30.7.10

Haiti Rescue Baby Reunited With Mom After Six Months

By Monique Jessen | Thursday, July 29, 2010 9:01 AM ET

Baby Landina, brought to the UK for life-saving surgery after the Haiti earthquake is finally reunited with her mom in London



Six months after the Haiti earthquake, Marie Miracle Seignon, a native Haitian, had given up all hope of finding her beloved baby girl Landina. Living in one of the worst slums in the capital of Port-au-Prince, she had zero resources and had to assume her daughter was dead. But six weeks ago, she received the amazing news that Landina was alive and well.

As we previously reported back in March, Landina was rescued from the rubble of January's devastating earthquake in Haiti's capital and flown to Britain for a life-saving operation on her skull (she also had her arm amputated prior to leaving Haiti). With the help of Facing The World, a charity specializing in craniofacial reconstructive surgery for children, little Landina got better with each day that passed.

The next step was to try and find the little girl's relatives back in Haiti. With all the documentation having been buried under the hospital where she was found in Port- au-Prince, it seemed an impossible task but the charity persevered and with the help of a Channel 4 News journalist, Inigo Gilmore, the team finally tracked down Marie Miracle Seignon — Landina's biological mom.

According to Channel 4 News, Seignon (whose name means Mary Miracle) was eventually found as a result of a local radio appeal. But when her friend ran to tell her the amazing news, she didn't believe her. "She said 'this may sound like something from the movies but Landina is alive,' recalls Seignon, adding: "Even after the reporter came and showed me the pictures it was still hard to believe." Sponsored by the charity, Seignon flew to the UK (her first trip outside of Haiti) on Tuesday for an emotional reunion with 8-month-old Landina. Breaking down in tears, she said "this is a very happy moment."

Mom and daughter will stay in the UK for six weeks before returning home to Haiti and Landina's three siblings. But, with the living conditions being so poor in the slums and access to primary health care so limited, the charity is understandably concerned about Landina's future. And so, they have one last mission to complete before they say their goodbyes — they want to raise $190,000 for the little girl's education and upbringing.

Marie Miracle Seignon's smile and middle name says it all.

If you would like to donate to the Landina fund please visit Facing The World's

fundraising page here.http://www.justgiving.com/landina

tonic.com

25.7.10

Report: Wyclef Jean may run for Haitian presidency


Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean is overcome with emotion while discussing his recent visit to earthquake-stricken Haiti and how is organization, Yele Haiti, is helping with relief efforts, Monday, Jan. 18, 2010, in New York. (AP / Diane Bondareff)

The Associated Press

Date: Saturday Jul. 24, 2010 7:36 PM ET

MONTREAL — A spokeswoman for Wyclef Jean isn't saying whether the hip hop star has plans to run for the Haitian presidency and wouldn't confirm a Canadian newspaper report that the musician is ready to throw his hat into the ring.

"We don't have anything to talk about at this point, that's for sure," Adrienne Jacoby told The Canadian Press in a telephone interview Saturday.

"I know there's always rumours flying (around), but we don't have anything definitive on our end, so if anything were to change, I'm sure a press release would be issued."

Jacoby, of Jean's charitable Yele Haiti Foundation, was responding to a report Saturday in an Ottawa-based newspaper that says the Haitian-born musician is poised to run for president.

French-language newspaper Le Droit reported that a source close to the Haitian government is "sure" the singer and producer will be a candidate.

Asked if Jean has ruled out a campaign for the president's office, Jacoby replied that she doesn't have the answer. But she didn't deny it, either.

"I don't really have that kind of association with him, so I don't get to ask him those questions," she said.

"As far as I know, no -- I have no comment."

Jean's charity helped with relief efforts following January's devastating earthquake, work that prompted many to ask him if we would consider leading the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Jean, 37, was asked Friday in an interview with Fox Business if he would run in the Nov. 28 presidential election.

"I would say right now, currently at this minute, no," responded the former member of the now-defunct Fugees.

Earlier in the week, the Haitian-American, who grew up in New Jersey, addressed the issue on his Twitter page.

"Just to Clear up the rumours I have not announce (sic) to the Press that I'm Running for President of Haiti," his tweet says.

The newspaper report said Jean is taking steps to formalize his candidacy, which must be registered by the first week of August.

It also says he is consulting his entourage and law experts to assure that his eventual candidacy is legal.

"They've asked me over again," Jean told Fox business when asked about rumours he was going to run for the Haitian presidency.

Jacoby said Jean's constantly asked about presidential aspirations because the people in Haiti love him.

"That's probably why the rumours always start flying around about him," she said.

The country is still struggling to recover from the massive earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people and reduced cities to rubble.

Last week, a key U.S. senator criticized Haitian President Rene Preval in a paper, saying he has "demonstrated marginal capacity to lead his country's reconstruction."

Preval has been president for nearly 10 of the last 15 years. His tumultuous term is scheduled to end in February, when he will be replaced by the winner of November's vote.

ctv.ca

20.7.10

Haiti still in need 6 months after earthquake
Posted - 7/19/2010 at 8:37AM by Naomi Pescovitz



TUCSON - Six months since the earthquake in Haiti, Tucson-based aid organization World Care says there has been a decrease in donations.

Describing it as "donor fatigue," they say donations have dropped since the first two months since the disaster.
Both World Care and Tucson doctors who recently volunteered in Haiti say the Haitian people still need our help.

"Do what you can. In my capacity, I gave medical care," Dr. John Hettiarachchy says.

Hettiarachchy spent a week volunteering in Haiti and came back on the Fourth of July. The video he captured there shows what the Haitian people still face, six months after the quake.

In Tucson, Hettiarachchy is an anesthesiologist. In Haiti he found he would have to put all his medical training to use, caring for a nine-year-old girl hit by a bus.

"They did not have an intensive care physician available so I functioned in that capacity," Hettiarachchy says.

"Over the course of a week, I was able to get her off the breathing machine, and discharged from the ICU with her family."

Dr. Luis Esparza volunteered in Haiti right after the earthquake. He went back a few weeks later.

"The air wasn't quite as bad but in terms of buildings and just organization it was still hopeless," Esparza says.

Esparza says now that it has been several months, the public should know Haiti still needs support.

"You don't ever hear about it anymore and the need there is still, it's so great that most people have no idea how bad the situation is there," Esparza says.

If you want to help in Haiti, World Care says they need hygiene supplies. Or you can make a monetary donation. World Care is located at 3538 East Ellington Place, Tucson, AZ 85713.


kvoa
Daniel Lanois recovers from near-fatal accident
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 | 4:40 PM ET
The Canadian Press


Surveying the damage inflicted by a motorcycle accident last month — his collarbone and pelvis fractured, six ribs broken and a still-worrisome amount of internal bleeding — Daniel Lanois cannot help but think of how lucky he is.

The crash that brought his summer to a screeching halt could have been much worse.

"Hey man, I'm lucky to be alive," Lanois told The Canadian Press on Tuesday in a telephone interview from California, where he's recuperating.

"It could have been spinal. Luckily, I was wearing a full-face helmet. It could have been a head injury. It could have been anything.

"I almost died."


Hit singer, songwriter and music producer Daniel Lanois, seen in an undated photo, says he's lucky to be alive after his motorcycle accident in Los Angeles in June. (Canadian Press)

'Old school accident'
The accident occurred on the first weekend of June in the scenic Silverlake enclave of Los Angeles. Lanois, 58, was riding his dazzling BMW HP2 Megamoto — a two-cylinder Supermoto with a sleek blue frame and white tank. He was en route to the Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood, eager to hear a new band that had come highly recommended from a friend (he can no longer remember the act's name).

He was driving straight when somebody in front of him turned to abruptly pull into a corner store. Lanois sensed an impending collision and acted swiftly.

"I realized I was going to hit him, so I swerved to miss him," he recalled. "I missed him, but then I hit a static box on the sidewalk. It was like a little telephone box, and I smashed into that.

"That's it. I blacked out. When I came to, I was looking at the sky, and just people trying to help me. And somebody called 911, and that was it. They hauled me away.

"It was just an unfortunate accident. Old-school accident. Nothing crazy high-speed or anything. Just 35 miles an hour."

Lanois was then sequestered in intensive care in a California hospital for three weeks. Upon returning home, he was tended to by nurses, day and night.

'It's been kind of overwhelming and very sweet to receive so much attention.'
—Daniel Lanois



He wasn't able to walk, so with his bed parked in the foyer of his L.A. home, his assistant set up some rings — "like gymnastics," he notes with a laugh — to allow him to pull himself out of bed.

"The night nurse was quite impressed with that display," he says with another laugh.

Indeed, the unfailingly friendly Lanois is surprisingly sanguine about the life-threatening incident. The Quebec-born, Hamilton-raised producer chuckles often when recounting the details of the past month, whether marvelling at the way broken bones can fuse back together or kidding about soliciting sympathy for his condition.

"I'm using the Ray Charles technique," he joked, "which is [to] act more blind when the girls come 'round."

Lengthy road to recovery
But Lanois is still in the thick of a long recovery. He's most concerned about the amount of internal bleeding he may have suffered in the accident.

"The real problem is lots of bleeding around the lung," he said. "It has to be drained and monitored. A broken bone is not so bad, but internal bleeding is not so good.


Internationally celebrated music producer and singer-songwriter Daniel Lanois, seen posing with his star at the Canada's Walk of Fame gala in 2005, has already returned to work following his motorcycle accident, with a new Neil Young album set for release. (Tobin Grimshaw/Canadian Press)

"The main concern is my lung capacity. Because I think it's currently restricted by bruising around the lung, and there might be some dried blood laying in the bottom of the cavity there. So my lung is kind of bumping up against this big scab and scar tissue. So that's the concern, really.

"And I'm going to know better after I do a scan in a couple weeks."

There are signs of progress, too. Lanois regained his mobility 10 days ago, and he's hopeful that his broken bones will heal.

"I think the bones are going to be OK," he said. "I might look a little crooked, because the collarbone didn't mend straight, and neither did the ribs, so it's all a little cockeyed.

"But as long as I'm wearing my costume, you might not notice."

Lanois has been riding motorcycles since he was 16, and said this was his first accident. When asked whether he would ever ride again, he responded with a chuckle: "Well, I'm not going to ride this season."

He was more serious, however, about an outpouring of support from fans that lifted his spirits during a difficult recovery process.

"It's been kind of overwhelming and very sweet to receive so much attention," he said.

And of course, that attention hasn't only been flowing from fans. Lanois, who has won Grammy Awards for his collaborations with U2, Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris, has received an outpouring of support from his peers as well.

Former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant sent Lanois text messages lightly chiding him for his chosen mode of transportation ("You don't have to be on a motorcycle to get lucky," Plant told him) while Lanois said he also commiserated with Bono, who was recovering from emergency back surgery.

Already back to work
The accident did threaten to derail a typically busy year for the tireless Lanois. He had to postpone the debut release from his group Black Dub (it's now coming in early November, he said) as well as a planned tour, which he now hopes to complete next summer. For now, he says he still must avoid air travel.

Still, the accident didn't keep from him resuming work on Neil Young's latest album, which Lanois says is "fantastic."

"We followed a simple philosophy: it's a solo record," he said of the latest work from the legendary Toronto-born rocker, which Lanois says will be out in late fall.

"So it does not have a band, but it's rocking. And he's really come in with the songs, they're terrific. I dare say it might be some of his best work in some time. We've really hit the motherlode.

"I've worked with Neil over the years in small doses … but we had never done something together from scratch. So let me put it this way: there's an automatic communication system that exists between two Canadian dogs. It's been a lot of fun, and we're very dedicated, and I think I finally met my match."

Lanois sounds relieved to be back to work. In fact, he resumed work on Young's record almost immediately upon returning home from intensive care. Never one to waste much time, Lanois certainly isn't going to start now.

"I've always tried to make every minute count," he said. "But maybe that thought applies more now than it did before."


Daniel Lanois, seen second from right, has received an outpouring of support since the accident from his fans and peers, including U2 (from left, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Bono and Larry Mullen, far right). (Reed Saxon/Associated Press)

cbc.ca

4.7.10

Exclusive: Bono writing music for Brave?

June 28, 2010



New information suggests that U2 frontman Bono is writing music —possibly an original song— for a future Pixar feature, most likely Brave (in theatres June 15, 2012).


Bono may be working with U2's guitarist The Edge, with whom he's collaborated on previous non-band projects.


I won't be discussing sources for this story and, of course, it couldn't be further from being officially confirmed. But it does seem reasonably solid at this point.


A while back, a Pixarian or two let it slip on Twitter that Bono had been to the studio in Emeryville. Didn't think too much of it at the time and so can't recall exactly when this was. I'm sure it was within the past year.


Those tweets are nowhere to be found now, so if you remember when it was —what month— please let me know.


In February, former Pixar CFO Ali Rowghani, who at the time was leaving the studio to become CFO of Twitter, tweeted about Bono's visit as his "Pixar memory #5".


Yours truly is a huge U2 fan. They made a stop in Toronto last September on their U2 360° Tour and I was blown away by the show —they're one of the biggest acts on the planet right now. Very disappointed when it was announced last month that the next leg of the tour would be postponed until next year due to Bono suffering a herniated disc in his spine.


So, what's your take on Bono/U2 doing a song for a Pixar movie? "Beautiful Day"? Or will you feel "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of"?


pixarblog