Haiti

In My Veins

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In April 2008 I escaped Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, as rioting escalated and smoke from burning barricades filled the air. I was part of a media team travelling with Compassion Australia, there to see their aid work in one of the world’s very poorest nations. We were meant to be there for about a week but were evacuated within 48 hours of arriving due to the rapidly changing situation. Some Haitians had died and many more had been injured. We had been far too close to some of the rioting for comfort.

We had a very difficult journey to the airport and at times we were in very real danger. We finally hooked up with some armed police who escorted us to the airport. We were to fly to Dominican Republic but the flight was cancelled. The airline was not prepared to fly into Haiti. Later that day we finally made it out with another airline.

One of the other media representatives on that amazing trip was Aaron Hamilton who left his work in radio after returning to Australia to become Compassion Australia’s National Youth Coordinator. ‘Az’ now travels around Australia talking in schools, churches and youth groups about the changes that young people can make in our world. He passionately believes that the battle against poverty can be won if we only have the will to act.

In My Veins is a youth initiative of Compassion which is making an impact in equipping young people to create a fairer future for those in developing nations. You’ll see a lot more of what Az is doing at the website.

He’s currently in Perth and as part of his visit to Western Australia he dropped in to the studio during my radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM. You can hear our conversation and get inspired by the stories of our younger generations by clicking the play button on the audio player below.

(By the way, the photo in this post is Az and myself in Dominican Republic as part of the trip in 2008)

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Stan Walker on Compassion Day

Apr 29th, 2010

by Rodney Olsen.

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On Sunday 22 November 2009, 19 year old Stan Walker’s life changed forever. He became the 2009 Australian Idol.

His first single Black Box was an instant hit. His album Introducing Stan Walker was released late last year. His new single Unbroken has just been released and is receiving airplay around Australia.

International superstar Michael Bublé was one of the guest mentors for Australian Idol 2009 and after meeting Stan and hearing him sing he said, “That voice is like God kissed his throat. It’s hard when you’re a singer and you meet a better singer than you and you have to come up and mentor them.” After one performance during Idol he left Joel and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte speechless. Joel said that listening to Walker sing made him want to sing R&B music and Benji said he’d watch him perform wheather he won the competition or not. Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy told Stan that if he had no where to go after Idol to give him a call.

Stan joined me on the phone this morning on 98.5 Sonshine FM to talk about his new single as well as his very recent trip to earthquake affected Haiti.

Today is Compassion Day so Stan took the opportunity to urge listeners to sponsor a child through Compassion Australia. You can hear our conversation by clicking on the play button of the audio player at the bottom of this post.

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How can we forget Haiti?

Feb 22nd, 2010

by Rodney Olsen.

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It’s a story we know all too well. Just before 5:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday the 12th of January this year a major earthquake hit just outside Port-au-Prince, the capital of the impoverished nation of Haiti. Within the first fortnight after that event, at least 52 major aftershocks had been recorded.

An estimated three million people have affected by the quake. The Haitian Government reports that between 217,000 and 230,000 people have been identified as dead, an estimated 300,000 injured, and an estimated 1,000,000 homeless.

While we heard story after story about the tragedy in the weeks immediately following the earthquake, the plight of the Haitian people is already beginning to fade from our TV screens and newspapers.

Compassion International has been working in Haiti for over forty years so they were one of the first aid agencies to begin helping the people of the affected area. They’re committed to the people of Haiti and they’ll continue to help them in the years and even decades that it will take to return life to what we might consider normal.

To find out what’s been happening and continues to happen in Haiti I spoke to DJ Konz of Compassion Australia during my morning programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM this morning.

You can hear our conversation by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

There is still so very much to do so please donate generously to Compassion to help those in Haiti. Click here to give through Compassion International. If you’re in Australia, click here to donate through Compassion Australia.

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Object Permanence

Feb 2nd, 2010

by Rodney Olsen.

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We’re supposed to develop Object Permanence within the first year of our lives but I sometimes wonder if we’ve all still got a long way to go.

Child development expert and psychologist Jean Piaget coined the phrase Object Permanence to describe the stage in a child’s life when they start to realise that an object still exists even when they can’t see, hear, or touch it. Most agree that children reach that point at about eight or nine months of age.

I wonder if we need to develop some Object Permanence regarding Haiti.

The massive tragedy that hit Haiti has already started to slip from our headlines. Stories about the relief efforts are now moving further and further inside our newspapers rather than being splashed across the front page.

I know that such a tragedy can’t continue to occupy the same place in our hearts, minds or media, but we can’t afford to forget. Just because we can’t see, hear, or touch the hurt each day, we must maintain our Object Permanence.

In weeks, months and even years from now, the people of Haiti will still be dealing with losing around 200 000 mothers, fathers and children. The millions of people affected will still be trying to put their lives together.

I’ve seen first hand the kind of conditions the Haitian people faced every day before the earthquake hit. It’s a long road back to even those conditions but we can’t let things go back to how they were. We need to ensure that things are better than they have been. That’ll take years and probably even decades but these people require our ongoing assistance.

Compassion has been working in Haiti for over 40 years and they’ll be there long after the initial clean up and relief effort is over. I’ve seen the work they do and know how much of a difference it makes. That’s why I’ll still be making whatever contributions I can to help Haiti and its people over the coming years.

Please donate generously to Compassion to help those in Haiti. Click here to give through Compassion International. If you’re in Australia, click here to donate through Compassion Australia.

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Compassion’s Tim Glenn live from Haiti

Jan 22nd, 2010

by Rodney Olsen.

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With the relentless barrage of information about the recent earthquakes in Haiti we can feel overwhelmed and it’s hard to know just what we can do to make a dent in what seems to be an impossible situation.

Thankfully organisations such as Compassion are turning our dollars into practical help on the ground in Haiti.

Tim Glenn is the Director of Child Advocacy for Compassion in the US. He is currently in Haiti helping with the urgent relief effort. This morning during my radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM I spoke to Tim about the current situation.

You can hear our conversation by clicking the play button of the audio player at the bottom of this post.

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