I met Ben Stiller before the quake. There was a "pre-meeting" where I believe I was being assessed. I like Ben Stiller from the movies but you never know what's going to happen when you actually meet someone.
It was a RAM Thursday at the Hotel Oloffson in Port au Prince; Ben comes over for dinner and he's at the table sitting across from me. He asks, after a bit of small talk: "So, did the CIA really take Aristide out of here?" I looked at him, it was just like a movie. I was a bit blind-sided by the question. I leaned forward, and asked him, "Have you ever met someone from the CIA?" He hadn't. I leaned forward even farther, lowered my voice even more and told him, "They always wear funny shoes." Those within earshot fought the temptation to look under the table.
Recently Ben paid me a post-quake visit. When Ben comes to Haiti, he builds schools, meets First Ladies, meets artists and stays very busy. I like Ben. Even though he hangs out with friends of Bill Clinton, and I sometimes criticize Bill Clinton, I still like Ben. I even like Bill Clinton for that matter, but I criticize him because I have great expectations of him.
When I told Ben that I wanted to do free concerts for people living in Tent Cities with my Haitian band RAM, he immediately said, "I'll talk to Sean." Low and behold, within 24 hours, Sean Penn was at the Hotel Oloffson with a slew of Hollywood types too numerous to mention. That evening we also had a table full of Architecture For Humanity people who did extensive work in New Orleans after Katrina.
Sean Penn, if you haven't heard, is doing incredible work here in Haiti (the greatest Penn since William). He's running a town of quake-displaced Haitians totaling about 60,000. I listened with great interest as Sean praised different players for helping him in his efforts. The day to day logistics of running a tent city are mind boggling and Sean has brought together a team that ranges from Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and the Haitian Economic Elite Families to U.S. Special Forces and the UN.
The first time I had ever heard of Sean Penn, he was going out with Madonna and he was in trouble for punching a photographer in the face. When I recently saw the movie Milk, I was more than impressed. It seems he's come a long way. He's still touchy about getting his picture taken and I take this moment to thank him for taking a picture with my wife, Lunise. I like Sean. He scares me a little because he seems so intense, but I like him.
So we have Sean Penn running a refugee city and Ben Stiller is building schools. What am I doing? Am I just going to sit here at my computer complaining about the injustices of the world? Am I going to write a song about the earth quake? Maybe I can slip $10 to someone who comes up to me and tells me they lost their whole family and home during the earth quake.
Last week, with the help of one of my staff people and the help of a grassroots coordinator I know, I held a meeting with fourteen people from the neighborhood Kafou Fey, and within a week they had identified 25,000 people who didn't have enough access to; toilets, drinking water, showers, electricity, lights to deter rape, shelter, rubble removal, communication technology, clinics, psychological treatment and schools.
Kafou Fey is Red Zoned by the International Community (whether they admit it or not) which means that the people of Kafou Fey don't deserve their help and may not get it. My grassroots coordinator was offered 100 toilets by an NGO which is responsible for the area but within a week, three months after the quake, I identified the need for over a thousand toilets at 25 people per toilet. Imagine what i could do in two or three months.
The second phase of my plan is to go to the Haitian countryside to try and identify the needs of peasants and farmers in the rural sector. Haiti's rural sector used to consist of 80% of the Haitian population but when you analyze United States Economic Policies towards Haiti you get the impression that the Haitian population consists of only eleven or twelve families.
After speaking to folks representing the rural and urban sectors, I plan to go to Washington to draw attention to the needs of these everyday Haitians.
I know I had promised to Trevor to say nice things about Bill Clinton, but while Bill's hanging out with factory owners who can go to Miami when the earth shakes or when Haiti runs out of gas, I'm going to be reaching out to the people that Bill Clinton should be helping. We still don't even have enough tarps in Haiti!! Yes we need jobs but what kind of jobs? Those where only the factory owners do well?
As you see, the celebrities have come to Haiti and while some have been inspiring, others leave much to be desired.