Haiting on Some Relief Efforts
Posted by King Anyi Howell on February 10, 2010 at 03:35pm
photo: ChrisM70/ BY-NC-SA
 

The ultimate sign of humanity is giving to others regardless of your own condition. I understand why people are choosing to give to others less fortunate than them, even when we currently have less than we ever had before. What I can’t support is the exploitation of the Haitian earthquake disaster to drum up business.

In Toledo, Ohio, “Marilyn’s on Monroe,” a strip club, held a “Lap Dances for Haiti” event. Kenny Soprano, the manager of the club, said they were looking for ways to give back to the community. When I heard this, my heart sank. The adult entertainment industry is the last industry that needs to be holding fundraisers for such a tragedy. I don’t think lap dances should be a form of charity. What’s next? Pornography for Haiti?

In Los Angeles, I’ve seen after-hours parties (illegal nightclubs serving liquor after the 2am last call), and comedy shows advertise that the proceeds from their events will go to the people of Haiti. It just feels cheap to me. I understand some of the logic behind these events. People want to party and people want to help. But the people of Haiti need food, water, and a long-term investment in their future. What I haven’t seen was an event that allows entry with canned goods or bottled water. They don’t need their tragedy to be sensationalized or cheapened.
 

 



Cans & Bottled Water

While I totally understand the point you're driving at, I can tell you (as someone who has worked in humanitarian relief) that donating things like canned goods and bottled water is an extremely inefficient way of helping the people of Haiti. Consider the logistics and cultural issues of giving a person in Haiti who has lost his/her home a can of, say, chicken noodle soup. Does he/she have a can-opener? A heat source? Is chicken noodle soup a culturally appropriate food? Moreover, relief agencies then have to start checking the expiration dates on, and cataloguing, the cans that they're distributing, before shipping these extremely heavy items...this would be a HUGE waste of resources. Bottled water, in turn, would be difficult and expensive to ship. It would also create plastic bottle waste in an already polluted environment (because people would surely end up donating those little 12oz bottles that they drink, not realizing that Haitians would need gallons for cooking and drinking, not to mention basic hygiene, etc). It's much more cost-efficient for aid agencies, which have established supply chains, to provide things like filtration systems, which are durable (don't create waste) and allow for continuous supply of clean water, and bulk food (rice, flour, sorghum, etc - depending on the circumstances) that is culturally appropriate to the people in need. While you can argue the morality of taking money from strip clubs, etc, the fact is that sending money is the best thing that we can do.

if money is money

then why stop at lapdances.. why not start HOOKIN FOR HAITI??...

money is money when people

money is money when people desperately need it. period.

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