-exportation economy has had a tremendous impact on the financing of the war--
The gold and diamonds are being sold by RCD-Goma in exchange for cash or bartered for armaments and medicines to support continuation of the current hostilities. RCD-Goma's representatives in Dar es Salaam also arrange for the purchase of foodstuffs and other logistical needs for the war effort. In addition, timber resources from the Democratic Republic of the Congo are being shipped through Dar es Salaam to Greece and Belgium. In the case of Greece, the timber transaction is being partially arranged by an import/export business located in Goma. The shipments of gold, diamonds and timber are also processed in Dar es Salaam in cooperation with RCD representatives by a company believed to be a covert business entity created for the purpose of facilitating support for the financial and logistical operations of RCD-Goma. --
Zimbabwe has financed its involvement in the conflict in two different ways: (a) by using the defence budget - the bulk of Zimbabwe's military expenses seem to be covered by the regular budget; (b) by indirect financing of the war through direct payment by some Congolese entities, mainly companies.
ngola and Namibia -These two countries have financed their participation in the conflict with their regular defence budget.
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The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has become mainly about access, control and trade of five key mineral resources: coltan, diamonds, copper, cobalt and gold. The wealth of the country is appealing and hard to resist in the context of lawlessness and the weakness of the central authority.
214. Exploitation of the natural resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by foreign armies has become systematic and systemic. Plundering, looting and racketeering and the constitution of criminal cartels are becoming commonplace in occupied territories. These criminal cartels have ramifications and connections worldwide, and they represent the next serious security problem in the region.
215. The role of the private sector in the exploitation of natural resources and the continuation of the war has been vital. A number of companies have been involved and have fueled the war directly, trading arms for natural resources. Others have facilitated access to financial resources, which are used to purchase weapons. Companies trading minerals, which the Panel considered to be "the engine of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo" have prepared the field for illegal mining activities in the country.
217. Top military commanders from various countries, for different reasons, needed and continue to need this conflict for its lucrative nature and for temporarily solving some internal problems in those countries as well as allowing access to wealth. They have realized that the war has the capacity to sustain itself, and therefore have created or protected criminal networks that are likely to take over fully if all foreign armies decide to leave the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
218. The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, because of its lucrative nature, has created a "win-win" situation for all belligerents. Adversaries and enemies are at times partners in business (Maï-Maï and Rwandans and Congolese rebels), prisoners of Hutu origin are mine workers of RPA, enemies get weapons from the same dealers and use the same intermediaries. Business has superseded security concerns. The only loser in this huge business venture is the Congolese people.
| December 1, 2010 |
BANGUI, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir missed Central African Republic's independence celebration on Wednesday after what a local official said was diplomatic pressure for the genocide indictee to stay away.
Bashir, whose indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes in Sudan's Darfur has restricted his movements to friendly nations, also failed to show up for a European Union-Africa summit in Libya earlier this week.
The ICC had urged Central African Republic to comply with an international obligation to arrest Bashir if he turned up.
There was no official explanation for Bashir's absence from the event in its neighbour. But an aide to Central African Republic President Francois Bozize said it followed a long conversation late on Tuesday between Bozize and French Cooperation Minister Henri de Raincourt, who was present.
"I think Bashir's absence is a result of the conversation between the French minister and the head of state," the aide said. "Not only France finds this invitation very embarrassing but it would cause us big problems if Bashir came."
Bashir's absence from two regional events in the space of less than a week is an indication of the concerted diplomatic pressure on even nearby countries to shun him.
http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFLDE6B019I20101201