Caught Between Aid and Reconstruction

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the power of new media and the generosity of millions of people around the world, including nearly half of American households, for donating money to help the people in Haiti after the earthquake.

These donations and relief efforts are still significant. As former US President Bill Clinton called for more aid at The World Economic Forum in Davos, even more than two weeks after the earthquake, Haitians are still lacking the most basic supplies.

Speaking at the Elliot School, panelists had also urged the need for "a really solid infrastructure in place in terms of arrivals, treatment, recovery, rescue, and sustennance," and "the two imporatant long-term goals are to bolster Haiti's institutions and to maintain stability."

Nevertheless, the panelists warned that Haitians must be included in this process, too, and something more substantial are obviously needed to 'reconstruct' Haiti.

Paul Collier, an economics professor at Oxford, special adviser on Haiti to the United Nations secretary general in 2009, and Jean-Louis Warnholz, the managing director of a business consulting company, an economic adviser to Haiti's prime minister in 2000 wrote: "Haitians need something more fundamental than relief from the present situation; they need jobs that they can count on for years ahead. For this, the private business secor is essential."

They also wrote:

Davos provides an opportunity for businesses that might invest in Haiti -- international fashion brands, hotels and coffee chains, for example -- to coordinate with companies that provide logistics and markets, so that together they could make mutual commitments. The foundation for such coordinationa has already been laid -- by Bill Clinton, who led 200 international investors to Haiti last October.

"The earthquake has, of course, changed opportunities in Haiti," they wrote, "but it has not necessarily reduced them."

It is true that the people of Haiti must be included in the conversation for the reconstruction of their country. At this stage, although it is important to consider the long-term economic strategy and goals, we must, I beleive, be aware of the very conditions people are suffering from.

Crisis De Jour

On January 11, 2010 Haiti was a small Caribbean island that many people could probably not put on a map, in the last twelve days it has moved the center of American foreign policy and the American conscience. As Americans always do, we came together in light of the latest natural disaster and opened our checkbooks, cell phones, and twitter accounts to donate money to our latest crisis de jour. The Red Cross too to twitter to update people across the world with where their money is going and how much has been received, their latest donation tweet posted on January 18 at 9:40 AM said

RT @mgive: Donation Update: Over $21 Million in $10 donations raised for the people of #Haiti through the @RedCross text HAITI to 90999 ...

Now that it is easier to give than ever, everybody wants to be involved in the donation frenzy to look like they are socially aware and not look left out. GW took to the pavement by inviting students, faculty, and staff to “Swipe Your GWorld for Haiti” at specific locations on Friday January 22 as part of a donation campaign to raise funds for the Red Cross and Project Medicare. While GW probably had pure motives in offering students the opportunity to painlessly give of themselves, they also sent out press advisories about where and when President Knapp could be interviewed, information about GW’s efforts in Haiti, and a link to “Download high-resolution video of a lab demonstration of the structural integrity of buildings in earthquakes by Pedro Silva, GW professor of structural engineering”

GW even thought of the students (and faculty and staff) who carry a zero GWorld balance with information and links on how to load on money in order to donate it in GW’s Campaign. Almost as an afterthought GW placed links at the bottom of an InfoMail where individuals could donate directly to the Red Cross or Project Medicare.

Two student groups stand out in their efforts for Haiti Earthquake relief, the first is the Carriban Student Association, a group dedicated to promoting “social and cultural interaction amongst Caribbean students on campus and the entire GWU community at large.” Via facebook, their “Party for Haiti Fundraiser” provided links to donate, stay informed, watch live webcams of what was happening on the ground, and a phone number to call for those looking to locate friends and family.

A second group which took up Haitian relief as a fundraising program was Circle K , a GW chapter of a national organization dedicated to service. Members held a fundraiser at Foggy Bottom's Crepeaway from Friday January 22 into Saturday January 23 and raised over 300 dollars for disaster relief efforts. Both these groups provide evidence of GW students taking up the reins on their own, without the need to “Swipe Your GWorld for Haiti”

Today the world focuses their attention to Haiti, but the Times-Picayune on NOLA.com reports that “tens of thousands” are still displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.On the fifth anniversary of the Pacific Tsunami which killed over 200,000 people in 2004 the same region was recovering from another, smaller quake which destroyed tens of thousands of homes, and killed 57. This disaster comes while still trying to recover from the 2004 disaster. Donating to Haiti is a worthy use of funds, and the money is going to a good cause, but the GW community, and the American populace should be aware of more than the crisis de jour.

Follow Red Cross tweets here.

First Photo Credit

Second Photo Credit

Third Photo Credit

Drinking for Haiti?

On January 15, The Daily Colonial reported that two GW students had decided to fundraise money for the recent Haiti catastrophe in an untraditional way--drinking. The seniors, Chris Reeves and Dave Roberts, decided on local campus bar 51st State as the hot spot for their cause.

How does one drink for Haiti? Well according to the article, Reeves and Roberts planned to

accept any drinks that other people buy for them, promising to drink the drink
and donate twice the cost of the drink to relief efforts in Haiti.

A Facebook group was made to promote the event,

inviting friends to come out, have a great time, get us hilariously drunk, and
support a good cause.

Reeves and Roberts aren't the only two at the university contributing towards Haiti relief. President Knapp has issued a message about the tragedy, and student organizations are doing their best to respond to the earthquake disaster as well. Even GW's Carribean Student Association has made a twitter account, GWHands4Haiti, to broadcast information.

As the week continues on, other GW initiatives towards Haitian relief efforts are sure to emerge. Will you drink for Haiti?

Humanitarian Action 2.0

The swift and awesome humanitarian actions taken to support the victims of the murderous earthquake in Haiti, using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, are great examples for our class, Politics and the Internet.

"In less than 48 hours, the American red Cross had received more than $35m in donations - including $8m directly from texts," according to BBC News.

I am pleased to hear that GW is also taking part in this movement to reach out their hands to help the hurt, the hungry, and the homeless. Since the earthquake, I have been receiving many news feeds on Facebook from GW students:

If anyone is interested in helping out with the Haiti Relief Efforts on our campus, please come to the MSSC in Room 104, this Sunday, January 17 at 5:30 p.m. TEXT 'YELE' to 501501 to donate $5 to Haiti Relief Fund - Wyclef Jean, CNN or donate to UNICEF.

Social media has also proved itself as a great tool for news reporting amid cut-off land and mobile phone lines:

Throughout the night, we spoke to people through whichever platform they had access to – Skype, Twitter, Facebook- and collated a sound idea of what was happening right now. The necessity of using the internet because the phones were down forced all traditional news gathering to the side, and meant we relied entirely on the web. Sky was first with the information because we turned to the people there and relied on them to tell the story – and for that they are owed huge thanks.

The earthquake was a tragedy of the greatest proportions and our hearts and minds are with those suffering. But amidst the horror, last night was a triumph in web 2.0 journalism and communications; it proved that the internet allows us to share information across the globe, regardless of the scene.There is now no excuse for not being up-to-date, all of the time.

While we could be preoccupied with the downsides and noises of social networks and the internet, or those who intend to exploit people’s good intention, it is certain that these networks are turning into people's lifelines. I hope that a spontaneous order will be intact online. Spread the word.