BIG QUAKE in Haiti

[arm53]

We freeze here and they shake down there.

Looks like a BIG DEAL. I wish them survival.

[Jim]

We freeze here and they shake down there.

Looks like a BIG DEAL. I wish them survival.

One of my kids (from when I was a youth pastor) and his wife are working in missions not far from the worst part of the quake, of course no one has heard from them yet. Also an old family friend is part of a short term mission team and were landing in Haiti the day of the quake.

[GDM]

One of my kids (from when I was a youth pastor) and his wife are working in missions not far from the worst part of the quake, of course no one has heard from them yet. Also an old family friend is part of a short term mission team and were landing in Haiti the day of the quake. Yikes. I hope you hear from them soon and will keep them in my prayers.

[Christopher]

f5TE99sAbwM

[Jim]

Yikes. I hope you hear from them soon and will keep them in my prayers.


I appreciate your prayers!! Teh old family friend has been heard from, no news yet from the others, continued prayers would be appreciated!!

[arm53]

I've been wondering about the response of the Dominican Republic. Seems according to this article the DR is very tollerant of Haitians in general. It would seem we have an identical healthcare issue.
The history of the island is tragic/interesting.

The same fault line goes through Kingston Jamaica. That earthquake to come will kill a million.
Some experts think this will come sooner than later due to the recent stress on the fault line.

I think for the future that I will vacation away from that general area when we need a winter warm fix.



Illegal Haitian immigration
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c6/DR-Haiti-border.jpg/180px-DR-Haiti-border.jpg (http://discuss.lifeinkc.com/wiki/File:DR-Haiti-border.jpg) http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png (http://discuss.lifeinkc.com/wiki/File:DR-Haiti-border.jpg)
A border watch tower (http://discuss.lifeinkc.com/wiki/Watch_tower) to control illegal immigration from Haiti, located in the Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic (http://discuss.lifeinkc.com/wiki/Cordillera_Central,_Dominican_Republic)


Haiti is much poorer than the Dominican Republic. In 2003, 80% of all Haitians were poor (54% in abject poverty) and 47.1% were illiterate. The country of nine million people has a fast-growing population, but over two-thirds of the labor force lack formal jobs. Haiti's per capita GDP (PPP) was $1,300 in 2008, or less than one-sixth of the Dominican figure. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Haitians have migrated to the Dominican Republic, with some estimates of 800,000 Haitians in the country, while others put the Haitian–born population as high as one million. They usually work at low-paying and unskilled jobs in building construction, household cleaning, and in sugar plantations.
Children of illegal Haitian immigrants are often stateless (http://discuss.lifeinkc.com/wiki/Statelessness) and denied services, as their parents are denied Dominican nationality because they are deemed to be transient residents, due to their illegal or undocumented status, and the children, though often eligible for Haitian nationality, are denied it by Haiti because of a lack of proper documents or witnesses.
A large number of Haitian women, often arriving with several health problems, cross the border to Dominican soil during their last weeks of pregnancy to obtain much-needed medical attention for childbirth (http://discuss.lifeinkc.com/wiki/Childbirth), since Dominican public hospitals do not refuse medical services based on nationality or legal status. Statistics from a hospital in Santo Domingo report that over 22% of childbirths are by Haitian mothers.
In 2005 Dominican President Leonel Fernández criticized collective expulsions of Haitians as having taken place "in an abusive and inhuman way". After a UN delegation issued a preliminary report stating that it found a profound problem of racism and discrimination against people of Haitian origins, Dominican Foreign Minister (http://discuss.lifeinkc.com/wiki/Foreign_Minister) Carlos Morales Troncoso (http://discuss.lifeinkc.com/wiki/Carlos_Morales_Troncoso) issued a formal statement denouncing it and asserting that "Our border with Haiti has its problems, this is our reality and it must be understood. It is important not to confuse national sovereignty with indifference, and not to confuse security with xenophobia".

[twila]

I appreciate your prayers!! Teh old family friend has been heard from, no news yet from the others, continued prayers would be appreciated!!

I have really been moved by the help and support Haitians receive from mission work. Seems their good works before the quake and now are vital to the poor and needy in so many ways. I have relatives living right outside of New Orleans and they have told me it is the missions from churches and private groups who have made the biggest impact in helping the people there than what is/has been done by the government.
News reports and government officials seem to be forwarning constantly that the people will become desperate and chaos will break out at any time. This may happen, but so far they appear to be quite patient considering the tremendous devastation not only to the infrastructure but on a human level as well.
I guess when one is used to having so little, not much is expected.

f5TE99sAbwM

I think he should stick to his diamond mining business.

[GDM]

The big question is what is next ? Seems like the magnetic pole shift in effect has more ramifications than those within the climate debate. The pole shift is a very big deal and it's clear to me that this is something that is woven into prophecy. Prophecy and cycles go hand in hand . There will come a point where rescue resources will be tapped out. Then there is the whole issue of food supply .

[twila]

They will stay in "resuce mode" for sometime considering people can live for 2 wks. w/o food and water.
If there is any hope it will continue. I think food and water will get to them, but the lack of sanitary living conditions, enough medical services is crucial. I think today patience is ebbing with so many people starving and without safe drinking water. It's so hot there too with rotting corpses everywhere.
Looting has begun and they are being killed.
Thank God, they are bringing the precious orphans here who were in the process of being adopted.

[arm53]

They will stay in "resuce mode" for sometime considering people can live for 2 wks. w/o food and water.
If there is any hope it will continue. I think food and water will get to them, but the lack of sanitary living conditions, enough medical services is crucial. I think today patience is ebbing with so many people starving and without safe drinking water. It's so hot there too with rotting corpses everywhere.
Looting has begun and they are being killed.
Thank God, they are bringing the precious orphans here who were in the process of being adopted.

Here is the initial backlash. How dare you come near Haiti without the entire contignent
of the cruze ship giving everything to the cause.

Never have seen missionary work on a cruze ship. Nice thought, but the passengers did not sign up for search and rescue missions.

The dead don't need the food/water. The living are going through a hell on Earth.

I suspect none of us is rushing down to help. I certainly am wrong in specific cases. God bless them that go. They will need it. The difference they make will be mostly personal satisfaction-for the living.

I have been hit with many e-mails about taking time off to do a 1 month mission.

I declined. This mission would kill me with my recent illness and good recovery.

We all care as best we can.




Luxury Cruise Ship Docks On Private Haitian Beach, Just 60 Miles From Devastation





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http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20100119/capt.fdefdedf4aab41b8a71671168caf0cf8.haiti_earthq uake_xjh106.jpg?x=213&y=141&xc=1&yc=1&wc=410&hc=271&q=85&sig=3vC6jm9lXWHWqSbTM6mOUg-- (http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/golf-course-Haiti/photo//100119/481/fdefdedf4aab41b8a71671168caf0cf8//s:/huffpost/20100119/cm_huffpost/427247)AP – People crowd at a makeshift camp for earthquake survivors set up on a golf course in Port-au-Prince, …


40 mins ago
BoingBoing (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/huffpost/cm_huffpost/storytext/427247/34786208/SIG=120ncpkuo/*http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/18/cruise-ship-docks-at.html) reported this morning on a Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines ship that made its scheduled docking at a private beach. Though the cruise ship delivered 40 pallets of relief supplies while it docked, vacationers frolicked and held a barbecue on the private area, just miles from the devastation caused by the 7.0 earthquake last week.
From The Guardian (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/huffpost/cm_huffpost/storytext/427247/34786208/SIG=12bhp5ci3/*http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/17/cruise-ships-haiti-earthquake):
The decision to go ahead with the visit has divided passengers. The ships carry some food aid, and the cruise line has pledged to donate all proceeds from the visit to help stricken Haitians. But many passengers will stay aboard when they dock; one said he was "sickened".

"I just can't see myself sunning on the beach, playing in the water, eating a barbecue, and enjoying a cocktail while [in Port-au-Prince] there are tens of thousands of dead people being piled up on the streets, with the survivors stunned and looking for food and water," one passenger wrote on the Cruise Critic internet forum.

[Jim]

I appreciate your prayers!! The old family friend has been heard from, no news yet from the others, continued prayers would be appreciated!!

All those I know that were in Haiti have been accounted for!!! Thank you Lord!!!

[GDM]

All those I know that were in Haiti have been accounted for!!! Thank you Lord!!! Good to hear Hallelujah.

[Jim]

Good to hear Hallelujah.

Agreed, I really appreciate the prayers!!!

[Jim]

All those I know that were in Haiti have been accounted for!!! Thank you Lord!!!


If you are interested, the "kid" from my days as a youth pastor(Ok, he's about 30 now so not a kid now....) that is a missionary in Haiti has a blog talking about what he has seen. Quite good if you want an idea of what you can do to help: http://apparentproject.blogspot.com/

[GDM]

If you are interested, the "kid" from my days as a youth pastor(Ok, he's about 30 now so not a kid now....) that is a missionary in Haiti has a blog talking about what he has seen. Quite good if you want an idea of what you can do to help: http://apparentproject.blogspot.com/Thank you.

[Jim]

Thank you.

You're quite welcome!!

[WindyCity]

One of my kids (from when I was a youth pastor) and his wife are working in missions not far from the worst part of the quake, of course no one has heard from them yet. Also an old family friend is part of a short term mission team and were landing in Haiti the day of the quake.

"youth pastor" eh?.....tell us more, Jim! :cool:

[GDM]

. My dad was a WW2 buff and could read German. He made sure I knew WW2 history., he and I watched the whole World At War series. I usually make a point of watching holocaust docs and have logged in enough time to have a reasonable imprint. I kept the issue of Time with Jones town in the family kitchen bookshelf when I was a kid and periodically thumbed through it. I was 11 years old when I first meditated on death. My Dad's side of the family , the one with NA blood had problems dealing with death..I attribute that at least in part it to the way they split the reservation and assimilated. They ran as fast as they could on the Heels of Wounded Knee massacre and called themselves Italians in San Fransisco.

Any way I am kind of taken back so far at the lack of footage and photos showing the full measure of horror going on in Haiti. I desire to see it , as it is said a picture speaks a thousand words. From what I have heard in Europe the media at least was more forthcoming with footage. I believe that Civilization here in the US is so bent on progress and money that they are not preparing for natural disasters , as much as for preparing for the fallout from not being prepared. It is my sentiment that full discloser of the reality Haitians are living with is beneficial medicine. I say this understanding that a good portion of the population would react very negatively to such disclosure. I remember when I started viewing videos from Iran and that insane president of theirs a few years back. I was terrified and discovered just how taboo the topic was in some circles .

Words , a reporters face , and a few choice clips do not do the Haitian tragedy justice. It is my hope that a compilation of recorded events is made for people to view and to realize how vulnerable civilizations , especially big cities are to natural disasters.

[Jim]

"youth pastor" eh?.....tell us more, Jim! :cool:


It wasn't where you think it was........

[arm53]

CRY FOR THE INNOCENT-TERRIBLE TIMES FOR THE KIDDOS WHO KNOW NO BETTER.

Haiti's children on their own on shattered streets


http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/nws/p/ap_logo_106.png (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/brand/SIG=br2v03/*http://www.ap.org)

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By VIVIAN SEQUERA and BEN FOX, Associated Press Writers Vivian Sequera And Ben Fox, Associated Press Writers – Tue Jan 26, 6:10 pm ET
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – The children with no names lay mute in a corner of the General Hospital grounds Tuesday, three among thousands of boys and girls set adrift in the wake of Haiti's earthquake.
"Hi, Joe, how are you?" the American doctor tried, using a pet name the staff had given a boy of about 11.
There was no response.
"Joe," "Baby Sebastian" and the girl who didn't even have a nickname hadn't spoken or cried since they were brought in over the previous 48 hours — by neighbors, passers-by, no one knows who. "Sebastian," only a week old, was said to have been taken from the arms of his dead mother.
They're lucky: Haitian-born Dr. Wisdom Price and the staff were treating them for infections and other ailments. Hundreds of thousands of hungry and thirsty children are scattered among Port-au-Prince's squatter camps of survivors, without protection against disease or child predators — often with nobody to care for them.
"There's an estimated 1 million unaccompanied or orphaned children or children who lost one parent," said Kate Conradt, a spokeswoman for the aid group Save the Children. "They are extremely vulnerable."
The U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, has established a special tent camp for girls and boys who, one way or another, were separated from their parents in the Jan. 12 quake, and who are in danger of falling prey to child traffickers and other abusers. The Connecticut-based Save the Children has set up "Child Spaces" in 13 makeshift settlements. The Red Cross and others, meanwhile, are working to reunite families.
The post-quake needs of Haiti's children were nonetheless outrunning the available help. Some youngsters were even being released from hospitals with no one to care for them — there just aren't enough beds for them.
"Health workers are being advised to monitor and send separated/unaccompanied children to child-friendly spaces," the U.N. humanitarian office said in its latest situation report.
The plight of the young is especially poignant even in a country where the U.N. estimates 3 million out of a population of 9 million need international assistance in the quake's aftermath. "We still have a huge distance to go," said John Holmes, the U.N. relief coordinator.
That was evident in Port-au-Prince's streets, alleys and crumbled doorways, where handwritten messages begged for help. In the Juvenat neighborhood, a group of 50 families scrawled in green on a white sheet hung from a doorway: "We need food assistance, water and medicine."
It was evident, too, among the tightly packed line of jostling people waiting for food aid near the quake-devastated National Palace, under the nervous watch of Brazilian U.N. peacekeepers who occasionally fired pepper spray or pointed their guns to control the crowd.
"They treat us like animals. They beat us, but we are hungry people," said Muller Bellegarde, 30, who had been waiting 90 minutes in the broiling sun.
Thomas Louis, 40, who was trying to get rice and oil for his two babies, said the people appreciated the foreign help, but "this is anarchy. This is not aid. This is a way to put people down."
The monumental scale of the Haiti disaster — perhaps 200,000 dead, a capital city on its knees — has severely strained the world's ability to get relief supplies through Port-au-Prince's overloaded airport and crippled seaport.
Some 800 to 1,000 aid flights were still awaiting permission to land, a seven-day backlog, U.N. and European officials reported Tuesday. On top of that, "trucks are needed," U.N. spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said in Geneva — especially small trucks because "the streets are extremely congested."
The U.N.'s Holmes estimated that 2 million people need food, but only 500,000 have received some so far.

The medical picture has improved, but remains critical. World Health Organization spokesman Paul Garwood said more medical staff were still needed, especially rehabilitation specialists, to help with postoperative recovery of 200,000 people who have had amputations or other surgery.
Haitian and volunteer staff from dozens of countries worked around the clock. In some hospitals, they were still performing up to 100 amputations a day.
At the General Hospital, Price strode from one tent to another to check on the 81 children under his care. The staff interrupted the tall, balding pediatrician with a string of questions: "Do you know about this baby?" "Where's the medication?" "Where will we sleep tonight?"
Of the nameless, speechless trio, he was treating young Joe for an infection oozing from both eyes. The 7-pound (3-kilogram) Baby Sebastian, in a white diaper decorated with sheep, had diarrhea. The unnamed girl, about 10, lay listlessly and stared upward. She had an eye infection but was generally fine and was to be picked up by the staff of an orphanage Tuesday or Wednesday, Price said.
With no clues to their past, Price could only wonder.
"Maybe some of these parents are not even looking because their house was destroyed and they might think the kid was inside," he said. "But maybe the kid was pulled out, so they are missing each other."
Children left alone are everywhere. At one of the 13 Save the Children sites, about 25 children have no adult relatives taking care of them, Conradt said. She said the group has helped some 6,000 children since the quake.
The aid group's "Child Spaces" are cordoned-off areas where children can play under supervision, "run around being children, giving them a chance to return to normalcy as much as they can."
Such areas also protect children against the potential for abduction by child traffickers, a chronic problem in pre-quake Haiti, where thousands were handed over to other families into lives of domestic servitude, said Deb Barry, an emergency protection adviser with Save the Children.
She said her organization was working to track down every rumor it hears about threats to stranded children, "but we haven't been able to verify those thus far." Save the Children, the Red Cross and other organizations, meanwhile, are trying to establish a joint database of information to try to reunite separated families.

[XXX]

hmmm we take two weeks to respond to katrina. two days to respond to haiti anyone else have a problem with this? personally the earthquake doesnt concern me in the least. at the risk of sounding like an a$$hole, which i am, i dont care an iota about the people of haiti

[Jim]

hmmm we take two weeks to respond to katrina. two days to respond to haiti anyone else have a problem with this? personally the earthquake doesnt concern me in the least. at the risk of sounding like an a$$hole, which i am, i dont care an iota about the people of haiti


I wonder if we had any Haitians shooting at the very people trying to rescue them.......

[XXX]

I wonder if we had any Haitians shooting at the very people trying to rescue them.......

that is of no concern. the issue is that we are quick to help others and leave our own to go at it alone. yes there are many knuckleheads in the us, but they are our knuckleheads. deal with the problem makers as they come. let everywhere else sink or swim on their own. simple enough

[Jim]

that is of no concern. the issue is that we are quick to help others and leave our own to go at it alone. yes there are many knuckleheads in the us, but they are our knuckleheads. deal with the problem makers as they come. let everywhere else sink or swim on their own. simple enough


I'm sure it mattered to the guys in the helicoptors trying to help that were being shot at!!!!

[XXX]

not how i meant it. a few of our idiots causing problems, does not let us off the hook. yes they made it more difficult to help.

[Jim]

not how i meant it. a few of our idiots causing problems, does not let us off the hook. yes they made it more difficult to help.


Well at least we can agree on one thing "yes they made it more difficult to help"

[XXX]

i dont dispute that they were wrong. my beef is in the speed of which we jump to help others and the slowness we use in helping our people

[DLD]

Here’s an opinion from Paul Shirley. Late of the NBA and late of ESPN contributors because of this bit of thought.

On Haiti (http://www.flipcollective.com/2010/01/26/if-you-rebuild-it-they-will-come-by-paul-shirley/)

I haven’t donated a cent to the Haitian relief effort. And I probably will not.
I haven’t donated to the Haitian relief effort for the same reason that I don’t give money to homeless men on the street. Based on past experiences, I don’t think the guy with the sign that reads “Need You’re Help” is going to do anything constructive with the dollar I might give him. If I use history as my guide, I don’t think the people of Haiti will do much with my money either.
In this belief I am, evidently, alone. It seems that everyone has jumped on the “Save Haiti” bandwagon. To question the impulse to donate, then, will probably be viewed as analogous with rooting for Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy, or the Spice Girls.
…

Dear Haitians –
First of all, kudos on developing the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere (http://www.nytimes.com/info/haiti-earthquake-2010/). Your commitment to human rights, infrastructure, and birth control should be applauded.
As we prepare to assist you in this difficult time, a polite request: If it’s possible, could you not re-build your island home in the image of its predecessor? Could you not resort to the creation of flimsy shanty- and shack-towns (http://www.panoramaproductions.net/tours/haiti/gallery/23.jpg)? And could some of you maybe use a condom once in a while?
Sincerely,
The Rest of the World
…

In the case of the Haitian earthquake, it’s heartening to see people caring about the fates of their fellow men. What is alarming, I think, is the sometimes illogical frenzy toward casting those affected by the earthquake as helpless, innocent souls who were placed on the island of Hispaniola by an invisible force. In the case of some, this analogy might well be accurate; children cannot very well control their destinies. And as far as sympathy goes, much of it should go to those children.
But children are brought into the world by their parents. Those parents have a responsibility – to themselves and to their kids – to provide. They have a responsibility to look around – before an earthquake happens – and say, “I need to improve this situation, because if a catastrophe were to happen, we’d be in bad shape.”
The people of whom I write are adults. Functional, human adults with functional, human adult brains. It is not too much to ask that they behave as such. That they stand up and say, “Yes, we screwed this up the first time. We are forever indebted to you. Now show us how we can do it right. So that, next time, we won’t need your help.”

[twila]

i dont dispute that they were wrong. my beef is in the speed of which we jump to help others and the slowness we use in helping our people


Lots of blame to go around re N.O. beginning with the mayor and the Governor.
LA is full of corruption just like Haiti.
How many planes with medical supplies, etc. were delayed from landing because of all the diplomats and outside govt. officials wanting to get in there to make a splash?
There is estimated to be 480 to 500,000 orphans in Haiti, many cared for by mission groups from the U.S. Mission groups have done outstanding work in N.O. as well and continue to do so.

[Christopher]

Louisiana is a state and needs to ask before the Feds can invade, er, help.

Haiti is a sovereign nation and we can take those over at will, seemingly.

[arm53]

Haiti is a sovereign nation and we can take those over at will, seemingly.

We will see how true that is when a new Club Med opens on the distroyed Presidential Palace grounds.

[arm53]

The USA should insist that the Baptists be flown home now!! No harm should come to these people. The military that is there should extract them. I am pissed and if Obama allows this................:( HAITI can rot in their own self-inflicted sewer.

10 Americans charged in Haiti with kidnapping


http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/nws/p/ap_logo_106.png (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/brand/SIG=11f589428/**http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ap.org%2Ftermsandconditions)

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http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20100204/thumb.4d2dbe0e4c4f4a76ae7e841d5dfc0cd6.correction_ haiti_americans_datained_pap121.jpg?x=50&y=50&xc=22&yc=1&wc=88&hc=88&q=85&sig=fXH85NL70g4SK1wP8qKEZA-- (http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Americans-charged-kidnapping-Haiti/ss/events/us/020110haitidetained)Slideshow:Americans charged with kidnapping in Haiti (http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Americans-charged-kidnapping-Haiti/ss/events/us/020110haitidetained)
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http://d.yimg.com/a/p/fox/20100204/videolthumb.45ca8905300fcaf4968b243697fa9a1b.jpg?x =50&y=50&xc=91&yc=1&wc=230&hc=230&q=85&sig=CPVPZCCCqD1jdzLHiZ53Qg-- Play Video (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/fox_news/av_fox_wl/df21ec3ec8b52e42856dd9c9b2a4e362/34983020;_ylt=AjWUOLi7RlUwZ4_LdbUuI_u9IxIF;_ylu=X3 oDMTFiZW1vczI0BHBvcwM4BHNlYwN5bl9yXzNzbG90X3ZpZGVv BHNsawN2aWQtZWQtdGh1bWI-/*http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/17961049)Video:Journalist Warned Church Group in Haiti (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/fox_news/av_fox_wl/df21ec3ec8b52e42856dd9c9b2a4e362/34983020;_ylt=AtQUmhDw5chULzz5y6QBm2.9IxIF;_ylu=X3 oDMTFhanRoYjYwBHBvcwM5BHNlYwN5bl9yXzNzbG90X3ZpZGVv BHNsawN2aWQtZWQtbGluaw--/*http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/17961049) FOX News (http://news.yahoo.com/i/3062;_ylt=Ah8Rj_QfRroMtT4vFZ6CeJW9IxIF;_ylu=X3oDMT FjdjR1Nm8yBHBvcwMxMARzZWMDeW5fcl8zc2xvdF92aWRlbwRz bGsDdmlkLWVkLXByb3Zp)

http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20100204/capt.e65e55614371485bab25780a38556a9f.haiti_americ ans_detained_pap116.jpg?x=213&y=152&xc=2&yc=1&wc=408&hc=291&q=85&sig=WrT.x7ntSED2ebirZC_4wA-- (http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Boise2C-Idaho-Haiti/photo//100204/481/e65e55614371485bab25780a38556a9f//s:/ap/cb_haiti_americans_detained)AP – Laura Silsby, 40, center, and Charisa Coulter, 24, left, both of Boise, Idaho, are escorted out of the …


By FRANK BAJAK, Associated Press Writer Frank Bajak, Associated Press Writer – 11 mins ago
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Ten U.S. Baptist missionaries were charged with kidnapping Thursday for trying to take 33 children out of Haiti to a hastily arranged refuge just as officials were trying to protect children from predators in the chaos of a great earthquake.
The Haitian lawyer who represents the 10 Americans portrayed nine of his clients as innocents caught up in a scheme they did not understand. But attorney Edwin Coq did not defend the actions of the group leader, Laura Silsby, though he continued to represent her.
"I'm going to do everything I can to get the nine out. They were naive. They had no idea what was going on and they did not know that they needed official papers to cross the border," Coq said. "But Silsby did."
The Americans, most members of two Idaho churches, said they were rescuing abandoned children and orphans from a nation that UNICEF says had 380,000 even before the catastrophic Jan. 12 quake.
But at least two-thirds of the children, who range in age from 2 to 12, have parents who gave them away because they said the Americans promised the children a better life.
The investigating judge, who interviewed the missionaries Tuesday and Wednesday, found sufficient evidence to charge them for trying to take the children across the border into the Dominican Republic on Jan. 29 without documentation, Coq said.
Each was charged with one count of kidnapping, which carries a sentence of five to 15 years in prison, and one of criminal association, punishable by three to nine years. Coq said the case would be assigned a judge and a verdict could take three months.
The magistrate, Mazard Fortil, left without making a statement. Social Affairs Minister Jeanne Bernard Pierre, who has harshly criticized the missionaries, refused to comment. The government's communications minister, Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue, said only that the next court date had not been set.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said the U.S. government was still waiting for a report from its Embassy.
"But the 10 are accused of violating Haitian law and the case is proceeding under Haitian law through a transparent judicial process," Duguid said.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the U.S. was open to discuss "other legal avenues" for the defendants, an apparent reference to the Haitian prime minister's earlier suggestion that Haiti could consider sending the Americans back to the United States for prosecution.
But it's unlikely the Americans could be tried back home, according to Christopher J. Schmidt, an expert on international child kidnapping law in St. Louis, Mo. U.S. statutes may not even apply, he said, since the children never crossed an international border.
Silsby waved and smiled faintly to reporters but declined to answer questions as the Baptists were whisked away from the closed court hearing back to the holding cells where they have been held since Saturday. People rendered homeless by the quake sat idly under tarps in the parking lot, smoke rising from a cooking fire.
Coq complained about conditions at the judicial police lockup where the Americans were being held. He said they are sleeping on the floor without blankets and aren't being provided with adequate food. He said he had delivered pizza and sandwiches.
Silsby had already been planning to create an orphanage for Haitian children in the Dominican Republic. When the earthquake struck she recruited other church members to help kick her plans into high gear. The 10 Americans rushed to Haiti and spent a week gathering children for their project.
Most of the children came from the quake-ravaged village of Callebas, where residents told The Associated Press that they handed over their children to the Americans because they were unable to feed or clothe them after the earthquake. They said the missionaries promised to educate the children and let relatives visit.
Their stories contradicted Silsby's account that the children came from collapsed orphanages or were handed over by distant relatives. She said the Americans believed they had all the paperwork needed — documents she said she obtained in the Dominican Republic — to take the children out of Haiti.

"They are very precious kids that have lost their homes and families and are so deeply in need of, most of all, God's love and his compassion," she told the AP in a jailhouse interview Saturday.
The assistant pastor of Silsby's church in Meridian, Idaho, said neither Central Valley Baptist Church nor any of the missionaries' relatives had any comment about the decision to charge the Americans. Drew Ham had defended the missionaries on Wednesday, saying they were putting the childrens' interests first at a time of chaos. The children are being cared for at the Austrian-run SOS Children's Village in Port-au-Prince. An official there, Patricia Vargas, said none of the children who are old enough to talk have said they were orphans.

[Christopher]

The Baptists were breaking the law and were going to smuggle those kids into our country. I've got no love. They broke the law and need to pay the price. They were stupid.

[XXX]

and thats why we should mind our own business and let all the little pissant countries sink or swim on their own. ALL of them

[twila]

The Baptists were breaking the law and were going to smuggle those kids into our country. I've got no love. They broke the law and need to pay the price. They were stupid.


They are "stupid", I agree. Did they not hear massive news coverage of all the people in the process of adoption who were having problems getting the kids out already approved?
All they were lacking was some last minute paper work and stressed how it took a long time to be granted permission to adopt, plus they had to have been to Haiti prior to visit with the children they were adopting. These people, at the very least have poor judgement and no common sense.

[arm53]

These people, at the very least have poor judgement and no common sense.

And I hope the love of Christ to sustain them in a land of NO mercy. No ill should come to these people.

Lets see......starving going to die kiddos vs live ones. I support the stupid Baptists in their quest for "doing" the right thing in the wrong way.

Law in Haiti..........what is that???? What Haiti VOODO wants at the moment.

Extract these brave stupid people and extract them NOW.

Not 1 drop of water, food, or money until they are safe in their homes. :mad:

The MILITARY should be by their side NOW@!@!!!

[arm53]

the little pissant countries

Should not be allowed to hold our citizens........period. :mad:

[twila]

Prime Minister of Haiti is open to the possibility of transferring them to the U.S. justice system but has not heard from our govt. regarding this.
Some of these children were not orphans according to an interpreter for the church people, but their parents gave them to them hoping they would have a better life. This is what some people do in Haiti within their own country but these kids didn't even have passports. The church people claim they were going to take them to the Dominican Republic, stay in a hotel until the orphanage they were building was ready. They also told the parents of these children they could see them whenever they wanted.
I don't understand why the pastor of the church organizing this refuses to discuss the situation and our State Department is so silent on the whole matter.
Something doesn't compute IMO.

Should not be allowed to hold our citizens........period. :mad:

Haiti has no law against trafficing children, but does for kidnapping. Go figure! What a messed up country. I suppose we will build it back up for them though.
Meantime......................:eek:

[arm53]

Meantime......................:eek:

EXTRACT our CITIZENS. Use whatever force is necessary. Get them out before these good but stupid people ROT in a Haitian jail and die of diarrhea/dehydration!! With most of the people on the street how lovely are the jails..........open sewer.

GET THEM OUT !!!!!!! :mad:

ACTION IS NECESSARY "RIGHT NOW".

[arm53]

More news. They need to come out by force if necessary.

Missionary Stumbles on Road to Haiti


[/URL]

By [URL="http://discuss.lifeinkc.com/search/search_center.html?KEYWORDS=JOEL+MILLMAN&ARTICLESEARCHQUERY_PARSER=bylineAND"]JOEL MILLMAN (http://discuss.lifeinkc.com/#), JEFFREY BALL (http://discuss.lifeinkc.com/search/search_center.html?KEYWORDS=JEFFREY+BALL&ARTICLESEARCHQUERY_PARSER=bylineAND) and MARK SCHOOFS (http://discuss.lifeinkc.com/search/search_center.html?KEYWORDS=MARK+SCHOOFS&ARTICLESEARCHQUERY_PARSER=bylineAND)


http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-AT674_Haitii_F_20100204180325.jpg Reuters Children at Port-au-Prince's Notre Dame orphanage Thursday.



PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti—In a closed courtroom in one of the few government buildings still standing here, Laura Silsby and nine other American missionaries were charged Thursday with abducting children from this earthquake-ravaged capital.
When the proceeding was done, the 40-year-old from a mountain valley in Idaho walked out of Le Tribunal de Paix, past a scrum of microphones, cameras and seething Haitians and into a government minivan with a co-defendant. As they waited to return to a fetid cell with mattresses on a concrete floor, they appeared to pray.
http://m.wsj.net/video/20100131/013110foxnewsdetained/013110foxnewsdetained_115x65.jpg (http://discuss.lifeinkc.com/#)

Americans Detained in Haiti (http://discuss.lifeinkc.com/#)

1:54 Police says the 10 Americans were trying to take a bus full of Haitian children to the Dominican Republic without proper documents. Video courtesy of Fox News.







Journal Community (http://online.wsj.com/community)


Vote: Should the missionaries face charges? (http://online.wsj.com/community/groups/world-forum-748/topics/if-american-missionaries-haiti-had)

Their lawyer, Edwin F. Coq Jr., said they had been charged with child abduction and criminal association and not the more-serious charges of kidnapping and child trafficking in connection with trying to take 33 children into the neighboring Dominican Republic. The charges could carry sentences of up to nine years and up to three years, respectively, Mr. Coq said.
"No trafficking? What is wrong with this country?" one man in the crowd yelled in English afterward.
For Ms. Silsby it was the latest in a series of wrong turns on a road her parents and others who know her in Idaho say was paved with the best intentions. Yet in her long-stated desire to help orphans, she has left a trail of business and personal debts, as well as unheeded warnings about the intricacies of taking children out of Haiti.
"Laura was the only one who had knowledge of what was going on," Mr. Coq said. "The rest said only that they love Haiti. That is why they came to Haiti."
Ms. Silsby and the nine other Americans with a nonprofit group she founded were arrested last Friday at the Dominican border with children ranging in age from 2 months to 13 years old. U.S. officials said they would respect the Haitian judicial process. "We continue to provide appropriate consular assistance and to monitor the developments in the legal case," said Tanya Powell, spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department.
Haitian authorities have said she claimed the children had been orphaned by the quake that killed an estimated 200,000 and left countless families homeless and dependent on international handouts of food, water and medicine.
Interviewed Thursday night, her mother said Ms. Silsby knew many of the children weren't orphans but that the parents had signed them over to her to give them a better life. "She has no desire to exploit, no desire to take advantage," Adonna Sander, at her home in Buhl, Idaho, said of her daughter."We knew they had parents, she knew they had parents. They're saying, 'Take this child.' "
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http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-AT670_HaitiJ_D_20100204173017.jpg
Associated Press Laura Silsby, center, on Thursday.

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Much about Ms. Silsby, who started and ran an online personal-shopping service, remains a mystery, including the current state of her business and personal finances—her house was foreclosed and she was sued by creditors—and whether she believed she was following Haitian law as she gathered children.
Ms. Silsby's interest in the plight of Haitian children started with her father, who did missionary dental work in Haiti, her parents said.
Standing in his living room, which is decorated with portraits of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln praying, John Sander said his daughter's motives shouldn't be misconstrued because her group's efforts went awry. "In their intent to do something good they may have been a touch naive about what was required. You can be blinded by your ambition." He added: "We're hoping and praying the judge will see the intent of her heart was not to do anything wrong."
Ms. Silsby and her 24-year-old live-in nanny, Charisa Coulter, organized a nonprofit group, New Life Children's Refuge, which they incorporated last November, and planned a companion organization in the Dominican Republic.
According to a document from Ms. Silsby and Ms. Coulter describing New Life, it is "dedicated to rescuing, loving and caring for orphaned, abandoned and impoverished Haitian and Dominican children, demonstrating God's love and helping each child find healing, hope, joy and new life in Christ."
They shared their interest in Haitian children at the Central Valley Baptist Church, a congregation they attended in Meridian, Idaho, a Boise suburb. The church, which has an international mission program, embraced the pair's efforts and joined the planning, said Drew Ham, one of its pastors.
More


Documents: New Life Children's Refuge: Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission (http://www.esbctwinfalls.com/clientimages/24453/pdffiles/haiti/nlcrhaitianorphanrescuemission.pdf)

Earlier: Case Illuminates Plight of Haiti's Orphans (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704259304575043691704446642.html)

New Life Children's Refuge began the process of buying land in Magante, on the north coast of the Dominican Republic, to build an orphanage for as many as 200 children—with a school, a chapel and seaside villas for adopting parents, according to the document.
Ms. Silsby and Ms. Coulter traveled to the Dominican Republic and Haiti last July and late last year. They were "laying the groundwork" then for opening an orphanage, said Mel Coulter, Ms. Coulter's father. They coordinated with people there who they thought were handling necessary details and "running interference for them," he said, so they thought "they had everything they needed" in documentation, Mr. Coulter said.
Ms. Silsby had equally grand ambitions closer to home, according to a local builder. The Idaho plan called for a "multi-million-dollar complex" for runaway children on a 40-acre lot in Kuna, Idaho, according to Eric Evans, owner of Eric Evans Construction in Meridian. Ms. Silsby told him it would have an indoor swimming pool, tennis courts and dormitories for the children, said Mr. Evans, adding that she had discussed having him build the project. Ms. Silsby's mother said she had never heard of any such plan.
Ms. Silsby had purchased a two-story house in Meridian, where a neighbor said she was known for her blue Lexus convertible and her dog, Bentley. Her financial difficulties mounted last year. Idaho court records show several judgments against Ms. Silsby in 2009. Activity in the offices of Ms. Silsby's business, Personal Shopper Inc., visibly slowed, said Scotty Bates, a manager at SpeedyQuick Networks Inc., an Internet service provider whose office is in the same building as Personal Shopper. On Thursday, Personal Shopper's offices were locked and dark.
Personal Shopper, whose Web site personalshopper.com, promises to guide shoppers to products that fit their needs, won Ms. Silsby a 2006 award as International Businesswoman of the Year from eWomen Network, a Texas-based international businesswomen's group. By last year it also was facing suits.
One suit, filed in federal court in Miami, alleged that Personal Shopper owed more than $320,000 to Florida-based TSG Media Inc. The suit was settled in November 2008, according to an attorney for TSG, David Filler. He declined to disclose the terms of the settlement, but he said that Personal Shopper failed to make good on the settlement.
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http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/P1-AT677_HaitiJ_D_20100204180442.jpg
Getty Images U.S. missionaries Laura Silsby, 40, center, and Charisa Coulter, 24, left, are escorted out of the court building in Port-au-Prince on Thursday

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"I must have talked with Laura Silsby once a week for the last year" trying to collect the settlement, Mr. Filler said. "She doesn't come across as a bad person. She always seemed like she was trying to do the right thing," he said, adding that she would often say, "But for God, we wouldn't be getting through this tough time."
Nicklaus & Hyatt, a law firm listed in court documents as representing Ms. Silsby, didn't respond to requests for comment.
Ms. Sander, acknowledged her daughter's financial difficulties, but added, "She is not an irresponsible person. It's just when the economy went south, her business struggled."
In December, her house was foreclosed on, according to John Browning, a Boise broker who said he was hired to sell the house as part of the foreclosure.
Ms. Silsby said she would be leaving the country soon, said Mark Ehlhardt, who runs a UPS store in nearby Kuna where Ms. Silsby rented a mailbox.
In late December. Ms. Silsby and Ms. Coulter went to the Dominican Republic and Haiti for a week. They had been back in Idaho only days when the earthquake struck on Jan. 12. They swung into action.
Journal Community (http://discuss.lifeinkc.com/community)


discuss (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703357104575045794048725562.html?m od=yhoofront#articleTabs%3Dcomments)

“ I'm sure these folks had the best of intentions. That said, there are enough evil-doers in the world to require vigilance on the part of the Haitian government. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703357104575045794048725562.html?m od=yhoofront#articleTabs%3Dcomments) ”
—Horatio Nelson III

According to the document posted online describing their plans, they planned to rent a 45-room hotel in Cabarete, a coastal town in the Dominican Republic near Magante, where they intended to house Haitian children while building their permanent facility. The plan was to drive a bus to Port-au-Prince "and gather 100 orphans from the streets and collapsed orphanages," and return to the Dominican Republic, the document said.
Group members left Meridian on Thursday evening, Jan. 21, and headed for the Salt Lake City airport in a large sport-utility vehicle pulling a U-Haul trailer. The next day, they flew to Santo Domingo, Mr. Coulter said. They brought with them 18 plastic tubs containing mostly donated clothing, diapers and other items intended for the children, said Mr. Coulter, who helped buy some of the bins.
What documentation the group had for the children is unclear. Mr. Ham, the Meridian pastor, said he believes Ms. Silsby was in contact with a Haitian pastor involved with orphanages in the country.
Last week, the group entered Haiti from the Dominican Republic, met with the pastor and gathered a group of children, Mr. Ham said. The group had signed permission "to take children from Haiti back to the Dominican Republic," as well as documentation from the Dominican Republic itself, he said. But when the group got to the border, Haitian officials told the group they lacked "one document," Mr. Ham said.
Carlos Castillo, the Dominican Republic's consul general in Port-au-Prince, gave a different account: In an interview he said he met with Ms. Silsby on Friday and told her she lacked any documents to transport children, and warned her not to try or she could be arrested.

[twila]

Good Grief!

[Christopher]

Here's my position:

Before we went on liberty (translated - free time off of the boat) back in the Navy we had briefings about the ports were were about to visit. We were told explicitly what NOT to do in places like Singapore and the Middle East. We had to respect ALL local laws and customs and act as guests. Anything we did wrong was on us and we were explicitly told that if we got busted, we would be in trouble with the Navy after the locals got done with us.

Americans are NOT above the law of any land. These people intentionally broke the law and acted as 'coyotes'. They have created an international incident and given a wretched country that should be beholden to us a big bargaining chip. Our State Department is now having to expend resources to retrieve people who broke the law, and it looks like they did it with premeditation. If I were in charge, I would not spend any government resources on them. Let their church pay off the locals and get them home. The government did not send them there and the government has no responsibility to get them back.

Lastly, if our government does get them out, won't that be a message to other Americans abroad to break other countries' laws?

[twila]

I couldn't have said it better, Chris. It's difficult to beieve out of 10 people someone didn't have the sense to know what they were doing was not legal. If these folks have a history of serving in missions out of the country I can't imagine where they ever did so or how they organized to do it.
The leader was told before they began by the D.R. they couldn't do it so even if they got out of Haiti, then what?
It makes others suspect now because of their hair brained idea and doesn't just hold ramifications for them personally, but places a scar on the USA in some eyes.
Since they were able to raise the significant amount of money they did for travel expenses alone then they need to find their own money to pay for any legal services and what ever else it's needed for to support them while they are in Haiti.
What the leader did is bad enough, but for 3 churches to support this group from the funds of their flocks. It's hard to imagine without concrete evidence this whole deal would go through is at best the heigth of poor judgement.
Their plan to build a swanky condo complex in the D.R. for people to stay in who are visiting for adoption purposes together with everything else that has occurred makes me wonder if this isn't some kind of scam.

[arm53]

Here is how things go right now.

Haiti judge to free some detained US missionaries


http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/nws/p/ap_logo_106.png (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/brand/SIG=11f589428/**http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ap.org%2Ftermsandconditions)

[/URL]
[URL="http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/legal-advisor/photo//100217/481/2c5d038201ff4b61a2562ca03e8bdf4b//s:/ap/cb_haiti_americans_detained"]http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20100217/capt.2c5d038201ff4b61a2562ca03e8bdf4b.haiti_americ ans_detained__ny109.jpg?x=213&y=318&xc=1&yc=1&wc=274&hc=409&q=85&sig=ULeeUIqkOie1z4zkKSJBdQ-- (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/cb_haiti_americans_detained/print)AP – FILE - In this photo taken Feb. 8, 2010, Jorge Puello, left, a Dominican legal advisor, who was hired …


By FRANK BAJAK, Associated Press Writer Frank Bajak, Associated Press Writer – 3 mins ago
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – A Haitian judge said some of the 10 U.S. missionaries arrested on charges of child kidnapping would be released Wednesday, nearly three weeks after they were caught trying to take a group of children out of the quake-stricken country.
Judge Bernard Saint-Vil would not specify how many people would be released, but said they would be allowed to return home without posting bail if they agreed to return to Haiti for any more questions in the pending investigation.
Saint-Vil, who had not yet issued a formal ruling, said he would await the prosecutor's opinion before announcing the names of those to be released.
"We expected that," said Gary Lissade, the attorney for American Jim Allen. It was unclear what would happen to any of the Americans the judge decides to hold.
Earlier Wednesday, one of the Americans, who is diabetic, was taken to a field hospital. Charisa Coulter of Boise, Idaho, briefly received treatment but was then taken back to jail. Neither her condition nor reason for the treatment was not immediately known.
And a lawyer for nine of the defendants, Aviol Fleurant, complained that Haitian police were restricting his visits to the Americans. "The lawyers are only being allowed in for three or five minutes," he said.
The missionaries, most from two Baptist churches in Idaho, are accused of trying to take 33 Haitian children to the Dominican Republic on Jan. 29 without proper documents.
They say they were on a humanitarian mission to rescue child quake victims by taking them to a hastily prepared orphanage in the Dominican Republic and have denied accusations of trafficking.
Group leader Laura Silsby originally said they were taking only orphaned and abandoned children, but reporters found that several of the children were handed over to the group — willingly — by their parents, who said the hoped the Baptists would give them a better life.
The group also has been embarrassed by revelations that a man who briefly served as their legal adviser and spokesman in the Dominican Republic is wanted on people smuggling charges in the United States and El Salvador.
U.S. Marshals say they are hunting for Jorge Puello, who was already being pursued by authorities in the Dominican Republic on an Interpol warrant out of El Salvador, where police say he led a ring that lured young women and girls into prostitution. He also had an outstanding warrant for a U.S. parole violation.
Puello — who surged into the spotlight by providing food, medicine and legal assistance to the jailed Americans — acknowledged in a phone interview with The Associated Press Tuesday that he is named in a 2003 federal indictment out of Vermont that accuses him of smuggling illegal immigrants from Canada into the United States.
The 32-year-old, identified as Jorge Torres in the indictment, was living in Canada at the time and managed to avoid arrest. He says he is innocent of the accusations, claiming he was working undercover for U.S. authorities at the time. Law enforcement officials said they hadn't yet confirmed the Puello is Torres but the case is open.
Puello, as he has been known most recently, called the AP to discuss his case and said he was in Panama and preparing to return to El Salvador to fight the charges against him there. His whereabouts could not be confirmed.
"The whole world will know I am innocent," he said.
The Haitian attorney, Fleurant, also has accused Puello of absconding with most the fee relatives of the Americans gave the Dominican to pay him.
"He was supposed to give me $40,000 and he gave me $10,000 and he stole $30,000 and he disappeared," said Aviol Fleurant.

Puello said he volunteered to help the missionaries and had never met any of them before they were detained in Haiti.
Puello's involvement with the Americans began to unravel when authorities in El Salvador noted his resemblance to the suspect in the sex trafficking case. He acknowledged on Monday that he is in fact the suspect but said he was wrongly accused and will fight the charges. Puello was convicted of theft of U.S. government property in 1999 in Pennsylvania and sentenced to 6 months in prison and 5 years probation, according to court documents. In 2001, a court found he violated the terms of his probation and issued a warrant for his arrest.

[twila]

This article helps explain why the Haitian Govt. was suspicious.

[arm53]

This article helps explain why the Haitian Govt. was suspicious.

The Hatian authorities are just as corrupt now, as before the Quake.

The system there has always been upside down.


Homeless Haitians: aid halted to force them out

http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/nws/p/ap_logo_106.png (http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/brand/SIG=11f589428/**http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ap.org%2Ftermsandconditions)htt p://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20100222/capt.22c99d9d98f0437cb4b8820ddcda3f91.haiti_earthq uake_htdl113.jpg?x=213&y=150&xc=1&yc=1&wc=410&hc=289&q=85&sig=PVApIwdf6.z.v9vpKeU6Mg-- (http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Port-au-Prince/photo//100222/481/22c99d9d98f0437cb4b8820ddcda3f91//s:/ap/20100222/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_haiti_earthquake)AP – Children play at a camp set up for earthquake survivors left homeless in Port-au-Prince, Sunday Feb. …


By FRANK BAJAK, Associated Press Writer Frank Bajak, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 41 mins ago
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Homeless victims of Haiti's earthquake said Monday that police are halting deliveries of food and water to try to force them to leave their camp on the grounds of the prime minister's office.
Police padlocked the main gate to the hillside camp, where about 2,500 homeless people live under bed sheets and tarps propped on sticks on the sloping hill leading to the office. Stinking garbage with swarms of flies was being allowed to pile up and portable latrines were filled, camp residents complained.
Witnesses said police beat 22-year-old Dalida Jeanty after she picked up a broom to sweep around her tent. "They called her and she did not come so they beat her," said her cousin, Alix Jeanty.
He was among the friends and relatives who carried the woman down the hill, where U.N. peacekeepers from Chile and India arranged for her to be taken to the hospital.
A police officer guarding the gate to the prime minister's office refused to give his name or comment on the alleged beating. Nor would he discuss accusations they have been turning away trucks carrying food and water for the past 10 days.
Calls to the Information Ministry on Monday were unanswered, as was an e-mail to the prime minister's chief aide.
"We've been here for a month and we were being treated well, but for the past two weeks we have been mistreated," said Markinson Midey, a 22-year-old student. "Anytime they bring food or water, the police make the trucks leave."
Midey and other residents, some of them shouting angrily and banging pans when they saw reporters, said they believe the government wants to make the camp conditions so bad that people will be forced to leave, even though they have nowhere else to go.
After reporters arrived, police opened the gate they'd locked.
Many government buildings were damaged in the Jan. 12 quake and Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive is working out of the same office as President Rene Preval at a temporary government headquarters set up in the headquarters of the judicial police, near the airport.
The Jan. 12 earthquake killed about 200,000 people and left 1.2 million homeless, according to the government.
More than half a million people fled devastated Port-au-Prince, but 700,000 are living in every available piece of open land, from public squares and school yards to sidewalks, their only protection makeshift tents of sheets propped up by sticks.
There has been no evidence of any concerted government policy to forcibly remove the homeless from the many spontaneous settlements, however authorities have made it clear they plan to resettle the refugees as soon as more permanent camps can be established outside town.
Many inhabitants of the capital's miserable tent camps got soaked by an overnight downpour. Doctors say many children — half the population of Haiti is under 15 years — are suffering from colds, coughs and diarrhea.
Bellerive told The Associated Press last week that the government will be forced to appropriate private land to build better tent camps with tarpaulins.
But aid agencies taking part in a massive international effort to help victims say the government is dragging its feet even as the rainy season approaches and the need to get people out of congested camps that pose health risks and under proper cover becomes more urgent.

[twila]

I wish the media would get over there with their cameras to feed footage of this devastation and show the world just what the Haitian Govt. is NOT doing with all the money sent to help the people.
If this keeps up the people of Haiti will rise up and riot and who could blame them.
Sounds like many are being treated like dogs. Disgusting! :eek:

[DrScreed]

I wish the media would get over there with their cameras to feed footage of this devastation and show the world just what the Haitian Govt. is NOT doing with all the money sent to help the people.
If this keeps up the people of Haiti will rise up and riot and who could blame them.
Sounds like many are being treated like dogs. Disgusting! :eek:


Yeah.....I do not see that happening, just like the coverage in Iraq when our military was getting killed it was EVERY night, when the troops were give the support and power to win, POOF, no media

[arm53]

It seems the final figures are in....or so.

Haiti estimates $11.5bn needed for reconstruction


http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47486000/jpg/_47486715_wheelchair2.jpg Life carries on amid the rubble in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince

Haiti will need $11.5bn (£7.5bn) to rebuild after the devastating earthquake in January, the country's government estimates.
The amount is a rough estimate of money required for a complete overhaul of the impoverished country, officials say.
The plan, co-authored by international aid agencies, will be put to donors at a conference on Haiti on 31 March.
More than 220,000 people were killed in the quake, which is thought to have caused around $8bn of damage.
"This is a process. This is not a final document," Haiti's Tourism Minister Patrick Delatour was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.
Estimates for the total reconstruction could be as high as $14bn, he added.
'Unprecedented'
The reconstruction plan, known as the Preliminary Damage and Needs Assessment (PDNA), will be discussed at a major conference on Haiti in New York at the end of this month.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47487000/jpg/_47487575_008949175-1.jpg Nearly 220,000 quake survivors are living in temporary camps

The document put the total cost of earthquake damage at $7.9bn - 120% of Haiti's GDP.
More than 70% of those losses were sustained by the private sector. But damage was widespread, affecting schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, buildings, ports and airports.
"The earthquake has created an unprecedented situation, amplified by the fact that it struck the country's most populous region and its economic and administrative centre," the assessment said.
The plan emphasises that the short-term priority is to prepare those left homeless by the quake for April's heavy rains and for the June hurricane season.
Nearly 220,000 quake survivors are living in temporary camps in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, where there is a high risk of flooding and landslides.

[twila]

Even though other nations helping in Haiti are flying their flags at their military compounds there, the prime minister of Haiti asked the U.S. to take ours down because it looked as though the U.S. was in control of the airport. Our ambassador, of course, had it taken down. :p Article at: www.rgj.com (http://www.rgj.com)

[Christopher]

That half of the island wasn't worth 11.5 million before the quake.

I think if they don't want our flag there, then we go away.

[twila]

I think it took a lot of nerve to ask us to take the flag down. I don't care if it was at the airport. They had no airport to use after the quote and our military was responsible for getting it up and running. If this is their attitude, then next time there is an earthquake (God forbid) in Haitii, let them use row boats to get their needed supplies and people to help them out. Maybe they can use materials from the presidential palace to construct them. :p

[travelinman]

I could not agree more. We should only take our flag down as we are leaving. I have to say I am so sick a of the double standard that goes on when it comes to the USA. When this disaster happened it was our country that others were looking to for help. It was our country that gave the bulk of finances and equipment along with the manpower of the US forces that were among the first to arrive with a hand held out in aid. And now even though they let other countries fly their flags, they ask us to take ours down. Where is the gratitude ? We are expected to protect the world at the same time that very world treats us like a dog to be kicked.

[twila]

It's downright aggravating and insulting to our men in uniform and the American people that sent countless dollars individually, through organizations, telethons, etc. That doesn't even take into consideration all the medical professionals that gave of their time, some with loss of income to help a people in need.
The American Flag is a cherished symbol to most of us and stands for what we are all about as a people, not merely something flown in time of war when it's flown to show territory.
How dare the Haiitian government ask us to take it down after all we have done for them in the past sending them all kinds of aid to help their people when their own government
chooses to be so corrupt.
It's about time someone in this government stands-up to people treating us like chopped liver.