In light of the recent tragedy in Haiti, people from around the world are pulling together to help a country that is suffering and its civilians, who cannot help themselves.
Opportunities to donate are popping up everywhere, and technology now allows us to text our contributions. There are benefit concerts, drop-off locations for supplies, clubs donating event proceeds to the cause and, for those able to make the trip, many churches are arranging additional missionary trips designed to assist with the rebuilding of this culturally rich island.
Many of Milwaukee's top music artists decided to come together and plan a concert for the cause this past Sunday, Jan. 24. The Haiti Disaster Relief concert at 618 LIVE featured Adi Amore, Baby Drew, Cincere, Jazzi & Jaayd, Ray Nitti, Taste Emcees and many more, and succeeded in raising money and awareness for Haiti.
Our Milwaukee hosts another benefit on Sunday, Jan. 31 at Lakefront Brewery.
Watching the updates about Haiti, and its suffering invokes memories of New Orleans. Granted the natural disasters were different but the results were similar: homeless children and pets, bodies piled up in the streets, lack of food and supplies, desperation and, probably most disturbing, the delay for aid.
The effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans were long-lasting. In the city of New Orleans, a storm surge caused more than 50 breaches in drainage canal levees and also in navigational canal levees and precipitated the worst engineering disaster in the history of the United States. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans was flooded, with some parts under 15 feet of water. Nearly 90 percent of the residents of southeast Louisiana were evacuated in the most successful evacuation of a major urban area in the nation's history.
Despite this, many remained (mainly the elderly and poor). Those who chose to stay in their homes had to swim for their lives, wade through deep water, or remain trapped in their attics or on their rooftops.
Unlike New Orleans, the Haitians have nowhere to retreat and this makes clean up, and the delivery of additional resources, all the more difficult.
Yahoo News reports that body counts are averaging 10,000 daily, clinics have 12-day waiting lists for patients, untreated injuries are festering and makeshift camps in parks, streets and vacant lots now house an estimated 300,000 people, many in need of food, water and a doctor.
This disaster has major implications for a large segment of the population, their economy, and the Haitian government. With so much work to do, where will they start?
Five years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is starting to rebuild, but there are still many neighborhoods and disenfranchised citizens that still feel the effect. Unfortunately for the residents of Haiti this recovery time may be longer.
I encourage everyone to do what he or she can to help this cause but do not loose sight of the help that is still needed within your own communities. We never know when or where a tragedy will strike.
Here are a few ways to help Haiti:
You can donate $5 by texting YELE to 501501 or get more info by visiting Wyclef Jean's yele.org.
Feeling adventurous? Take a trip to Chicago for the cause! There are several events approaching the big city next door:
Hearts for Haiti Chicago -- Jan. 27 at Rumba, 351 W. Hubbard St. This event will feature Chicago's top celebrity DJs, sports figures and public figures. The donation is $20 and Yele will provide a truck outside that will collect donations of food, clothing and medical supplies. All proceeds will go to Yele.
Every Drop Counts takes place Jan. 31 at Reggie's Rock Club, 2109 S. State St., and has a star-studded line up with Jean Grae, Rhyme Fest, The Cool Kids, Dead Prez, Mic Terror, Mikkey Halsted, and most notably, He Say She Say -- featuring Milwaukee native Drea Smith. This concert is 17 and over and there's a $20 donation to enter. All proceeds from ticket and merchandise sales will go to World Water Relief.
Nirvana graduated from Riverside University High School and attended Wilberforce University, an historic black university in Ohio.
Not satisfied that she was receiving the proper training for her career goals, Nirvana was accepted into Public Allies Milwaukee and worked at the Sherman Park Boys and Girls Club for her program year.
Before enrolling at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, Nirvana did some traveling and sports marketing and event related internships, most notably with the Chicago Cubs.
She has also worked for Chicago's No. 1 radio station WGCI, National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Illinois Action for Children.
Nirvana also has a children's clothing line called Pineapple Eggplant.
