Record Breaking Fundraising

I am watching this video while Crying, Blogging, Twittering, Flickring, Facebooking, etc. (These are verbs now, right?) But, I have one nagging vision in my mind. I remember something a friend of mine said to me when I came to live in the US. I asked him if he was planning to go back to Haiti some time in the future. He responded: ‘Only if I could pick up Queens and drop it in Port-au-Prince‘.

This is something to really think about. As we are watching all this help pouring into our country, we should seriously start thinking of the ways the government of Haiti should funnel this massive influx of Monetary and Human Resources. Help is coming from everywhere in the world. Everybody and their grandmother are raising money and doing something to help Haiti. Some countries from Africa are sending as little as $50,000. Let us not disappoint them!

In my humble opinion, we should let what is left of Port-au-Prince become the Old Port-au-Prince, and build a new city. Turn all the destroyed structures into Parks, Open-Air Arenas or Concert Venues, and what not. We would get an Historic City à la Vieux Montréal, plus a brand new one next to it. We should definitely get a Brasilia-style Capital from this deal. The city of Brasilia is a world reference for urban planning, according to this Wikipedia entry.

It is also noted in this article that, Brasília was built in 41 months, from 1956 to April 21, 1960, when it was officially inaugurated. That is 3 years and 5 months, people! We can do this!

We should do this. We owe it to all those who, in a way, sacrificed their lives, in order for us, our children and grandchildren to have a better tomorrow. The money is there. The help is there. Let us tell the Americans that we do not need Marines! Haiti is not a war zone. We need Engineers, Surveyors, Urban Planners, Earth-moving Equipment, Construction Materials, etc.

Countless Haitian nationals are helping build other countries. Should they not help rebuild their own country? Why don’t the likes of the United States, Canada, France, etc, help us set up a safe environment, so we can all go back and contribute to this huge rebuilding project?

We would rather go to Haiti and do the things we are doing for these countries. I would feel like a king in my country; here, I am nobody. Like they say, I am just a number! Maybe there was a reason why I did this design back in July 2009: Li lè pou m ale nan peyi m!

“Hope for Haiti Now” will continue accepting donations for six months via the following methods:

» Online: www.hopeforhaitinow.org
» Phone: 877-99-HAITI
» Text: Text “GIVE” to 50555
»Mail: Hope For Haiti Now Fund, Entertainment Industry Foundation, 1201 West 5th Street, Suite T-700, Los Angeles, CA 90017

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Blog post by Tatán
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