The coverage has become a thinly-veiled PR exercise -- as are all articles in the AmeriKan MSM.
"Homeland’s crisis strains Haitian families in region; Some dig into savings to aid kin hurt in quake" by Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff | February 8, 2010
In the aftermath of the devastating quake, Haitians in Massachusetts and beyond are facing intense pressure to pay for medical care, food, and shelter for loved ones in Haiti - and even to find ways to bring them here. But for many local Haitians, the new demands are sorely straining families struggling to make ends meet.
We also have a lot of that going around, don't we, Americans?
Haitian immigrants and their children are a diverse mix of professionals and laborers, but they are hurting more in the recession than average state residents, according to recent census data. About 13.5 percent of Haitians fell under the poverty line, nearly double the state average, while their per capita income was $18,000, compared with $33,800 statewide.
That's what happens when you are cheap labor undercutting American workers.
Still, immigrants and others are digging into their savings and wiring what they can to Haiti from money-transfer kiosks set up in bakeries, minimarts, and storefronts across Massachusetts....
One can only hope it hasn't gone into someone's pocket.
Btw, Bush and Clinton been laying low, huh?
Immigrant families were already a lifeline before the disaster, sending back an estimated $68 million last year from Massachusetts, which is home to about 60,000 people of Haitian descent, the third-largest in the United States.
Which is money removed from our economy as the government counts it as growth.
Not that the Haitians don't deserve everything they get and more because it has been U.S. and globalist policy that has kept them down; however, that money never comes back to the U.S. economy.
The $1.18 billion in remittances sent to Haiti in 2008 accounted for almost 30 percent of all economic activity in the Caribbean nation, according to the Inter-American Dialogue, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. The average amount sent to Haiti was $123, lower than the regional average of $249, partly because the US dollar goes further in Haiti....
Don't you wish it went somewhere here, Americans?
The ringing telephone jarred the early evening in the Cambridge apartment. It was Patrick St. Fleur, calling from the ravaged Haitian capital, urging relatives in Massachusetts to send money - and fast.
His 9-year-old son, Darlens, had lost a leg when their home collapsed in the Jan. 12 earthquake, and needed surgery. His wife and infant son were dead.
St. Fleur’s sister, Juliette Andre immediately wired $450; she soon realized with dread that it would not be close to enough. But as a home health aide who lives in public housing, she has limited means....How does unemployment do you, Americans?
--more--"
And where is your help, huh?
"Hub office a 1-stop resource for information on Haiti relief" by Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff | February 11, 2010
Government officials will formally open a Haiti relief information center in Boston today to answer questions about immigration, adoption, counseling, and other services for people affected by the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.
Your tax dollars at work as services are slashed, Bay-Staters.
Not like I don't want to help Haitians -- I do and sent $ to Doctors Without Borders (strangely absent from the coverage -- but our state is not exactly swimming in cash right now.
The temporary center, on the first floor of the John F. Kennedy Federal Building, has been running unofficially since last week to provide reliable assistance amid rumors that unscrupulous lawyers or others were charging immigrants exorbitant fees to fill out simple forms to apply for legal residency in this country.
Welcome to Amerika, immigrants!
I know you heard different about us, but....
But because there are a wide range of concerns beyond immigration, US Citizenship and Immigration Services broadened the center to include state and city officials and nonprofits. Now it is a one-stop shop to obtain information about how to bring relatives to the United States and apply for legal residency, as well as how to get a Social Security number and apply for state health insurance. Government officials will not provide free legal advice, but they will have lists of free legal clinics.
They care more about foreigners than they do their own salary-paying citizens.
“We just want people to know that we’re here,’’ said Denis Riordan, district director for Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is housed in the federal building and is coordinating the effort. “We want to say you don’t need to go to people who are preying on the suffering of the Haitian people.’’
The center is a modest effort - an information table staffed by officials. But....
Massachusetts is home to the third-largest Haitian community in the United States, and many are scrambling to aid family members and friends back home.
Many are seeking to apply for temporary protected status, a special emergency designation by the federal government that will allow an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 Haitians who were here illegally or were just visiting before the quake to stay for 18 months.
No big deal in a Land of Law, right?
The fees to apply range from $50 for a child under 14 to $470 for an adult seeking temporary residency and permission to work. Fee waivers are available....
Yeah, somehow the government is always trying to make a buck out of you no matter who you are.
Richard Chacón, executive director of the state’s Office for Refugees and Immigrants, said immigrants who obtain protected status are now eligible for driver’s licenses and in-state college tuition....
Well, I guess the earthquake was a benefit for them!
--more--"And you need aid $$$s?
Go where the money is!
"Boston Foundation match tops $2m quake relief goal" by James F. Smith, Globe Staff | February 11, 2010
A gift of $100,000 from Wilmer Ruperti, head of a Venezuelan oil trading and shipping company, put the Haiti Relief and Reconstruction Fund over the $1 million mark in matching funds.
What, the evil Venezuelans that sell us cheap heating oil put 'em over the top? Any thank yous going out?
At a luncheon at the foundation’s downtown office, featuring Haitian music, artwork, and cuisine, civic leaders and philanthropists joined Haitian community leaders to celebrate the achievement, reflect on the continuing suffering in Haiti, and mull the complex challenges of rebuilding.
Just seems to be a strange setting considering how many Haitians are starving.
In the keynote address, author Tracy Kidder described the dramatic first days of emergency relief work by doctors from Partners in Health, based in Boston, and other organizations. He said Dr. Louise Ivers, a Partners physician who was in Haiti for a conference when the quake hit, had to use license plates for splints at first.
Kidder is the author of “Mountains Beyond Mountains,’’ the 2003 book about Dr. Paul Farmer, cofounder of Partners in Health and longtime Haiti specialist.
Kidder said a chronic problem in Haiti has been the lack of coordination among foreign aid groups and their tendency to operate in isolation from the Haitian government. He said there were 10,000 aid groups in Haiti at the time of the quake - “and that alone remains a stunning indictment’’ of failed development....
Unless that is never what they meant to do.
Also see: Aid Not Making It to Haitians
So whose pocket is it going into then?
