Red Cross Under The Microscope

In Search Of The Red Cross' $500 Million In Haiti Relief

When a devastating earthquake leveled Haiti in 2010, millions of people donated to the American Red Cross. The charity raised almost half a billion dollars. It was one of its most successful fundraising efforts ever. ..... The American Red Cross vowed to help Haitians rebuild, but after five years the Red Cross' legacy in Haiti is not new roads, or schools, or hundreds of new homes. It's difficult to know where all the money went. ..... the number of permanent homes the charity has built is six. ...... the organization spent $69 million on emergency relief, $170 million providing shelter and $49 million on water and sanitation efforts. ........ millions of dollars given for new hospitals, vaccination programs, and disbursement of tents and water tablets. The charity says it has done more than 100 projects in Haiti, repairing 4,000 homes, giving several thousand families temporary shelters and donating $44 million for food. ...... Much of the money never reached people in need. ...... The Red Cross gave much of the money to other groups to do the hands-on work, resulting in additional fees. ..... First the Red Cross took a customary administrative cut, then the charities that received the money took their own fees. And then, according to the Red Cross' records, the charity took out an additional amount to pay for what it calls the "program costs incurred in managing" these third-party projects. ...... In one of the programs reviewed by NPR and ProPublica, these costs ate up a third of the money that was supposed to help Haitians. ....... about three years ago the Red Cross came with glossy booklets saying it was going to build hundreds of new homes, a water and sanitation system and a health clinic. None of that happened. ...... The men say they think it's possible that the Red Cross will still build them homes. ...... When shown a Red Cross promotional brochure about the project, the men are stunned. ...... The original plan was to build 700 new homes with living rooms and bathrooms. The Red Cross says it ran into problems acquiring land rights. ..... McGovern went to a luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington and said that a fifth of the money the charity raised would go to "provide tens of thousands of people with permanent homes ... where we develop brand-new communities ... including water and sanitation." ..... The charity built six permanent homes and, according to their own account, no new communities. ..... The review also found that officials spent some of the money teaching residents to wash their hands with soap and water — and that the residents did not have access to either soap or water. ..... After several emails, the Red Cross acknowledged that the "130,000 Haitians" figure is made up of people who went to a seminar on how to fix their own homes, people who received temporary rental assistance, and thousands of people who received temporary shelters — which start to disintegrate after three to five years....... Archaic land title and government requirements make building in Haiti very difficult and time-consuming, but other charities have built almost 9,000 homes so far ....... He says the project has been successful because the majority of the staff and managers are also Haitian — and are passionate about rebuilding their country..... "All this work that you are looking at now, the calculation was made by Haitian people, Haitian engineers, Haitian architects, Haitian foreman," he says. "We know what to do."..... The Red Cross does not seem to have used that strategy. In one internal memo, the top manager of the Haiti program complains that Haitians were not being hired for top positions — and in some cases were treated disparagingly................ In a 2011 memo, the then-director of the Haiti program, Judith St. Fort, wrote that senior managers had made "very disturbing" remarks disparaging Haitian employees. St. Fort, who is Haitian-American, wrote that the comments included "he is the only hard working one among them" and "the ones that we have hired are not strong, so we probably should not pay close attention to Haitian CVs." ...... "Going to meetings with the community when you don't speak the language is not productive," says Carline Noailles, one of the former staffers. Sometimes, she recalls, Red Cross staffers would skip such meetings entirely........ According to an internal Red Cross budgeting document for the project in Campeche, the project manager — a position reserved for an expatriate – was entitled to allowances for housing, food and other expenses, home leave trips, R&R four times a year, and relocation expenses. In all, including salary, it added up to $140,000.

उपेन्द्र यादव, अशोक राई

तीन पार्टी एक हुँदै, अध्यक्ष उपेन्द्र यादव, वरिष्ठ नेता अशोक राई

यदि यो समाचार सही हो भने धेरै राम्रो हो। सामाजिक न्यायको मुद्दा मात्र होइन, वाम मुद्दा पनि हो। Philosophy मिल्छ। मधेस अधिकार को संघर्षमा मधेसी अध्यक्ष भएको ७५ जिल्लामा संगठन भएको पार्टीको ठुलो महत्व हुनेछ। यस एकीकृत पार्टीको भविष्य राम्रो छ।

अब तमलोपा र सद्भावना पनि एक हुनुपर्यो।

उपेन्द्र र अशोक ले मिलेर एमाले सखाप पार्ने, हृदयेश र राजेंद्र मिलेर काँग्रेस सखाप पार्ने।

यो भुकम्प पछि काँग्रेस एमाले यति धेरै बदनाम भएका छन ---- चरमराएका रुख, अलिकति धक्का दियो भने ढल्छन्। The Mother Of All Anti-Incumbency Waves has been brewing.

दुबै जना पढ़े लेखेका बौद्धिक मानिस। पार्टी सञ्चालन को लामो इतिहास छ दुबै संग। सत्ता को अनुभव।

मधेसी जनजाति एकता जिन्दाबाद। वाम एकता जिन्दाबाद। तराई मा जुन ३३% पर्वते छन, ती मध्ये धेरै जनजाति पनि छन।

दगाबाजी गर्यो विजय ले सजाय पायो उपेन्द्र ले। अशोक मा विजय मा जस्तो चरित्रहीनता छैन।

ओलीसँग साँठगाँठ गर्नु, सत्तास्वार्थ मात्र होः उपेन्द्र यादव

यो भूकम्पभन्दा ठूलो विपत् आउनेवाला छ, यो देशमा । भूकम्पबाट चर्केका घरहरू, चिरा परेका जमिनहरू वर्षात्को समयमा आफैं ढल्छन् । पहिरो जान्छन् र त्यसबाट लाखौं मान्छे हताहती हुन्छन् । पहाडमा पहिरो गएपछि तराई मधेशमा गएर बालुवा थुप्रिन्छ र त्यहाँका जमिनहरू मरुभूमि बन्छन् । त्यतातिर सरकारको ध्यान छैन । को मन्त्री बन्ने, को प्रधानमन्त्री बन्ने, के के बन्ने कुरामा नै नेताहरूको ध्यान गएको छ जो अहिलेको प्राथमिकता होइन । केही दलको आफ्नो स्वार्थ, कुनै समूहको आफ्नो स्वार्थ, कुनै नेताको आफ्नो स्वार्थका कारण देश पुनः सत्ताको खेलतर्फ उन्मुख भइरहेको छ । ...... राष्ट्रिय सहमतिको सरकार गठन भयो भने हुने कामहरू पनि हुँदैन । सबै जनाले खान पाउँछन् तैं चूप मै चूप हुन्छ । प्रतिपक्षको भूमिका दह्रो हुँदैन । ..... अधिकांश नेताहरू त्यस्ता छन् जो कुरा बढी गर्छन् र काम कम गर्छन् । राति एउटा कुरा, बिहान अर्कै कुरा । ...... मैले हिजै (जेठ १८ गते) आफ्नो कुरा राख्दा अध्यक्ष प्रचण्डले म सरकारमा जाने पक्षमा छैन । मलाई पत्रपत्रिकाले बद्नाम गराएको हो । मैले कहिल्यै पनि भनिनँ कि गठबन्धनको पहिलो प्राथमिकता सरकार हो । जहिले पनि संविधान निर्माण, राहत, पुनःनिर्माण पहिलो प्राथमिकतामा राख्नुपर्छ भनी कुरा राखेको हुँ । नेपाली मिडियाले मलाई बद्नाम गराउने काम मात्र गरेको छ, भन्नुभयो । ....... फास्टट्रयाकबाट त कुनै पनि हालतमा संविधान बन्दैन । यो भन्नु नै गलत कुरा हो । अर्को कुरा, संविधान प्रधानमन्त्रीले बनाउने होइन, संविधानसभाले हो । सार्वभौमसत्ता सम्पन्न जनता हो, प्रधानमन्त्री होइन । त्यही सार्वभौमसत्ता सम्पन्न जनताको प्रतिनिधि हो संविधानसभा । ........ नेपालकै इतिहासमा अहिले जस्तो निकम्मा र कमजोर सरकार कहिल्यै थिएन । कमजोर मात्र होइन, कमिशनखोर र भ्रष्टहरूले चलाएको सरकार हो । र, यो कुरा पहिला पनि थाहा थियो सरकार गठन गर्ने बेलामा । कांग्रेस र एमालेका नेताहरू भ्रष्ट छन् । यो बेला यिनीहरूले राम्रोसँग सरकार चलाउन सकिंदैन भन्ने के एमाओवादीलाई थाहा थिएन । सबै कुरा थाहा पाएर पनि चूपचाप बसे । एमाओवादी प्रतिपक्षी दल हो भन्ने कुरा देखाएन । सत्ताधारी दल कमजोर त भयो नै त्यसमा प्रतिपक्षी दल पनि कमजोर भयो । ...... यहाँ अहिले नेताहरूले पहिला सरकार अनि संविधान भन्दा कुरा बिग्रेको हो । ....... अब राहत (खाद्यान्न) बाँड्ने काम लगभग अन्तिम हो । अब एउटा गुरुयोजना तयार गर्नुपर्छ । दीर्घकालीन र अल्पकालीन गुरुयोजना तयार गर्नुपर्छ । दीर्घकालीनमा के के गर्न सकिन्छ, त्यसमा कति बजेट लाग्छ, बजेट कहाँ कहाँबाट आउँछ, कुन कुन देशबाट सहयोग लिने, कस्तो कस्तो सहयोग लिने, सहयोग कसरी लिने लगायतका कुरा तय हुनुपर्छ । पुनर्वासका लागि रि–इन्जिनियरिङ गर्नुपर्छ अब परम्परागत पुनःनिर्माण गर्नुहुँदैन । अब देशको वातावरण, विश्वको बदलिंदो वातावरण, भविष्यमा आउने विपत्को सामना गर्न सक्ने लगायतका विषयमा गहन छलफल गरेर मात्र अगाडि बढ्नुपर्छ । अल्पकालीन योजनामा, अब मनसुन शुरु हुन लागेको छ । त्यसबाट बचाउनका लागि के के गर्न सकिन्छ । टहरा बनाएर हुन्छ कि सुरक्षित ठाउँमा सारेर हुन्छ कि के गरेर हुन्छ त्यो तत्कालै गर्नुपर्छ । विस्थापित र हराएकाहरूलाई खोज्ने, अपाङ्ग र घरवारविहीनलाई कसरी व्यवस्थापन गर्न सकिन्छ लगायतको विषयमा गहन छलफल गर्नु आवश्यक छ । ........ जस्तापाता बेचेर खाने, पाल बेचेर खाने, दालचामल बेचेर खाने, विदेशीले पठाएको पैसा बाँडीचुँडी खानेलाई विदेशीले पत्याउँदैन । ....... अहिले कस्तो षड्यन्त्र भइरहेको छ भने एकथरी समुदायलाई काठमाडौं भ्यालीमा बसाउने र भएका नेवारी जनजातिको बाहुल्यलाई तोडिदिने । तामाङहरूलाई तोडेर तराईमा लाने, अर्थात् जहाँ जसको बहुल्य रहेको छ त्यस बाहुल्यलाई तोडेर अर्को ठाउँमा लैजाने षड्यन्त्र भइरहेको छ । यो धेरै ठूलो षड्यन्त्र हो । यो संघीयतामाथिको प्रहार हो । जहाँ जसको बाहुल्य रहेको छ, त्यसलाई कमजोर गर्ने रणनीति पनि हुनसक्छ, यो पुनर्वासको ।