Celebrities in Haiti

Haiti seems to still be one of the top spots for celebrities that have a charitable inclination and want to do some good in the world. It's close to the States, so it's an easy flight down, it's a tropical island so it's much more pleasant to visit than say Pakistan, and there are lots of cute kids to take photos with. Everyone from Oprah to Pamela Anderson has been for a visit. Some celebrities have taken it further and have charitable foundations that work here, most notably Sean Penn, who started an NGO after the January 2010 earthquake. His NGO runs a camp for displaced people in a hard-hit area of town and also provides services to eventually get everyone moved back in to the communities where they came from. I find it funny that everyone seems to have "Sean" story (he is not Sean Penn to these people). The people who work for his NGO seem him often enough and it's fair they're on a first name basis. Others people will tell you about how they handed Sean a beer at a party or how they took the same flight into Port-au-Prince as Sean.

I had my first celebrity encounter last week, though it wasn't with Sean. My organization is part of the Clinton Global Initiative, which basically means we've made a commitment to some global good (in our case, training block makers to make stronger blocks). The Haiti meetings are held every 6-8 weeks, and Bill Clinton himself happened to be in town to open this meeting up. I didn't get a chance to speak with him (nor did anyone else), as he was ushered into the room when we were all seated and left after giving opening remarks, but it was cool nonetheless. What I found particularly funny was that people had dressed up for the occasion, there were lots of nice blouses and dresses and even a few suits, but Bill himself had dressed quite casually - he was wearing pink pants and a lemon-lime coloured button down shirt! More appropriate on the golf course than at the meeting table, but he had just flown in at 2am so I guess I couldn't fault him. He spoke well and looks much slimmer than he did in his presidential days. I have to admit that I didn't see him crystal clear, as I was about 20 feet away and my eyes can only see clearly to about 10 feet [ :( ] but I'm sure I entertained his secret service dudes with all my squinting.

Ian has been here a week and is settling in well - he's already got a couple leads on potential interviews and apartments, which arguably may have been more productive than my week! There's definitely something to be said for showing up somewhere and networking - he's gotten a few good leads that way. He's also had the Euro cup games to keep him busy, and is still fully appreciating the 101 ways why PAP is better than Kabul. We watched the final at a bar this afternoon, which had a pretty awesome sign at the door - no firearms allowed, no prostitutes allowed. I mean it is not so awesome that there are Haitian prostitutes around (this bar turns into a club at night and there is definitely a market for 'lady of the night' services here, unfortunately), but kind of awesome that that's the kind of bar signage we're getting.

And speaking of signage, I leave you with snapshots from some of my favorite advertisements. Almost all advertisements here are hand-painted, which is pretty cool, and the office for a local security company (Ange Gardien S.A.) is very well done. It's double funny because all security companies do here is provide a guard posted at the gate of an office or house (with or without shotgun), but Ange Gardien S.A. showcases that they can do so much more...

For the "Tru" Professional

Yes, that does say "Trusted by U.S. Marines"