Help Haiti

The world is not after Haiti as so many of us feel. The cold truth is the world’s indifference, and if there is one thing a Haitian hates it is to be unconsequential. It does not matter what is said about you, as long as you are the subject of conversation. Perhaps at some international soiree idle chatter passes to Haiti, but I doubt it.

–The mysterious stranger on the hotel veranda speaks to author Wade Davis in Chapter Six of his book on voodoo The Serpent and The Rainbow

Here more than anywhere else in America we should remember what it is to suffer, to lose everything (and for people who have so little as the people of Haiti it is a short fall with a very hard landing), to see the dead in the streets.

The ties of New Orleans are old and run deep. In the entrance to my house are portraits of two Franco-Haitian ancestors who fled to New Orleans after the Haitian revolution, a bitter irony when I look at the descendants of their slaves suffering so. Me, I have an extra burden to discharge. You should give because you Remember.

I have taken down the link to Wyclef Jean’s site after reading an internet report at thesmokinggun.com suggesting he had paid himself handsomely to appear at a benefit organized by the group. Instead I pass on the recommendation of a local acquaintance whose wife studied in Haiti, is Doctors Without Borders.

Another thought: I still read regular reports that the American Red Cross is sitting on $170 million in money donated to aid Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims. Our experience on the Hurricane Coast: please, do not give to the American Red Cross.

Update: Read this excellent article by the Preservation Resource Center. on New Orleans’ historic ties to Haiti, and the island nation’s contributions to New Orleans.

Give.