SOIL is a non-profit founded in 2006 that works in Haiti, teaching the people living there how to grow their own food with the help of an interesting and stinky component; poop.

The National Geographic video about the organization,“Holy Crap!” says that they have installed nearly 200 toilets in small villages throughout Haiti where after the 2010 earthquake many were left homeless and jobless and where deforestation has wreaked havoc on the land making many Haitans dependent on imported foods. According to the video only 16% of rural Haitians and 50% of those in cities have access to sanitation facilities and since the earthquake many have resorted to dumping the waste in rivers used for drinking water and bathing.

Sunday, October 16, Dr. Joseph Marshall, author, co founder and radio talk show host of “Street Soldiers”, a program from the omega boy’s blub, stressed a very important question into the minds of many listeners across the bay area. Read more...

“Young people come up with most creative ideas,” said Welling Savo Justin, Communications Advisor for the Bezos Family Foundation.

Young people all over the world have been challenged to fundraise for Haiti, and they are not doing it the traditional way.

Students Rebuild is a combined effort between Architecture for Humanity, the Bezos Family Foundation, and Global Nomads Group. Students Rebuild will match the fundraising efforts of each team that registers for the challenge up to $2,500.

The Students Rebuild website reads, “The challenge is open to students and educators at junior high and high schools worldwide... Creativity is a must. Over the next several weeks, this website will become more dynamic. You will have the opportunity to share fundraising tips, cheer your team’s progress, and cast your vote for the most creative efforts.”

Justin listed a couple of creative fundraising efforts.
“One team in Northern California, started by a community organization called Youth Rock the Rebuild, pulled together ten teams of middle school and high school students who had bands, and held a series of rock concerts. Their last concert was on Dec. 12 in Mill Valley, California,” she said.

“One young person in Haiti named Kira wrote a song for the concert and sent a video to the team. The students in California projected the Haitian student’s performance at the concert. It created an amazing synergy between peers across the world. This effort is really about building relationships between peers,” she said. (Watch Kira's video below).

Another Students Rebuild team in Texas emerged out of an all-girls school. Around the time of their spring formal, they convinced their student body to donate the money they would have used to buy boutonnieres and corsages for each other, and wear a ribbon instead showing their support for Haiti. “They raised $3,000!” said Justin. “It’s nice not to be prescriptive and let the young people find creative solutions.”

Global Nomads Group orchestrates live video conferences between schools in Haiti and schools in the United States, as part of the effort to connect young peers in both countries. According to Justin, one Haitian student expressed how nice it was to see help that looked similar to them.

“We believe that young people are co-collaborators with us in creating solutions to the world’s toughest problems. If we can facilitate and support young people in being part of the solution, we will,” she said.

Wyclef Jean, President of Haiti? That’s a question even Jean’s former bandmate and cousin is asking. Jean has made it clear he wants to help rebuild his home country, and what better way than being the president. But Jean’s cousin Pras of the Fugees feels he doesn’t have what it takes to get job done.

The New York Daily News quoted Pras saying "I endorse Michel Martell as the next president of Haiti because he is the most competent candidate for the job."

In a recent letter, Jean says he has decided to run for president because of the love he has towards his country but most importantly to show his daughter the extreme measures he is willing to take in order to make “Haiti a better place.”

Wyclef Jean wrote a letter explaining why he decided to run for president.

“…At age four, my daughter has already seen so much suffering in Haiti, but we've done our best to have her also witness the beauty of the country and the beautiful spirits of its people. I have always believed in the need to parent her by example, to show her that her dad is a man of action and a man of his word. I've told her throughout her life that Haiti's future lies in our hands -- including hers, as one of the young people of the country -- and I want to show her by example what I'm willing to do to make Haiti a better place. I believe that to move Haiti forward, it's going to be necessary to embrace the energy of its people, to unite around a common goal of moving ahead together. Taking all of these factors into consideration over the last few weeks, I have decided to run for president of Haiti.” Read the full letter here.

via The Huffington Post

The rapper is following on President Obama’s footsteps and reaching out to young people to get him elected.

According to ABCnews.com Trans racial adoption can provide a loving family and an identity struggle. Black children in Caucasian families try to find their place in society. African American adoptees explain their feelings on how they struggled in their Caucasian neighborhoods and schools. One speaker named Berstelan said in an interview, “We finally get this family, whomever they are, that we can call our own and so we adjust, we adapt, we learn to go along and get along and that's what I did. So in a way, home became a safe haven ... but it was a total disconnect from the world outside and so you end up, I ended up, internalizing the questions". Berstelan made a movie on his Tran racial life and the struggles he encountered. For 20 years Trans racial adoptions in the U.S didn’t end until the National Black Social Workers Association disapproved this and named it as a “cultural genocide”. Recently with the large earthquake in Haiti many Caucasian families are rushing to adopt Haitian orphan children. One family, the Erickson’s, has recently adopted two young Haitian children Read more...

On Saturday Chile was struck by an 8.8 earthquake that cost the lives of more than 700 people. Roads, buildings, houses, and bridges were destroyed by the earthquake. Watching videos of how people are suffering is hard to handle but it’s even harder for Miguel Guerrero-Gonzales, transfer student at the College of Alameda, who has family members in Santiago, Chile.

Gonzales tells Youth Radio 70% of his family in Chile are uncounted for, but despite the high number he remains hopeful.

Q: Have you been able to speak to your family members?

A: On Sunday afternoon, we were able to get in contact with my aunt who lives in the outskirts of Santiago. She told us that both of my cousins are okay and one of my cousins' family were okay, but they haven't been able to get in contact with my other aunt and 4 of my uncles. During the first phone call, another earthquake hit and the lines were cut. About 10 hours later, we called again and my aunt reported that my other aunt was okay but they haven't here from her daughters and her sons. The area where my grandmother’s house is located was said to be completely flattened by the earthquake. Yet, my cousin managed to get drive to my Grandmother's house and he found her house still standing with minor damages. In all, about 70% of our family is still unaccounted for. Talking to one of my uncles in Berkeley, He told me that most of his family is still missing. His family lives on the coast, where the 15 yard tidal wave had consumed most of the coastal towns.

Q: Have your family members mentioned how fast or slow aid is coming to them?

A: Government aid hasn't arrived to many of the local towns because the roads have been destroyed and many of the airlift operations have been only going to Concepcion which is one of the hardest hit provinces in Chile by the earthquake

Q: Do you find it hard to help out since you are far away?

A: My family has been able to communicate with other Chileans in the Bay Area and we are collaborating our ideas in making some fundraising events in the community. which the money would go directly to the Red Cross of Chile. In terms of it being hard to find ways of sending aid, we have many contacts through the Chilean Government and also we are able to combine our hearts to raise money.

Q: Are you seeing people supporting Chileans the way they did for the Haitians?

A: I believe it is a tad bit difficult for people to assist in the support of Chile just because their has been a huge movement for Haiti. Yet, if you put the tables together, A third world country without a solid economic base affected by a 7.0 Earthquake is as great as a 8.8 earthquake that struck a country with a very solid economic base . Still, the Chilean earthquake is 100 times stronger than that of the Haitian Earthquake. I definitely expect people to help out any way they can because these earthquakes don't affect just the people in the location, but they affect all of us.
 

On Saturday, Chile suffered an Earthquake of 8.8 magnitude that destroyed over 500 homes, bridges, and caused over 700 deaths. The strong impact also triggered tsunami warnings along the Pacific Rim. Loved ones are still struggling to make connections with family members in Chile.

Google launched an app that can help located family members in Chile. The app “Person Finder” allows users to request and leave information. It hasn’t been a week since Google launched the app and it’s already tracking 41,700 records.

People are also using sites like Twitter and Facebook to look for and contact some of their family members. Over hundreds of groups have been created on Facebook. People are using these groups as a search engine to find their family members. Users write and upload pictures and ask if they have seen them.
 

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.
 

Pierre Garcon has become known for supplying the NFL with dramatic storylines. The wide receiver for the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts defied the odds by catching for over 700 yards this year after having only four catches as a rookie out of Division III Mount Union College. In addition, he helped lead the Colts to Super Bowl XLIV with a record-breaking performance in the AFC Championship Game.

Unfortunately, it's a somber event that's added the latest chapter in the personal narrative of this rising star. As the son of Haitian immigrants, Garcon watched with the result on January 12 as a massive earthquake devastated Haiti. The country now has an estimate of 200,000 people dead and 1.2 million homeless.

"People down there don't deserve for this to happen. Nobody deserves anything like this," Garcon told USA Today.

It’s clear that Garcon has been thinking about the tragedy on and off the field. In the AFC Championship Game against the New York Jets, he caught an AFC Championship record 11 receptions while catching for 151 yards and a touchdown. During the post-game celebration, he draped the Haitian flag over his shoulders as he held the Lamar Hunt Trophy. Off the field, he inspired students at his alma mater, Mount Union, to raise $10,000 for the relief efforts in Haiti.

To this reporter, Garcon is an inspiration not only to those wanting to overcome long shot odds, but to those who feel helpless about Haiti.

"All I'm trying to do is have them not think about what they are going through," Garcon told USA Today.

Barbara Albert is a New York state paramedic and part of a volunteer Haiti Rescue Team. This is account, in her own words, of her experience providing emergency medical relief in the aftermath of Haiti's deadly earthquake.

Part three of of a three part series.
[Read Part Two]

Day 4: Wednesday

While at the safe house provided for us I contacted some family members that were ok and had them pick me up to spend some time with them before I went into work that night. They were located right outside of Port-Au-Prince in an area that mostly got the aftershocks of the earthquake. Homes were not badly affected but still people slept in their backyards due to the fear of not knowing what can happen. On the way to their home I noticed that the Haitian population, in spite of all that is going around them, some are still trying to continue their daily lives. I saw shoe shiners in the street, people selling fruits and vegetables, I saw taxi cabs running, the usual vendors.

But the main problem is there is no clean water unless it is imported, and there is very little fuel. The lines are miles long and people are fighting. The prices are 100 dollars a gallon, that is almost 20 dollars a gallon US. There is little food so the prices are sky high. I didn't even change my US currency to Haitian dollars cause there was no point.

Kids, teenagers, grown ups are all begging in the street. People are taking showers in the street naked in the ravines in public. People are using the street corners as bathrooms. It's horrendous... many people just dont care any more. There was little smell of death in the air, it depends on what area you were in but all bodies were picked up off the street. There were just one or two scattered around. Everywhere you turn there's a tent city made out of sheets with people praying that God spares them the rain.

After the jump: "We saw a patient with 31 gun shot wounds..."