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Where does haiti stand after the deadly 2010 quake? While about $15 billion of aid money is still missing in Haiti, progress is still being made. “Recovery is here. It is painfully slow, it is agonizing to watch, but it is recovery,” said Harvard professor Paul Farmer. He has spent three decades in Haiti and is opening a new hospital. Big factories could also stimulate the country’s economy, creating 20,000 jobs at just one plant. Progress can also be measured somewhat superficially; HuffPo “Good News” writer Cameron Sinclair finds the silver lining in other ways. He noted the lesser-but-still-positive positives of Haiti, such as its fast WiFi and rich history. (Perhaps that’s looking too hard in the forest to see trees, but y’know.) So, while recovery is still being sought after, it is still coming. And in some ways, it is already here. (Photo by Ken Cedeno / The Washington Post) source
All I want is work, and Brazil, thank God, has jobs for us.Haitian-born Wesley Saint-Fleur • Discussing how, in the wake of 2010’s Haitian earthquake, he and his family moved to Brazil, a quickly-growing part of the world where he’s found it easy to get a job. Not everyone has been so lucky, however: Nearly 4,000 people have moved from Haiti to Brazil since the devastating earthquake in 2010, and many of them have found things just as bad in Brazil. While Brazil’s economic growth has slowed recently, unemployment is still extremely low and the biggest beneficiaries have been those working low-income jobs, where salaries have grown sevenfold in recent years. Even Americans are heading down there for jobs. source (via • follow)
Wyclef Jean squandered Haitian relief funds: report
“Less than a third of the $16 million gathered in 2010 by hip-hop star Wyclef Jean for earthquake relief in Haiti actually made it to emergency efforts in the country, the New York Post reported on Sunday.
According to the exclusive report, Jean’s charity, Yele Haiti, doled out millions in questionable contracts — in fact, $1 million was paid to a Florida firm that doesn’t seem to exist.”
This, uhh, isn’t good. ”Gone ‘Till November” still is, though, so let’s not forget that.
Tropical Storm Emily update: Meteorologists predict that Haiti will receive anywhere between 6 to 12 inches of rain, while some mountain regions could receive up to 20 inches. The current path puts the storm closer to the eastern coast of Florida, but after hitting Haiti/Cuba, the track may change. Worth keeping an eye on, guys. source
![pantslessprogressive:
Haiti’s presidential candidate Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly greets supporters after giving a press conference in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Martelly captured nearly 68 percent of the vote in the presidential election runoff, defeating opposition leader and former first lady Mirlande Manigat, according to preliminary election results released Monday night. [Photo: Dieu Nalio Chery/AP]
Now’s a good time to remind everyone that, like Wyclef, Sweet Micky is a pop star. Unlike Wyclef, he is now the president-elect of Haiti.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lj93qkewgW1qzr73ro1_500.jpg)
Haiti’s presidential candidate Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly greets supporters after giving a press conference in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Martelly captured nearly 68 percent of the vote in the presidential election runoff, defeating opposition leader and former first lady Mirlande Manigat, according to preliminary election results released Monday night. [Photo: Dieu Nalio Chery/AP]
Now’s a good time to remind everyone that, like Wyclef, Sweet Micky is a pop star. Unlike Wyclef, he is now the president-elect of Haiti.
Wyclef Jean may not have won the presidency in Haiti, but the guy who won is a pop star with 14 albums under his belt — along with an appearance on Clef’s first solo record. Michel Martelly, who also goes by Sweet Micky, won a March 20th runoff, according to results released yesterday. Above is one of Martelly’s biggest hits, “Pa Manyen,” a ditty from the mid-’90s. The cover of the namesake album featured the new president wearing a shirt that says “I DON’T GIVE A SHIT,” which is kind of a bad slogan to be known for if you’re the new president of Haiti. On the plus side, he’s already used to being president — see, he’s long proclaimed himself the “President of Compas.” source
Guess who’s the face of Haiti again? That’s right, Sean Penn: Say what you will about the guy, but he stuck with the crisis in Haiti long after everyone else. “As clichéd as it sounds, I think he really gives a damn about the Haitian people,” said one doctor. source
What the hell, Bob Barr? Ex-US politician helping “Baby Doc” in Haiti: The former Clinton-attacking legislator, who once got duped by “Borat,” is acting as Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier’s voice to the international community. Why? source
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
Watch: PCB gets a visual shout out on GMA’s Yahoo/Tumblr...
Wrote a thing.
Hat tip to this headline writer.
“Baby Doc” Duvalier has been taken from his hotel. Here’s a photo from Twitter of the former Haitian leader being escorted. Unclear if he was arrested or not yet. Big news, kids. (via Twitter user etiennecp)
whyarethegoodurlsalreadytaken answered: Do you think Baby Doc will regain any control or power in Haitian politics?
» We say: The chances are better than you would think, considering his reputation. This is because history has been kind to him, and some Haitians are willing to remember the good things about him even as the rest of the world looks in fear. He has influence, and influence is almost as important as power. He’s in the Bill Clinton stage of his career. And Haiti’s political structure is as weak and brittle as many of its buildings, as the recent election suggests. Keep your eye out. (And again, they could’ve avoided this if they let Wyclef run for president.)
“It sounded like a wild rumor …” Mother Jones was on the scene as Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier returned to Haiti after a quarter-century of exile. And despite his unpopularity, he had his supporters today. ”Things have never been as good as when he was here,” one translator told reporter Mac McClelland. ”The only thing that was worse was we couldn’t talk about politics because he was a dictator, but everything else is much worse now.” (thanks idroolinmysleep for pointing it out to us immediately we found it) source
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