Junot Diaz on Haiti

Dominican-American Junot Diaz, MIT professor, author of The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and former guest speaker at BSU, spoke about the lessons of the earthquake on Tom Ashbrook's On Point radio program. The segment On What Disasters Reveal is thought-provoking. Will increasing inequality mean that Haiti is a precursor for what much of the world will be like? The amplitude of disasters, as he points out, reflect a society's  economic and systemic layers of protection.

United Nations and Satellite Technology in Haiti

The Haiti earthquake was a major test of the UN Spider system, which was established in 2006 to coordinate the use of satellite programs for major events and disasters. Coordinates magazine, published online in India, discusses the program's Lessons from Haiti.

Haiti Shelterbox project at Sharon UU: Sunday afternoon April 11

Visit the First Parish Bridgewater blog to learn about a project to provide rainy-season shelter in Haiti.

BSC students in South Carolina helping Haiti

Diane Bell, Director of BSC's Community Service Center, just sent this message from South Carolina, about student work that will benefit people in Haiti directly. Again, we can be very proud. --JHB

Today it rained in Myrtle Beach so we were not able to build on our Habitat for Humanity home in Longs, SC.  We were able to build over 80 walls that will be sent and assembled in Haiti.  They will become shelter (small sheds) for families living in tents in Haiti.  One of the Haitian students at Coastal Carolina University said she hopes her family receives one of these "homes".  That truly touched our students.

One of our students was interviewed by the local television station and it's supposed to air tonite on Channel 23 news.  Her name is Nicole Weber.  Sharri Reddish, an RA, said "I can't wait to tell Richardson what we did today!"

I hope I can send a few photos.  I've had some problems doing so down here.  Thanks and I'll see everyone on Tuesday.  We have had an incredible trip!

More on recent earthquakes from BSC experts

Wicked Local reporter Rebecca Hyman has written an excellent story about recent earthquakes and the possibilities for quakes in New England. She includes two BSC professors among the experts she consulted for the story.

NPR also recently aired an excellent comparative segment by reporter Jason Beaubien (whose name means "good/well" in French/Spanish), who has traveled to both earthquake zones. His story emphasizes the extent to which Chile is in a position to provide much of its own assistance.

Environmental & Health Concerns in Haiti

Though it feels like the earthquake crisis in Haiti happened quite some time ago, it has been only two months since the natural disaster shook the country. Let's not forget about this important topic...

I came across this article about the environmental and health concerns that Haiti and its people are facing, and I thought it was a well-written piece about another aspect of the earthquake aftermath that is often overlooked.

Has anyone else discovered any good pieces about Haiti recently?

Healthy Haiti Coffee results

Dean Cycon just sent the following message to customers:

A big THANK YOU to everyone for participating in our Haiti Earthquake Relief effort.  For the month of February, 100% of the proceeds from the sale of Healthy Haiti coffee was donated to Partners In Health.  The grand total was $15,974.35, YEOW!  Way to rise to Haiti's Aid Dean's Beans Drinkers!

Still want to support the tremendous efforts that will be needed to rebuild Haiti?  Going forward $3.00 from the sale of Healthy Haiti Coffee will be donated to Partners in Health.

Thanks so much for your support!

James H-B adds: Because of the extreme deforestation and other difficulties in Haiti even before the earthquake, Deans Beans has not been able to secure a source of fair-trade, organic coffee from the country. Healthy Haiti is a blend (quite an excellent one) from elsewhere in the Americas, the sale of which has been supporting PIH. In the longer term, the development of fair-trade coffee growing in Haiti could be an excellent model of "trade not aid" in the support of the country's on-going development. Stay tuned!

Hope.Help.Haiti. Video

Thank you to Kayo Ichimura for this excellent video describing the Hope.Help.Haiti.event at BSC. As the video makes clear, we are proud of what we have done so far as a campus community, and we are determined to do even more.

Violence against women

Many women and girls in Haiti are in special need of help. They continue to be re-victimized by men who rob them of relief supplies or lurk around distribution centers in order to assault them sexually. Women are trying to band together and aid workers are developing elaborate decoy schemes, but the abuses continue. The collapse of an over-crowded prison during the quake itself has put thousands of dangerous men on the street, compounding a situation in which women were already particularly vulnerable.