Heading to Haiti
Post categories: Haiti
| 09:02 UK time, Friday, 16 April 2010
Hello WHYS community! As you'll have read in Alicia's post, the team is heading to Haiti next week to do two programmes. I'm going to be presenting them so I thought I'd say hello before we head off.
Although I haven't been involved with the programme for a while, WHYS and I go back a long way. When I first came to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ in 2006 I worked regularly on WHYS as a producer, and eventually I hung around long enough that Mark gave me the chance to present the show a few times. So though I may not know all of you, some of you are old friends.
This year I've been based in Washington DC for the World Service - so when the earthquake struck Haiti, I was with the first ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ team that got there about 24 hours later.
The terrible scenes we saw will be familiar to those of you who watched the news coverage as the disaster unfolded. But being there 24 hours a day, you see a lot of things that never make it on to the news too.
Amidst all the suffering and loss, I was struck by how life goes on. The way the Haitians reacted made a deep impression on me - helping each other, not giving in or falling apart, making the best of a bad situation, and doing everything they could to help us even when they had lost so much themselves.
Three months later, that patience and humanity is really being tested. Although the international community has pledged lots of help, for most Haitians nothing has changed. I was back there earlier this week, and it rained heavily every night. Conditions are deteriorating, rebuilding still seems a long way off, and after three months of living in makeshift camps the frustration is building.
So it's a crucial time and i'm really excited to be heading back to Haiti with WHYS next week. The thing I love most about WHYS is its ability to get under the skin of a story and to connect you the listeners with the people at the heart of that story.
With the two shows we're doing all of you will have a great chance to ask questions and hear the stories of Haitians in Port au Prince and around the world - how they're coping, how they live their lives day to day, whether they have any hope for the future.
So post your questions and thoughts here, and join us for the shows on Wednesday and Thursday next week. Speak then!
