Why I'm Going

One afternoon last December I was listening to a National Public Radio (NPR) podcast hosted by Adam Davidson of NPR's "Planet Money". The podcast featured a school pincipal in Haiti who believed he could build a new school for $3,000 (see link below). Unfortunately $3,000 wasn't enough to get the foundation completed, but the message was so strong it inspired me to email Davidson to see how I might help.

Davidson contacted me soon after that to let me know about the conditions in Haiti, especially after last year's earthquake and hurricane. I admit, I was naive about building costs in Haiti as well as the other hurdles I would encounter but Davidson was kind enough to help me understand what I was up against and encouraged me to continue. The more I looked at it, the more I was convinced I could use my 30+ years of building experience and organizational skills to help build this school.

After doing more research it also became evident that I would need to start out as a volunteer with an organization that was already working in Haiti. That is when I came upon "All Hands Volunteers". Within a week, they emailed to say I was welcome to help with the 2011 program starting the end of January. So ready or not, here I go...

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Please Take The Time

OK, Humor me.  Please take the time, sometime, to listen to Mangoes, Poverty & Plastic Crates podcast in the Planet Money List.  You'll enjoy it and that should turn you on the other posts.   Curious to know where the money went, see Haiti: What's Working; What's Not; What's Next.  Enjoy it.  I'm on my way.
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3 comments:

  1. R.MuttJanuary 28, 2011 at 6:29 PM

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  2. R.MuttJanuary 28, 2011 at 6:31 PM

    (EDIT)
    The podcast doesn't show up in iTunes. I had to dig around on the NPR site to find it. I also found their series"Haiti, one year later." The Mangoes and crates podcast was included in this list:
    http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/06/googlers_and_planet_money_are.html

    Also a segment of "This American life", addresses the "Mango man" and plastic crates. It is 99cents to download but you can listen online instead:
    http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/408/island-time

    Hope you are getting acclimated and keeping hydrated. I added the weather info to my list of forecasts...High 80's with heat indexes of 90-96.

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  3. UnknownJanuary 30, 2011 at 12:23 PM

    I found that if you double click on the link at the bottom of this page, it takes you to the NPR website and the article. IN the lower part of the article is the word "story" highlighted in blue. Click on that and it takes you to the "This American Life" website, then select "play episode". It means you have to stay by the computer as you listen to the podcast, but is very much worthwhile.

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