Written by Allison Rapson

JANERA’s recent event, “Haiti’s Reconstruction & the Geopolitical Implications of a Permanent U.S. Presence,” buzzed with curiosity, invested interest, heartfelt concern and commitment to rebuilding the earthquake-devastated country.

Regardless of the fact that guests had to battle a rainy New York evening to get to the Tuesday event, the Wall & Water Lounge at the new Andaz filled with an eclectic group of philanthropists, journalists, entrepreneurs, poets, humanitarians, scholars and curious pedestrians all brought together by the desire to have their burning questions about Haiti answered.

After a captivating performance by Haitian-American slam-poet, Lenelle Moise, guests settled in while sipping on wine and rubbing shoulders with colleagues, friends and new faces to hear panelists Dr. Bob Maguire and Nikolas Kozloff tackle challenging questions like, “Why did the earthquake in Haiti, which was similar to the 1994 San Francisco earthquake, cause so much damage and destruction?” And, “How do you evaluate the role of the international community in Haiti? Do you think the US overpowered the other countries in the relief operations?”

While, Moderator François Pierre-Louis got to the heart of issues surrounding post-earthquake Haiti, it was the questions from the guests that drove home the far-reaching impact and the shared connectivity of loss.

Tonya Phillips of Global Nomads Group questioned the state of displaced Haitian youth asking, “how will they be educated? They want to be able to go to school, yet 80% of the schools have been impacted…the students make up a sizable portion of the population.”

While Fatimah Rolland, a woman who had just returned from Haiti, where her husband was volunteering his surgical skills, challenged the organization of volunteer forces asking, “Where is the coordination?”

John Rosser, a gamechanger preparing for his own conference called, Sustainable Haiti , curiously questioned the future of Haiti’s entrepreneurship. Clearly a big believer in innovation, Rosser talked of applying this belief to Haitian people while realizing that the key lies in supporting and assisting the creative spirit of Haitians. Rosser asked, “Where is the registration for NGO’s? How do we make it efficient? It needs to be bottom up meeting top down. It’s all about creativity either manifested in arts or business. It’s about people who passionately believe in an idea.”

All questions pointed to the over-arching theme of the evening: the insurmountable strength, compassion and ingenuity born out of collective effort.

To hear the answers to these questions and to expand your own knowledge of Haiti’s most pressing issues watch JANERA’s live streaming of the event on FORA.tv

Tags: Andaz Wall Street, Dr. Bob Maguire, François Pierre-Louis, Global Nomad Group, Haiti, Haiti's Reconstruction, John Rosser, Lenelle Moise, Nikolas Kozloff

This entry was posted on Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 9:27 PM and is filed under Events, Ideas & Issues, People. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.