DRUG AND HAITI
Just imagine the quality of learning if kids did not consume drugs and alcohol!
If it's a problem in Jacmel, it's a problem in many more places... Very sad... In my experience, the worst influence comes from the deportees from the US. Just sayin'. I can usually spot them a mile away. Strut, cloths, sneakers, and language English and/or Kreyole. Sell drugs, manipulate, use and abuse anyone and everyone. Haiti can't turn in this direction and succeed. It will turn everything into rum, kleren, and dominos...
Multi-Award-Winning 'THE SWEETEST GIRL'
THE SWEETEST GIRL Short Film that has been getting Oscar buzz, was screened last Sunday at the Urban Film Festival Lyric Theatre in Miami on Sunday September 5th."
The short film, which won Best Picture at the ‘The South Florida International Film Festival is a compelling crime thriller by Samuel Ladouceur (“A Great Day in Harlem,” “Power,” “Boardwalk Empire”). It has been awarded Best Picture at The South Florida International Film Festival in the Black & African category. The Sweetest Girl’. inspired by true events, is a compelling and provocative love story, set in Haiti, haunted by human trafficking and gun violence.
Short Film -- https://www.yanatha.com/sweetestgirlshortfilm
Leaked Audio Confession Blows Lid Off Mystery of Haiti’s Murdered President
Thu, September 2, 2021, 4:44 AM
Joseph Odelyn/AP
Let’s say that you’re a foreign mercenary. And that you and some of your best buds, who are also foreign mercenaries, have just shot to death the leader of an island nation, the inhabitants of which are now likely to be more than a little vexed with you. And let’s further say that there’s an escape plan already set up that would see you out of the dead president’s home and safely on your way.
What do you think you would do next?
Well, if you were one of the Colombian mercenaries who killed Haitian President Jovenel Moïse back in July, you’d apparently choose to push back on the get-away plans so as to stick around and ransack the home looking for loot.
U.S. Admits Training Colombians Accused of Killing Haiti President as Part of Billion Dollar War on Drugs
That was just one of many jaw-dropping details revealed during some 15 hours of audio-taped confessions reportedly given by the Colombian mercs to Haitian officials which were, in turn, leaked to Colombian media giant Caracol in late August. In fact, the testimony given by the former soldiers, many of whom had been trained by the U.S., may have solved the riddle of who funded and masterminded the plot against Moïse.
In a follow-up piece by La Semana, another major print and web presence in Colombia, the confessions were confirmed as having been recorded “before the authorities in Haiti.” Subsequently, dozens of media hubs in Latin America ran stories about the Colombians’ tragic misadventures.
“Before the operation [the Colombian mercenaries] had been informed that Moïse had between 18 and 45 million dollars in his house,” Caracol reported. “There were three tasks: the first was to [kill] the president, the second was to take the entire camera system, and the third was to find the suitcases of money,” said retired Colombian army captain Germán Rivera, who is referred to as “Mike” during the audio sessions.
After the assassination, and about a half-hour of searching, Mike and his crew of 26 Colombians and two Haitian American commandos had dismantled the cameras and found “two suitcases and three boxes apparently loaded with bills,” according to Caracol.
Kidnappers release U.S. veteran and security expert, whose snatching hit “close to home”
BY ONZ CHÉRY SEP. 03, 2021
The Haitian Times
Brahms Alexis, 44, an entrepreneur based in Port-au-Prince, felt immune to the kidnapping crisis in Haiti — until it hit close to home. Alexis’s friend for over 30 years, Olivier Kernizan, was kidnapped. Kernizan was kidnapped in front of his Croix-des-Bouquets home on Aug. 27.
“When they kidnapped someone you know it’s different,” Alexis said, speaking from Port-au-Prince. “It leaves a bad taste in your mouth. I was biting my nails the whole time, wondering what was going to happen, hoping they wouldn't mess things up,”
For five days, Alexis wondered if Kernizan was being fed, if the kidnappers were beating him, if his high blood pressure grew worse and more. When he received a text that the kidnappers released his friend, Alexis’ mind finally went at ease.
Haiti is reeling from a devastating earthquake, COVID-19 pandemic and political instability. Here's how to help.
A 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Haiti took nearly 2,200 lives, decimated homes, schools, offices and churches across the country and left hospitals overwhelmed with thousands of people injured.
Meanwhile, Grace lashed Haiti as a tropical depression on Monday, dumping up to 10 inches of rain before regaining tropical storm status early Tuesday. The heavy rains pelted people huddling in fields and searching for survivors.
To make matters worse, Haiti is struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, recovery from other disasters, and the assassination last month of President Jovenel Moïse.
Political leaders, volunteers and residents from across the globe have raised support and offered help. Even more have asked how they can help. But nonprofit groups and experts say such factors will make raising money for the nation even tougher.
And aid to Haiti has been under scrutiny for years, which was compounded in 2015 when an investigation from ProPublica and NPR questioned where $500 million raised by the American Red Cross was spent. Their investigation found that the Red Cross had grossly overstated how many houses the organization built in the years after the 2010 Haitian earthquake and had used portions of the money to cover overhead and management.
Haiti's death toll from earthquake soars to 1,400 as Tropical Depression Grace dumps 'torrential rains'
'Losses will be high':How Haiti's earthquake compares with its 2010 quake in size, devastation
The American Red Cross said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press that it is not seeking donations for Haiti relief at this time, but will work with its partners – including the Haitian Red Cross and the Red Crescent – to respond to the earthquake. It also disputed the ProPublica-NPR findings.
How to help Haiti: List of organizations
People who want to help the people of Haiti can check out these organizations:
Partners in Health employs more than 6,300 staff, including 2,500 community health workers, to provide primary care, maternal and child health care, HIV and tuberculosis services, and more advanced secondary and tertiary care. The organization is working to provide hospital beds and outreach teams. Donate here.
SOIL has been working in some of the poorest areas in Haiti to facilitate the community-identified priority of ecological sanitation since before the 2010 earthquake. The organization has worked to "take emergency supplies to the areas affected and assess the need," it wrote on its donation page. Donate here.
Locally Haiti has been working to secure requested items for medical workers, for families and for the school tit founded in 1989. Donate here.
World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés said on Twitter that the organization that supplies meals to countries in need is ready to help. The organization later tweeted that "we have activated our culinary school kitchen in Port-au-Prince & also have a team in Jeremie working to get food in & distributed before the storm hits." Donate here.
Hope for Haiti is working on the ground in Haiti. The Florida-based organization is gearing up to distribute $60 million in first aid supplies and medical equipment. Donate here and tag your donation.
UNICEF is prioritizing “the resumption of essential services” south of the island, distributing medical, education and recreational supplies in areas where “health centers, schools, bridges and other essential facilities and infrastructure on which children and families depend on” have been impacted. Donate here.
Humanity & Inclusion has worked in the country since before the 2010 earthquake. A Haitian team is on the ground distributing hygiene kits, medical supplies and critical aid. Donate here.
Project HOPE is partnering with local organizations for emergency response and offering Personal Protective Equipment and other medical supplies. Donate here.
Midwives for Haiti has been training Haitian midwives to increase access and to empower local communities. They’re currently assembling a disaster response, but have said that “getting goods and medications into Haiti is going to become even more difficult than it is now.” Donate here.
Doctors Without Borders is working with hospitals to assist injured patients in both Port-au-Prince and local areas. They’re helping to respond to the latest natural disasters.. Donate here.
If you're looking at another organization where you can send help, check to see whether it is legitimate. An easy way to check is by going to charitynavigator.org. It's better to donate to local organizations, experts say, or organizations with Haitians on their staff and on the ground.
Contributing: Gabriela Miranda, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
Press release
Haiti earthquake: over half a million children at risk of waterborne diseases - UNICEF
02 September 2021
UNICEF/UN0504692/RouzierOn 18 August 2021, in Marceline, near Camp Perrin district, children and their families have access to clean and safe water at one of the four water stations supported by UNICEF in Les Cayes, Haiti.
PORT-AU-PRINCE / PANAMA CITY, 2 September 2021.- About 540,000 children in the southwest of earthquake-stricken Haiti are now facing the possible re-emergence of waterborne diseases, UNICEF warned today.
Severe conditions in southwestern Haiti - where over half a million children lack access to shelter, drinking water and hygiene facilities - are rapidly increasing the threat of acute respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases, cholera and malaria.
“The lives of thousands of earthquake-affected children and families are now at risk, just because they don’t have access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene,” said Bruno Maes, UNICEF Representative in Haiti. “Cholera has not been reported in Haiti since February 2019, yet without urgent and firmer action the re-emergence of cholera and other waterborne diseases is a real threat that is increasing by the day.”
Prior to the earthquake, only over half of the healthcare facilities in the three departments most affected by the earthquake had basic access to water services. In the aftermath of the earthquake, nearly 60 per cent of people in the three most affected departments do not have access to safe water. Thousands of people whose houses have collapsed lack access to sanitation due in part to the damage wrought by the earthquake.
With the National Directorate for Water and Sanitation (DINEPA) and civil society partners, UNICEF is to improve access to water, sanitation and hygiene for affected families:
• About 73,600 people receive access to safe water through water trucking systems, six water treatment plants and twenty-two bladders
• Over 35,200 people benefitted from the distribution of about 7,000 hygiene kits, including household water treatments products, soap, water storage, handwashing devices and hygiene pads.
A week after the earthquake devastated Haiti, UNICEF shipped more than 65,000 water purification tablets, 41 bladders, three water treatment units and family hygiene kits. UNICEF has already ordered 31,200 additional hygiene kits. UNICEF, the only UN agency to deliver safe drinking water to the affected population, aims to reach 500,000 people with WASH support.
“Our efforts to deliver more safe drinking water don’t match the dire needs in all the affected areas,” said Maes. “Impatience and sometimes frustration are mounting in some Haitian communities, and this is understandable. But obstructing relief operations won’t help. In the past few days, several distributions of essential hygiene items had to be temporarily put on hold as tensions arose on the ground. Together with financial constraints, insecurity is currently slowing down our lifesaving activities on the ground.”
UNICEF is calling on local authorities to ensure safe conditions for humanitarian organizations to operate and scale up relief assistance to earthquake-affected communities. The 14 August earthquake which struck Haiti has further exacerbated an already challenging humanitarian situation shaped by persistent political instability, socioeconomic crisis and rising food insecurity and malnutrition, gang-related violence and internal displacement, the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the Haitian-Dominican migration influx.
In addition to the US$48.8 million appeal made for 2021, UNICEF is now requesting a humanitarian appeal for children (HAC), of US$73.3 million to scale up its interventions in response to the earthquake and internally displaced persons. So far, less than 1 per cent of this required funding has been received.
UNICEF is calling on the international community to urgently provide additional funding for the humanitarian response and prevent the emergence of waterborne diseases in Haiti after the earthquake.
Earthquake Response Brings Hope in Haiti
Recovery efforts are underway following Haiti’s recent earthquake, but officials have warned that many rural areas remain completely cut off without assistance of any kind. One exception is the hard hit farming community of Laborde, where the initial response is nothing short of remarkable… even though much more remains to be done.
It is a testament to the power of local leadership that farmers in this rural area, working with our regional field agronomist, came up with their own recovery plan within days of the earthquake. Not only is the support they are now receiving exactly what they requested, but the community is also fully in charge of distribution and organization. This level of local coordination has helped to avoid the chaos that often follows a disaster of this kind, and also means that residents are able to begin focusing on long-term rebuilding without delay.
While this recovery plan was developed by the local branch of the Smallholder Farmers Alliance (SFA) in Laborde, it is the response to our initial appeal for funding and support that has made it a reality. So we say thanks to all those from around the world who have made donations, and to the Raising Haiti Foundation and the Julian Grace Foundation for providing emergency grants. And rather than listing the many NGOs that responded to the SFA's request for on-site assistance, we have highlighted their contributions in the following progress report.
And for those who have not yet contributed… the opportunity is one click away:
The farmers in Laborde asked for four kinds of support in their emergency response plan: food, medical care, tents (we had to substitute tarps for tents) and water. Here is what has been provided as of today:
Challenge: Stored farm produce was lost, basic farming operations were disrupted, and access was made difficult for products like rice that come from outside the immediate area.
Response: The SFA approached World Central Kitchen (WCK) for help with food for Laborde. The roots of the organization go back to the earthquake in 2010. Chef José Andres saw the devastation at that time firsthand and subsequently established WCK with the belief that food can be a positive agent of change for communities in need. Now the organization is back in Haiti and from their field operation serving the residents of the Les Cayes area, they are also providing 720 hot meals each day for the SFA farmers and others in Laborde.
We have also purchased and distributed 2,500 lbs of rice. But this is a drop in the bucket compared to what we are going to need in the coming months. Our three-step strategy is to start with hot meals, transition to bulk dry food distribution, and then get back to normal self-reliance as soon as possible.
Challenge: There is almost no regular medical service in the immediate area.
Response: At the invitation of the SFA, Project Medishare has just wrapped up a week-long medical marathon in which they conducted daily clinics open to all the residents of Laborde. Farmers were so grateful to see the Medishare doctors and nurses that several brought gifts of avocados and coconuts, a particularly meaningful gesture given the food shortage in the area. In addition to some minor injuries suffered during the earthquake, the medical team has been dealing with every imaginable ailment and symptom, which is not surprising given the almost total lack of medical service available in Laborde.
Medishare’s 9-member team, along with medical supplies, arrived in nearby Les Cayes on Monday morning via two helicopters and a small plane – all operated at no charge by World Hope International.
Challenge: Up to 60% of homes homes were destroyed or damaged and many families are sleeping in the open in the midst of heavy rain.
Response: While the original request from Laborde was for tents, the SFA has substituted tarps. And all but a handful of the 225 distributed so far began life as sails on boats and yachts. The Sails for Sustenance organization and the New Orleans Yacht Club normally provide used sails as part of their service to Haiti’s subsistence fishermen, but in response to a request from the SFA they diverted a supply of these sails – some of which were so large it took eight people just to unload them from the truck and then lay them out in a field. The same team then spent days cutting the sails into tarps that have been very well received by families in Laborde.
With our sail-to-tarp operation finely tuned, we are waiting on a second and much larger supply of sails and other much needed materials from Sails for Sustenance, the New Orleans Yacht Club and the TSR (Twin Sisters Reunited) Association in coming weeks.
Challenge: Water in local wells and other natural sources was contaminated as a result of the earthquake.
Response: For the first few days we provided some bottled water, but this has now been replaced by water purification tablets. We purchased enough of these tablets to treat 320,000 gallons of water, and demonstrations are done with each distribution to ensure proper use of the product. Based on positive feedback from farmers, we have just made a second purchase of the same quantity of tablets.
While emergency response has been the first priority, the SFA has begun working on both home and farm building repairs as well as the longer-term agricultural recovery phase. The latter is focused on increasing the local seed bank capacity, supplying pumps to improve irrigation, introducing a livestock program, and expanding the tree existing planting operation with a focus on fruit trees.
In other news, the Haiti Response Coalition, in partnership with a group of diaspora and Haiti-based organizations, created a campaign calling on all those who operate in Haiti to pledge to a set of standards for a Haitian solution and a rights-based response to the earthquake. The SFA has signed the pledge and urges others to read it and do the same.
Regards,
ps: shout out to Digicel for donating minutes for the SFA earthquake response team in both Laborde and Les Cayes!