Haiti 411

Updated 2:00pm PST 22 Jan 2010… feel free to utilize this blog & repost it with proper credits…

On Tuesday 12 January 2010, the island nation of Haiti was struck by a 7.0 earthquake and then up to 24 aftershocks ranging from 4.8 to 5.9 on the ricker scale. Being one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemiphere, Haiti’s infraustructure did not withstand the quakes. Over hundreds of thousands of people across the country are presummed dead, missing or trapped until trumendious rumble.

The developments out of Haiti right now continue to be heartbreaking and devastating. Below, I have listed organizations that can use your financial help, volunteerism or to simply spread the word. Many of these organizations are already on the ground in Haiti providing necessary food, water, medicine and shelter to the many in need. Below are direct links to these organizations as well as phone numbers to call:

Islamic Relief
American Red Cross
Hollywood Unites for Haiti Relief Fund
Yele Haiti
UNICEF – 1.800.4UNICEF
Salesforce Foundation
World Vision
Medical Assistance Program International
Progressives for Haiti
Direct Relief
World Food Program
Mercy Corps
Save the Children
Lambi Fund
The International Rescue Committee
Charity: Water
Concern Worldwide
International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies
Stand With Haiti
The Salvation Army – 800-725-2769
UN World Food Programme
UN Emergency Response
Weill Cornell Medical College
Feed the Children
Clinton and Bush Fund

You can also donate via text message through the following organizations & the amount will be added to your phone bill.

–Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti: text “YELE” to 501501 to donate $5
–The American Red Cross: text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10
–Rescue Union Mission & MedCorp International: text “HAITI” to 85944 to donate $5
–Internal Rescue Committee: text “HAITI” to 25383 to donate $5
–United Way Worldwide’s Disaster Fund: text “HAITI to 864833 to donate $5
–Clinton Foundation: text “HAITI” to 20222 to donate $10
–Salvation Army in Canada: text “HAITI” to 45678 (Canada only)
–UN Fund: text “CERF” to 90999 to donate $5 (Terms of Agreement)

Wyclef Jean

Other important information regarding relief & support for the people of Haiti:

If you or someone you know in the USA are trying to connect with family/friends in Haiti, The US Dept of State, Office of Overseas Citizens Services has set up two numbers you can call: 1.800.407.4747 and 202.647.5225. You can also check the missing people board or add to it by going to Koneksyon.com which was set up by “Sebastien Barrau” and “Marvin Chery as well as the ICRC Family Links.

Doctors, nurses and anyone in the medical field, your expertise is needed!! Please visit or call the following organizations for more details… FYI: American Airlines if flying medical help to Haiti for FREE, learn more by calling 212.697.9767.

Partners in Health
Doctors Without Borders
Relief International
International Medical Corps
–National Nurses United
213.309.0266 (Bill Gallagher)

Google has made it easier to donate online as well as see a list of organizations such as the ones listed above. Please go to Google’s Official Blog for more!

All sales done through TDJunkie.com will go towards UNICEF’s efforts in Haiti!

There will be multiple fundraisers for Haiti including the following:

Haiti Earthquake Live Fundraiser ONLINE
7 January 2010 @ 2pm EST
Held by Seekers Guidance & the Islamic Relief USA

Hope for Haiti hosted by George Clooney (LA), Wyclef Jean (NY) and Anderson Cooper (Haiti)
22 January 2010 @ 8pm EST
Broadcast globally commercial free on multiple networks

If you are on Twitter, please check out my twitter list of organizations and individuals with information on Haitian relief and support.

May God grant the people of Haiti comfort, protection, patience and mercy through this difficult & sad tragedy.

To have your organization or information added to this blog, please state so in the comments below…

Gaza Freedom March

On Thursday, December 31, 2009 is the Gaza Freedom March happening from 2-2pm at the Golden Gate Bridge.

Park and meet at the south end of the bridge parking lot and march together across the bridge. We will end the year by marching alongside the Palestinian people of Gaza in a non-violent demonstration that breaches the illegal blockade.

See you all there!

Ft. Hood, Islam & Ignorance

On November 5th, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan went on a shooting rampage in Fort Hood, Texas killing 13 and injuring 30 fellow soldiers. After it was revealed that Hasan was a Muslim Arab American, Islam is being put on trial. Of course, as a Muslim Arab American, I’ve been asked how I feel about it.

As an American, it breaks my heart that our soldiers were attacked by one of their own.

As an Arab, it saddens me to think of his family who thought they were contributing to a nation they immigrated too.

As a Muslim, it angers me that the media has made Hasan a representative of Islam.

Let’s be clear on something, a criminal should not be defined by their faith, culture or race… a criminal is a criminal, period! What happened in Fort Hood was a crime committed by a criminal!

Islam does not in any way shape or form condone any act of violence upon another person. I personally don’t feel the need to defend it because its scriptures and teachings speak for themselves.

“Whosoever kills an innocent human being, it shall be as if he has killed all mankind, and whosoever saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind.” –Quran, AlMa’idah (5:32)

“To those who persevere in doing good is a reward more than in measure. No darkness or shame shall cover their faces. They are companions of the garden where they will live forever. But those who have earned evil will have a reward like evil. Humiliation will cover their faces. They will have no defender from God.” –Quran, Yunus (10:26-27)

“Whoever does good equal to the weight of an atom shall see it. And whoever does evil equal to the weight of an atom shall see it.” –Quran, Al Zalzalah (99:7-8)

In his last sermon, Prophet Mohamed said, “Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your Lord, and that He will indeed reckon your deeds.” In sermons and teachings before that, he is noted as saying, “By God, he is not a true believe from whose mischief his neighbors do not feel secure.”

However, to continuously put Islam on trial whenever any individual who identifies as a Muslim commits a crime is absurd. The ignorance that seems to flow as a result, especially from the media, is beyond me.

We have Bill O’Reily talking about winning Muslim hearts and minds because “we can’t kill them all!” O’Reily, do you believe the same should go for Christians or Jewish if a criminal who identifies themselves as a follow of either faith… kill them all? Or those Middle East and Islam “experts” like the one in the video below who know nothing about either. Who even deemed them experts to begin with? I’d rather they call a common citizen who is Muslim from the Middle East then some dude in a suit who thinks MY religion condones such acts.

Of course other media outlets, such as CNN, have been covering this story on the hour daily trying to figure out if it was a terrorist act. There was a guy in Cleveland who had 11 bodies and counting of rape victims in his home; the man in Antioch who kidnapped, rapped and held an 11 year old girl captive for 18 years with her two children conceived by him; the DC sniper who was on a killing rampage before being caught and just executed a few days ago; the ten teenagers lead by a 19 year old who beat, assaulted, robbed and rapped a 15 year old girl in Richmond… aren’t they all considered terrorists too CNN?

Seriously, how do I feel about this guy? I think this guy is a coward, a hypocrite and disturbed. He didn’t want to be deployed as he was against the war and so he shoots his fellow unarmed soldiers. If he seriously didn’t want to get deployed, he could have learned from Mohamed Ali Clay who refused to be deployed to Vietnam and served jail time. He could have learned from his fellow soldiers who did not agree to the war and gained political asylum in Canada. He could have learned from other prominent Muslims who stood their ground in a peaceful and respectful manner regardless of the consequences!

Watching the memorial last week with my mother was difficult. Every time the mention of Hasan came up, my mom did not have a kind word for him. When they stated each one’s name, age and whom they were survived by, my mom would whisper, “May Allah have mercy on them and grant the family patience.”

Rather then letting ignorance and fear take over us, I ask you all to whisper a prayer for ALL those who lost their loves to unjust and unnecessary violence, here and abroad prayer, and demanding justice for them.

Obama’s Health Speech

I watched President Obama’s speech to congress earlier today like most Americans did. I had to agree with most of what he said, talking about providing an option out there for those who can not afford health insurance. Clearing the air of the many misconceptions that has been brought up in the last few months. The speech overall was good but now we await to see what action will take place. My thoughts on this evening…

Click Here to watch the entire speech on CNN

Heckler: There was a heckler in the audience? The audience that was made up of US senators, representatives, global ambassadors and white house staff… who would heckle the president?

South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson yelled out, “you lie!” to the president. Really? Let’s put something in perspective here, Obama is speaking to clarify the plan that he has spoken of since his campaign – which has been quite consistent might I add. Yet rather then to be heard, he’s heckled? Wilson, you just made it even more harder for your republican friends to even try to defy Obama’s plan because now they have to apologize on your behalf… how sad. Whatever happened to the old saying, “you must give respect to earn respect?”

Seeing that and also the congressman with a sign around his neck (“what bill?”), some of the representatives booing and the waving of documents… practically all that was missing was a fist fight. You know like the ones we watch of foreign countries, shake our heads and say, “why can’t they be civilized like we are here?”

Republican Response: With all due respect for Louisiana Representative Charles Boustany, I thought the response was typical. I sadly have to ask, was this prerecorded?

Did the president not just clarify some of those misconceptions that you again are repeating? I’m not sure why the republicans are not working with the president on the issue rather then just sit and disagree. I have to respect Arizona Senator John McCain when he stated on Larry King Live that they can agree to disagree and work together towards the same goal. Again, we await the action to take place.

Personal Experience: I think the plan overall can work. Of course it can use some adjustments and that’s where our politicians that we voted for should work together. Should this plan pass, it will effect the economy by bringing down costs and in the long run make this nation a healthier nation.

I’m currently in a tug of war with MediCare to help get my dad’s prescription coverage taken care of. They want to penalize him for not applying sooner yet one can only apply for certain parts between certain dates. It completely makes no sense and has become ridiculously complex for a man who has worked and paid taxes for over 40 years.

My father and other hard working Americans like him don’t have to be in a tug of war for MediCare their taxes paid for. I hope after the speech tonight, something can be done and proper health care can eventually be passed so that we can have some hope of a healthier America.

Israel is Suppressing a Secret it Must Face

Previously Posted Friday, 02 May 2008
Israel is Suppressing a Secret it Must Face
by Johann Hari

With all that has been happening lately in regards to the Israeli settlements, I just had to repost this article from last year by Johann Hari on the issue of sewage from these settlements onto Palestinian land… Sadly, it seems nothing is improving, peace is missing it’s bus to arrive to the end of these many conflicts.

Johann Hari: Israel is suppressing a secret it must face

How did a Jewish state founded 60 years ago end up throwing filth at cowering Palestinians?

Monday, 28 April 2008

When you hit your 60th birthday, most of you will guzzle down your hormone replacement therapy with a glass of champagne and wonder if you have become everything you dreamed of in your youth. In a few weeks, the state of Israel is going to have that hangover.

She will look in the mirror and think – I have a sore back, rickety knees and a gun at my waist, but I’m still standing. Yet somewhere, she will know she is suppressing an old secret she has to face. I would love to be able to crash the birthday party with words of reassurance. Israel has given us great novelists like Amos Oz and A.B. Yehoshua, great film-makers like Joseph Cedar, great scientific research into Alzheimer’s, and great dissident journalists like Amira Hass, Tom Segev and Gideon Levy to expose her own crimes.

She has provided the one lonely spot in the Middle East where gay people are not hounded and hanged, and where women can approach equality.

But I can’t do it. Whenever I try to mouth these words, a remembered smell fills my nostrils. It is the smell of shit. Across the occupied West Bank, raw untreated sewage is pumped every day out of the Jewish settlements, along large metal pipes, straight onto Palestinian land. From there, it can enter the groundwater and the reservoirs, and become a poison.

Standing near one of these long, stinking brown-and-yellow rivers of waste recently, the local chief medical officer, Dr Bassam Said Nadi, explained to me: “Recently there were very heavy rains, and the shit started to flow into the reservoir that provides water for this whole area. I knew that if we didn’t act, people would die. We had to alert everyone not to drink the water for over a week, and distribute bottles. We were lucky it was spotted. Next time…” He shook his head in fear. This is no freak: a 2004 report by Friends of the Earth found that only six per cent of Israeli settlements adequately treat their sewage.

Meanwhile, in order to punish the population of Gaza for voting “the wrong way”, the Israeli army are not allowing past the checkpoints any replacements for the pipes and cement needed to keep the sewage system working. The result? Vast stagnant pools of waste are being held within fragile dykes across the strip, and rotting. Last March, one of them burst, drowning a nine-month-old baby and his elderly grandmother in a tsunami of human waste. The Centre on Housing Rights warns that one heavy rainfall could send 1.5m cubic metres of faeces flowing all over Gaza, causing “a humanitarian and environmental disaster of epic proportions”.

So how did it come to this? How did a Jewish state founded 60 years ago with a promise to be “a light unto the nations” end up flinging its filth at a cowering Palestinian population?

The beginnings of an answer lie in the secret Israel has known, and suppressed, all these years. Even now, can we describe what happened 60 years ago honestly and unhysterically? The Jews who arrived in Palestine throughout the twentieth century did not come because they were cruel people who wanted to snuffle out Arabs to persecute. No: they came because they were running for their lives from a genocidal European anti-Semitism that was soon to slaughter six million of their sisters and their sons.

They convinced themselves that Palestine was “a land without people for a people without land”. I desperately wish this dream had been true. You can see traces of what might have been in Tel Aviv, a city that really was built on empty sand dunes. But most of Palestine was not empty. It was already inhabited by people who loved the land, and saw it as theirs. They were completely innocent of the long, hellish crimes against the Jews.

When it became clear these Palestinians would not welcome becoming a minority in somebody else’s country, darker plans were drawn up. Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, wrote in 1937: “The Arabs will have to go, but one needs an opportune moment for making it happen, such as a war.”

So, for when the moment arrived, he helped draw up Plan Dalit. It was – as Israeli historian Ilan Pappe puts it – “a detailed description of the methods to be used to forcibly evict the people: large-scale intimidation; and laying siege to and bombarding population centres”. In 1948, before the Arab armies invaded, this began to be implemented: some 800,000 people were ethnically cleansed, and Israel was built on the ruins. The people who ask angrily why the Palestinians keep longing for their old land should imagine an English version of this story. How would we react if the 30m stateless, persecuted Kurds in the world sent armies and settlers into this country to seize everything in England below Leeds, and swiftly established a free Kurdistan from which we were expelled? Wouldn’t we long forever for our children to return to Cornwall and Devon and London? Would it take us only 40 years to compromise and offer to settle for just 22 per cent of what we had?

If we are not going to be endlessly banging our heads against history, the Middle East needs to excavate 1948, and seek a solution. Any peace deal – even one where Israel dismantled the wall and agreed to return to the 1967 borders – tends to crumple on this issue. The Israelis say: if we let all three million come back, we will be outnumbered by Palestinians even within the 1967 borders, so Israel would be voted out of existence. But the Palestinians reply: if we don’t have an acknowledgement of the Naqba (catastrophe), and our right under international law to the land our grandfathers fled, how can we move on?

It seemed like an intractable problem – until, two years ago, the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research conducted the first study of the Palestinian Diaspora’s desires. They found that only 10 per cent – around 300,000 people – want to return to Israel proper. Israel can accept that many (and compensate the rest) without even enduring much pain. But there has always been a strain of Israeli society that preferred violently setting its own borders, on its own terms, to talk and compromise. This weekend, the elected Hamas government offered a six-month truce that could have led to talks. The Israeli government responded within hours by blowing up a senior Hamas leader and killing a 14-year-old girl.

Perhaps Hamas’ proposals are a con; perhaps all the Arab states are lying too when they offer Israel full recognition in exchange for a roll-back to the 1967 borders; but isn’t it a good idea to find out? Israel, as she gazes at her grey hairs and discreetly ignores the smell of her own stale shit pumped across Palestine, needs to ask what kind of country she wants to be in the next 60 years.

j.hari@independent.co.uk

Independent.co.uk