From the Hut

There aren't a lot of celebrities that I look up to. Most of them are fine enough, but not many actually do anything worthy of admiration. Jason Statham, for example, seems like an awesome guy but beyond starring in kickass action flicks, what worth does he have? Haitian-American musician Wyclef Jean, though, is somebody I can respect.

A 7.3 earthquake hit Haiti on Tuesday, followed by two strong aftershocks. This seismic occurrence was the largest the island has experienced in 200 years. Its destruction was so immense that the presidential palace, the house of parliament and a myriad of other government buildings all collapsed in Port-au-Prince, a city of 2 million people. This isn't even mentioning the mass destruction that people in the rest of Haiti experienced. In total, the Red Cross believes that as many as 3 million people were affected by this natural disaster.

Today saw Jean returning to his homeland to help where he can. As Jean said, "I cannot stress enough what a human disaster this is, and idle hands will only make this tragedy worse. The over 2 million people in Port-au-Prince tonight face catastrophe alone. We must act now." And beyond his immediate physical return to Haiti, he was quick to set up means of donation to help combat the wreckage through texting and yele.org.  

And while I respect Jean's actions during this sad time, he's had my admiration long before now. Showing that he hasn't forgotten where he came from, Jean has been running the Yele Haiti Foundation since 2005. This organization has been helping feed hungry women and children, providing scholarships to thousands of Haitian students, and creating employment opportunities that help support agricultural production. Jean said, "Our mission is to create small-scale, manageable and replicable projects to contribute to Haiti’s long-term progress." With an 80 percent unemployment rate, restoring Haiti was quite the feat for Jean before the earthquake but now seems like one of the labours of Hercules. But through his passion, Jean continues on.

This pride in his homeland has existed through Jean's work, starting from his first solo effort The Carnival. The last three songs on the 1997 album are sung in Haitian Creole, and the 2004 Welcome to Haiti: Creole 101 was performed completely in the language. Most artists in the American hip-hop market would be too nervous to do something so different, but Jean embraced it. He's true to himself and to his culture.

And now he's in Haiti, trying to help rebuild a country that nature tried to snuff out. If everybody in the world had a tenth of his passion, Earth would be an amazing place. 

You can donate to help Haiti in their time of need here.