Video of Soledad O'Brien reporting about orphans in Haiti
Soledad O'Brien
The Haiti Relief Effort Interview with
Kam Williams
Kam Williams (KW): Hi, Soledad, thanks again for the time.
Soledad O'Brien:
Hey, how're you doing? I hope you don't mind but the kids are running around
so we might have some interruptions. The conversation's definitely going to
be like that from my end. That was Charlie [one of her 5 year-old twins] who
answered the phone.
KW:
Of course, I understand. The kids missed mommy while she was away, and now
they come first.
SO:
Cool!
KW:
Well, I guess my first question is, how's Haiti?
SO:
Haiti's a mess for a host of reasons: because it's historically never been
given a chance, because it currently has no real infrastructure, and
because, of course, in the wake of the earthquake those factors combine to
make for a country that's going to have a very slow recovery. These
conditions don't exist in a vacuum but are correlated to how fast Haiti is
going to be able to recover. There's a reason why people aren't getting food
and other resources quickly, even when supplies have arrived to hand out,
namely, that it's really hard to get to folks in the absence of an
infrastructure.
KW:
I told my readers I'd be speaking with you, and they sent in a lot of
questions. Larry Greenberg asks, do
you think we should be having a dialog about making Haiti the 51st
state or a commonwealth of the United States?
SO:
No, I think what Haiti needs is to not be continually screwed by the forces
around it, whether that be American forces, meaning political, not military
forces, or French forces. The history of Haiti, as I'm sure you're well
aware, has been one of never giving Haiti a chance. What it really needs is
an opportunity. I'm not sure that there would be an upside to the country
becoming a state. Nor do I think America needs for Haiti to become a state.
Haiti has a president and leadership elected by the people. It just needs
some real infrastructure.
KW:
You also covered the tsunami and Katrina. How do these disasters compare
to each other?
SO:
To me, the scope of Katrina was so much bigger than where I was in Thailand.
In Thailand, after a couple of days everyone could kind of get their act
together, except for in the affected area which they needed to continue
working on rebuilding. By comparison, Katrina was just giant, space-wise. As
for Haiti, the damage caused by the earthquake is even more widespread than
Katrina, and they have much less infrastructure. I found the same sort of
devastation I saw in Port-au-Prince, when we drove to Jacmel and beyond.
Plus, the population density in is so much greater in Haiti where they build
homes right on top of each other into these hills. So, there was a domino
effect when they collapsed, especially because of the substandard
construction work.
KW:
I write for a Haitian publication, Heritage Konpa Magazine, whose publisher,
Rene Davis, is from a place called Petit-Goave located 30 miles outside of
Port-au-Prince. He emailed me to say that still nothing in the way of help
has reached his hometown.
SO:
Part of the problem is just the logistics. Some of those places you can't
reach simply because the roads are physically impassable. The other issue
involves the challenge of delivering supplies to Haiti. Is the port open?
How do you get shipments in? So, even right in Port-au-Prince, where you
have such population density, you have a real problem just figuring out how
to hand out stuff.
KW:
Tony Noel wants to know, to what extent this is an international relief
effort? Are there other countries contributing that might not be mentioned
by the American mainstream press?
SO:
Oh, yeah. Absolutely! What I found interesting from the getgo, when we went
to the hospital in Jacmel, was that the first people I encountered were
Cuban doctors. They already had a longstanding, joint project with Haiti, so
they were the ones who immediately set up the outdoor, triage hospital.
Those were Haitian and Cuban doctors. And at that hospital there were also
medical teams from Costa Rica, Canada, Sri Lanka and the United States. It
was truly an international response. No question. It was strange to be
yelled at in so many different languages.
KW:
After both 9/11 and Katrina, the Red Cross solicited donations but later
admitted that it only distributed a small fraction of the funds raised
during those ad campaigns. You were down there in Haiti. Laz Lyles asks,
what's the most effective way people can help?
SO:
From my perspective, I would wait now. They have a lot of immediate money
in. And people have started bringing in supplies. The initial first phase of
the crisis is over. The rebuilding effort is going to take so much time that
whether I wanted to send $1,000, or $5,000 or even $50,000, I'd hold on and
wait to see what's coming down the line, because that money is really going
to be needed later. You might, for instance, be able to help rebuild a
school, or some other project that nobody's thinking about right now.
Wouldn't that be a wonderful way to help? But still, if you're not going to
send any money when the hoopla dies down, then send it now. Otherwise, wait
to see what projects emerge, because the initial response has been
tremendous, financially.
KW:
Jimmy Bayan asks whether there's any truth to the rumor that they're
taking Haitians survivors to Guantanamo Bay?
SO:
No, I never heard that.
KW:
How did it feel to be in the midst of the continuing crisis?
SO:
It's sort of the same feeling you get at any of these disasters. You don't
have a 500 lb. bag of rice to feed people who are really hungry, or a dump
truck to remove cement from a spot where someone might be trapped. It's
frustrating, but I think I've sort of reconciled in my own head that my job
is to bring notice to the world of these people's plight. And if I try to
get involved in rescuing, too, I'll end up not doing either job very well.
Although at one point, I helped out at an orphanage when an overwhelmed
doctor pointed out a dehydrated baby that basically had about a couple of
hours to live unless she got an IV. At that point, I was wishing that Dr.
Sanjay Gupta was with me or somebody who could do it well, because I didn't
know how to put an IV in. And I knew that two doors over, there were another
half-dozen kids in the same situation. She was so dehydrated, it was obvious
that she wasn't going to make it. And she hadn't even been injured in the
quake. She was just dehydrated. Babies who don't have water will die.
Dehydration kills them. After I got the IV in, I had never been so relieved
in my life, because the risk had been so high. I kept thinking, "God, if
this needle doesn't get in, that's it." Fortunately, once we did get the IV
running in her, she was fine. A lot of these infants would be just fine, if
we could only get a bottle of formula to them.
KW:
What about the reports of crime and violence? The U.S. news networks said
there was sporadic looting and gang violence, and that 4,000 prisoners had
escaped from prison and were crawling all over the streets. How much of that
did you witness?
SO:
There was a case where people broke into a candle store, stole the candles,
and then set up shop selling candles on the street. That's not the same as
stealing a loaf of bread to keep from starving. There's an incredible
desperation there. One night, a couple hours after I left one of the
orphanages, about 20 armed gunmen climbed over the wall, because they know
that the orphanages have some food and supplies. I don't think threatening
children with a shotgun is okay by any means, but I can understand that they
acted out of desperation.
[Attending to her son] Hey Charlie, one hard-boiled egg at a time. No
two-handed eating! And anybody who's eating needs to sit. Sorry, Kam.
KW:
Did you ever feel threatened while you were in Haiti?
SO:
I never felt unsafe. When I first arrived, literally 20 feet from our hotel
on, there were about 20,000 people camped out on the Champ de Mars. Everyone
was sitting calmly. That number must have swollen to 50,000 or more by the
time I left. The plaza was just packed, but no one ever tried to climb into
the hotel, where there was plenty of hot water and hot food. No one ever
threatened me, or rushed me, or tried to grab my backpack, or attempted to
break into our car to steal our cameras or gear, even 10 days in to the
disaster. They were still all patiently waiting for food and water trucks to
arrive. To me, that was the real story.
KW:
What do you attribute their patience to?
SO:
In part, it's cultural. In part, Haitians don't have the same expectation of
help coming that, say, Americans had after Katrina. [Distracted by Jackson,
Charlie's twin brother] Jackson! Don't torture your sister! Go get a toy
from the other room and bring it here. That bouncy thing, or your red car.
Sorry. Haitians have experienced a lot of natural disasters and have almost
a sense of resignation.
KW:
Yale grad Tommy Russell asks what percent of Haiti's political
infrastructure is intact?
SO:
I'm not sure. I never covered that story, although I know that CNN did a
report on finding the government. But I never had a sense that the Haitian
government was there. I was just in lots of places where people were trying
to help, like this little town where a French medical team suddenly
appeared, set up a tent and started taking x-rays and treating the wounded.
KW:
I remember seeing a spokesperson for Doctor without Borders complaining on
TV about how most of their planes were not being allowed to land. And that
the U.S. military was in control of the airport and was focused more on
bringing in 13,000 soldiers than on the medical supplies that were so
urgently needed.
SO:
I understand, but, they needed so many things, honestly: medical supplies,
food, water, excavation machines, doctors, nurses, rescue personnel,
engineers, etcetera. Part of the reason they couldn't land all their planes
is that there was simply no space to land. The planes were all stacked up.
That's why we went to choppers. Getting in and out by helicopters was just
so much easier. So, Doctors without Borders complaint was right that they
definitely need more medical professionals, but if you're going to try to
distribute, you also need infrastructure. Haiti's just a very messed up
place right now.
KW:
Where are people gravitating in Haiti, to the city or to the country?
SO:
Initially, people basically moved right to open spaces because they were
terrified and wanted to sleep outdoors. Then, as fuel became available and
the buses began running again, you'd see them leave to live in the country,
if they had relatives there. What's complicating matters are the massive
numbers of people. If you're walking through a city with a half-million
people living in tents, it's very challenging, logistically.
KW:
Mirah Riben, author of a couple books on adoption asks, what you think of
the people rushing to adopt Haitian babies?
SO:
I think anybody who is willing to adopt a child in any situation is amazing.
That's really a very selfless thing to do. However, I agree with those who
say that adoption should not be rushed. The adoption process in Haiti
normally takes several years, and it should. It would be terrible to risk an
adoption by someone who should not be adopting a child. Still, what I find
frustrating is that so many people see it as an either/or situation. You can
do an airlift for kids who are dying, feed them, and return them without
adopting them out. It doesn't have to be either snatching babies out of
their parents' arms or leaving them there to die. There's a middle ground in
there, and what's made me really angry is how the question has been posed as
one or the other. Plus, there are plenty of orphanages that don't offer kids
for adoption, but just take care of kids for people who can't afford to
raise them. In a way, those kids are currently the most desperate, since
they're totally under the radar. You get a sense that their situation is
very dire and that no one is keeping track of them. So, it sort of annoys me
that there isn't a sense of urgency about trying to save them, too.
KW:
Mirah also feels that people inclined to adopt on impulse ought to be
encouraged instead to donate money so the kids can be raised right there by
relatives and grow up in Haiti in their own culture.
SO:
Yeah, the impulse to adopt is coming from a great place. I felt the same way
when I encountered a truck with about 25 babies lying in the back. I wanted
to grab as many as I could hold and run for the border. They had diarrhea
and started puking all over me. I can't tell you how many of my personal
friends have asked, "What do I have to do to help one of those babies?"
Their thinking is, if they're going to die, it's worth trying to save them,
no matter what's involved. That's a wonderful impulse. But I think there's a
vast middle ground between adoption and doing nothing. I've spoken to
bureaucrats who say, "Well, you know, we don't want to rush anything," and
I've responded, "But human beings are literally dying, and it really
disturbs me that you're waiting." I had parents handing me their kids. They
were like, "Please take this child and educate him."
KW:
This reminds me that Mirah was wondering whether you're aware of the controversy suggesting that children
are being taken out of the country before their relatives can be located.
SO:
Absolutely! That's not a controversy. It's a fact. You should never want to
adopt children out and give them a new set of parents before you've done
your due diligence to find their biological parents. What I would suggest is
that instead of adopting them out, you make sure they're safe and fed. You
just take care of them. We certainly have the resources to do it in Haiti,
once the infrastructure is fixed.
KW:
Marcia Evans asks, why
isn't anyone talking about the lack of support from Santo Domingo? She says
that one Dominican hospital on the border only belatedly opened its doors to
Haitian refugees.
SO:
That's not true. That hospital was open from the getgo. I was there. That
hospital on the border was open very early on, and the Dominicans were
flying in a lot of supplies. I saw Dominican trucks and Dominican soldiers,
too. The Dominicans were not dragging their feet. They were triaging people
and flying the more seriously injured to other hospitals that could take
better care of them.
KW:
Marcia further suggests that Dominicans might have racist feelings about
their darker-skinned Haitian neighbors.
SO:
Has there been a long mutual distrust and animosity between Haiti and the
Dominican Republic? The answer definitely is "Yes!" In fact, I interviewed
the Dominican President about that. His take is that at one point Haiti and
the Dominican Republic were at war with each other, and that the Dominican
Republic won its freedom from Haiti. So, the history of those countries is
of not getting along. But in terms of the earthquake, I haven't seen anybody
who's said, "We're not going to help."
KW:
We're you afraid when that 6.0 aftershock hit?
SO:
Yes, that was very scary. I grabbed my Blackberry and sneakers, and ran like
hell out of my hotel room. It was the craziest thing to see the entire hotel
empty out of people who were running for their lives. After all, we'd been
spending our entire days examining the aftermath of what happens when entire
buildings collapse on people. And who knew how structurally sound our hotel
was?
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SO: Mountains beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. It's a biography of Dr. Paul Farmer which focuses on Haiti and the history of medical care there. If you haven't read it, you should. It's amazing!
KW:
The music maven Heather Covington question: What are you listening to on
your iPod?
SO:
Well, my nieces loaded my iPod with Lady Gaga, everything Beyonce' and
Ne-Yo.
KW:
Last time I asked, you said you don't cook, that you're mother did a lot of
cooking for your family. Instead, let me ask what is your favorite dish to
eat?
SO:
Yeah, I don't do much cooking, but my favorite meal to eat is black beans
and rice.
KW:
The Ling-Ju Yen question:
What is your earliest childhood memory?
SO:
It's not very early, but I remember being dropped off at kindergarten for
the first day of school.
KW:
The Mike Pittman question: Who was your best friend as a child?
SO:
In
elementary school, it was a girl named Shevoy Onley. In high school, it was
probably Patricia Cotthaus, and then Margo Schatz a little bit later
KW:
The Uduak Oduok question: Who is your favorite
fashion designer?
SO:
Oh God, I have a zillion. I love Carolina Herrera... I love David Meister...
I love Carmen Marc Valvo... Hold on, we have a loose tooth emergency.
[attends to son Charlie] Here it comes� It came out. There you go, Charlie!
Jackson, that means you're going to continue to be a good whistler, but your
brother won't be whistling for a little bit. Twins!
KW:
How did the kids feel about your being in Haiti and how were they affected
by the disaster?
SO: They want
to help. They want to adopt a baby, or a village. My daughter had a long
conversation with me. She feels that we, meaning all of America, could make
a difference, and make some real, structural changes in Haiti, not just
short-term change that will only last six months.
KW: Wow! That's wonderful! Well, thanks again for taking the time to share what you witnessed in Haiti with me and my readers.
___________
Related Links
Soledad's Follow-Up Report about the Haitian
Relief Effort
http://aalbc.com/reviews/soledad_obrien_2010.html
Soledad O'Brien - The "CNN Presents: Black in America 2"
Interview
http://aalbc.com/reviews/soledad_obrien.htm
Black In America 1 - Over-Hyped CNN
Special Fails to Measure-Up to the Buzz
http://reviews.aalbc.com/black_in_america.htm
Soledad's Eyewitness Report on the Haitian Relief
Effort
http://aalbc.com/reviews/soledad_obrien_haiti.html