By paul motter
Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, another somewhat poor nation but better off than Haiti, especially now. The privately owned Royal Caribbean beach at Labadee is indeed within the nation of Haiti, but it is about 80 miles away from Port au Prince, the capitol of Haiti where the devastating earthquake occurred.
MSNBC television recently reported on "American cruisers sipping pina coladas on a beach just miles away from the devastation and death in Haiti," in reference to Labadee, 80 miles away. Last week they referred to the visits by Royal Caribbean ships as a "public relations nightmare" and characterized "online cruise bloggers" as "fuming" about the actions of the cruise line.
Perhaps in an attempt to change their tone a bit, an article came out today on MSNBC.com quoting comments by the readers of a competing cruise site to CruiseMates on how to best help victims of the earthquake in Port au Prince.
The suggestions are paraphrased below:
"The cruise ship brings food for lunch from the ship and cooks it onshore (for the passengers as a meal included in the cruise fare). We hear that all of the uneaten food goes to the local people, so eat a big breakfast on the ship and skip lunch on the island, leaving food for the locals."
"Go to the straw market and buy lots of stuff and tip big"
"Bring bottles of water from the ship and leave a few extras on shore."
"Buy some flip flops on the ship and leave them on the beach."
These are well-intentioned suggestions - but Labadee is 80 miles away and the infrastructure is not good. Plus, your contribution may not go to those who need it the most, you are just leaving things behind for strangers to pick up.
Here is a better suggestion: Former President Bill Clinton has been personally involved with improving living conditions in Haiti for years. Just six weeks ago, he toured Labadee as a guest of Royal Caribbean and praised the efforts of the cruise line there.
Royal Caribbean met with Bill Clinton again January 14th in New York City, just after the earthquake hit. The meeting was scheduled to include the Prime Minister of Haiti and discuss further economic development by Royal Caribbean. But the earthquake intervened and the Prime Minister, fortunately not injured, remained Port au Prince for the relief effort.
The agenda of the meeting was changed to coordinating the relief effort. It turns out that Royal Caribbean president Adam Goldstein has been on several U.S. government committees to aid Haiti for years now.
Bottom line; few people are as qualified to aid the Haitian relief effort as Adam Goldstein of Royal Caribbean. So if you really want to help, one of the first things anyone should do is stop criticizing Royal Caribbean for stopping in Labadee and delivering goods to the relief effort every time they do. They are also supporting local jobs.
If you really want to help the Haitians here is what Adam Goldstein recommends:
The supplies we (Royal Caribbean) are sending include rice, dried beans, water, dried milk and a variety of other canned items. This effort is going to be a marathon, so we will be partnering with Food For The Poor on the back-end distribution in Haiti.
I am getting a lot of questions from everyone about how they can help. I have asked them to go to Food For The Poor and make a donation. This is the best and most effective way to assist in the relief effort right now.
Web site:
Food for the Poor - Royal Caribbean.
There is a temporary hospital facility not far from the Labadee beach (about 15 miles) but they don't need flip flops or leftovers from yesterday's lunch. They need money for medical supplies such as bandages, antibiotics and other medicine. Royal Caribbean has already donated food, water and many temporary beds to the facility.
While leaving things behind in Labadee may sound like a good idea, it isn't very practical. Money to the organizations recommended by Royal Caribbean is a much more of a "sure thing."
And let's not forget Carnival Corp. which does not stop in Haiti but does make ports of call not far away. Carnival has also already pledged $5,000,000 to the relief effort in Haiti.
Bottom line, Royal Caribbean has been a leading American company helping the Haitian economy for years - with Carnival contributing to the Caribbean economy as well. I say let's give credit where credit is due, and contribute to the management of the Haiti relief effort by the people who know the situation best.
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