If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
After meeting the Haitian leadership at St. Damien's and St. Luke's Hospitals, I can tell you first hand that there is a great deal to be hopeful about in Haiti.
Today I am living on $1.50 for all of my food and drink costs. Why? Because 1.4 billion people around the world don't have the option, and because I want to support a friend who showed me how to be a better man, a more gracious leader, and a more inspired human being.
How is 'need' and 'sustained recovery' being assessed if not through continuous dialogue with the injured group, in this case Haitian people and its governance?
The fight for women's rights has been a long struggle in Haiti. Until seven years ago, rape wasn't even punishable by law. It wasn't a crime until some very brave Haitian women won the battle in 2005.
Everyone was astonished by the condition of both buildings from the earthquake ... and the tent camps that still remain in the main square.
On its face, the idea sounds wonderful: get trash out of the oceans, and use it to make building blocks for homes that can then be built in the poorest of communities.
This Tuesday, April 10, Rick Santorum, who had given Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney a serious run for his money, bowed out of the race, leaving th...
Mario Joseph is Haiti's most influential and respected human rights attorney. Since 1996, he has led the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) in Port-au-Prince, which uses prominent human rights cases and a victim-centered approach in the interest of the poor majority.
All of these children are in need of rescue -- all are children whose potential contributions to their society are being lost. All are a challenge to our consciences and to our capacity to do what we all instinctively want to do when we see a child in danger -- to save that child.
The scapegoating and persecution took several forms documented in the report, including physical violence against LGBT people in the camps where displaced people were living, and sexual violence, including so-called "corrective rape."
My understandings of relationship and research changed substantially after the earthquake struck in Haiti. How did this event two years ago change me and the ways I approach my work? The list is long.
The experiences I had upon going back to Haiti and seeing the incredible poverty and turmoil this already impoverished nation was coping with have affected my life in a way that has forever changed me.
So much happens to all of us in the Jacmel training as we go deeper, become more aware, take chances, and connect over five days.
The loss of life here in Jacmel is far less than in Port-au-Prince but the burden is still heavy. There are of course the ordinary deaths that come with age, and the losses of younger people cut down by accident, sudden illness, or murder.
The pursuits of foreign firms -- making governance decisions about rebuilding, paving the way for other firms, racking up humanitarian clout -- have been at the expense of Haitians still struggling for basic needs and democratic power.
By the second day there are actually 135 participants -- almost 180 of us altogether. The ones who didn't come to the opening are present and others from the waiting list have found a way.
