Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA
Special English. I'm Fritzi Bodenheimer. And I'm Mario Ritter.
The January twelfth earthquake in Haiti
killed or injured hundreds of thousands of people. The quake also left hundreds
of thousands homeless as it destroyed much of the capital, Port-au-Prince. This
week on our program, we look at some of the efforts to assist Haiti and its
people.
FRITZI BODENHEIMER:
As international medical assistance has
flowed into Haiti, some of the injured have been flown out for treatment.
Romel Joseph is a blind, fifty year old
violinist with Haitian and American citizenship. He could have had a promising
career in the United States. Instead, he returned to Haiti and opened a school
in nineteen ninety-one.
At the New Victorian School he has been
teaching music to students from poor families. But the building collapsed in
the quake. Romel Joseph suffered injuries to an arm and both legs. His pregnant
wife died two floors below him. In the eighteen hours until his rescue, he
says, he kept his mind on prayer and playing music in his head.
He and other survivors were flown to Florida
for emergency treatment at the University of Miami Jackson Memorial Hospital.
There he received a visit from a group of classically trained middle-school
students.
(MUSIC)
ANTOINE JOSEPH: "Having three surgeries
last night -- one in my hand and one on each foot -- it's nice to be here. And
it's nice to hear live music. Besides, I played a lot of this music, probably
the kind when I was under the ground, when I was under there, and so this kind
of makes me feel like I'm alive."
The New Victorian School had burned to the
ground because of an electrical problem on January twelfth, two thousand. That
was exactly ten years to the day of the earthquake that destroyed it again.
Romel Joseph rebuilt his school then, and says he plans to do it again.
The University of Miami was just one of the
international groups that sent a team of doctors to Haiti. Medical teams from
the United States Department of Health and Human Services have treated
thousands of victims. Other patients have been cared for on the United States
Navy hospital ship Comfort and other Navy ships sent to Haiti.
But some groups like Doctors Without Borders
said patients in field hospitals were dying because of a lack of basic medical
supplies like antibiotics. In Washington, Health and Human Services Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius said the problem was not getting enough supplies to Haiti. It
was getting them delivered to wherever they were needed.
KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: "It's the ability to
get them on a timely basis into Haiti. So they came on ships. They've come on
as many planes as possible. But there was so much needed simultaneously."
Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world.
Before the disaster, it suffered from high death rates among babies and high
rates of H.I.V./AIDS, hepatitis and other communicable diseases.
Kathleen Sebelius says the United States had
medical teams in Haiti well before the earthquake and will have them there well
after.
KATHLEEN SEBELIUS: "With more stable
infrastructure, once it's rebuilt, with a more robust health system, there's an
opportunity to not only deal with the immediate tragedy of the earthquake, but
hopefully, some of the longer-term crises that Haitians have experienced day in
and day out."
(MUSIC)
FRITZI BODENHEIMER:
On January twenty-second, a televised concert
was held to raise money for earthquake victims in Haiti. It was called
"Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit For Earthquake Relief."
It included performances from Los Angeles, New York and London and live updates
from Haiti. Major networks broadcast the concert in the United States and
Canada. And viewers around the world saw it on cable and satellite channels and
the Internet.
One of the performers was Alicia Keys.
(MUSIC)
Actor George Clooney led the event.
GEORGE CLOONEY: "This is an opportunity
to help a neighbor in need, in desperate need, and to do it with swiftness,
expertise, generosity and love."
Hollywood stars told stories of survivors and
rescue workers in Haiti. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio talked about the medical
charity Partners in Health, one of the groups supported by the telethon. He
said the doctors, like many relief workers in Haiti, faced a shortage of supplies
and had to be creative with the equipment they had.
Celebrities answered phones as viewers
watching the telethon called to make donations.
REESE WITHERSPOON: "Great, well this is
Reese Witherspoon. And we really appreciate your call ... "
The Hollywood volunteers included director
Steven Spielberg, actor Mel Gibson and actresses Julia Roberts and Reese
Witherspoon.
Musical performers also included Madonna,
Jay-Z, Rihanna, Bono and the Edge. Sheryl Crow performed with Kid Rock and
Keith Urban. And Bruce Springsteen sang "We Shall Overcome."
(MUSIC)
Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean spoke of
carrying bodies to a cemetery when he returned to Haiti after the quake. He
closed the concert with a call to rebuild Haiti. He also sang about the
country.
WYCLEF JEAN: "Earthquake, we see the
earth shake, but the soul of the Haitian people, it will never break."
FRITZI BODENHEIMER:
Organizers said the two-hour broadcast raised
more than fifty-seven million dollars in the first day through telephone,
online and text. They were still adding up amounts like donations from
companies and online music sales on iTunes.
Some of the money raised in the telethon will
go to Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti Foundation. Other charities that will receive
money are Oxfam America, the Red Cross, UNICEF, the United Nations World Food
Program and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.
After the earthquake, President Obama asked
former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to raise money for Haiti. The
money is for immediate relief and long-term recovery efforts.
(SOUND)
An estimated one hundred thousand
Haitian-Americans live in New York City. Many live in the Flatbush area of
Brooklyn, including Ruth Lucie. She said that she lost seventeen family members
in the quake.
Groups across New York City have been
collecting donations for quake victims. At the Bedford Haitian Community
Center, American-born Shamir Henri got his own bad news.
SHAMIR HENRI: "I just found out my aunt
and her family over there, her kids and her husband, they're homeless. Their
house crashed. As for everyone else, I really don't know what's going on. It's
crazy, so it's not good. So far we've been collecting food, water, medical
supplies, clothing."
Alex Pierre gave money to the relief effort,
but says that does not feel like enough.
ALEX PIERRE: "You are feeling hopeless.
If I was in Haiti when that happened, when the earthquake happened, I could go
and help somebody that's injured. Somebody that passed away, you take them to
the cemetery or do something. And here I sit in my living room, there's nothing
that I can do. And that's killing me inside. I feel like a zombie because
there's nothing that I can do to my people that's struggling."
FRITZI BODENHEIMER:
Andree La Fleur works at an office operated
by Haitian-Americans. They help people with translation services, tutoring,
immigration paperwork and other work. She says the earthquake has been personal
for her as well. Her six-year-old nephew was killed in the quake.
ANDREE LEFLEUR: "And some of them, they
died in the street and the parents don't know where they are. And one day you
want to go to the cemetery or something, you can't do it because you don't know
where they are. It's very sad, it's very sad. And I don't have words to
describe this thing. Nobody in Haiti can forget this day."
Haitians who were in the United States when
the earthquake struck will be able to receive temporary protected status, or
T.P.S., even if they are in the country illegally. An immigration official in
New York, Andrea Quarantillo, explained.
ANDREA QUARANTILLO: "Haitian nationals
will be able to remain in the United States legally, be able to obtain
authorization to work legally in the United States, be eligible to obtain
permission to travel outside the United States, and return to their T.P.S. status."
That means they can travel home to help
without fear of being denied re-entry to the United States. Berganette LaPorte
was among Haitian immigrants who attended a meeting at the Federal Building in
Manhattan where officials explained the program.
BERGANETTE LAPORTE: "It's definitely a
relief to us who lives in here because of what's happening, when everything is
over we will be able to go back to Haiti without worry, with knowing OK,
without nothing bad happening, we'll feel like we're safe over there and
then come again back to America safely."
Our program
was produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Mario Ritter. And I'm Fritzi Bodenheimer.
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