Recently a teacher friend of mine made an interesting point. All of this talk about "bad teachers", she said, about getting rid of the "bad teachers", as if this will solve the problem and enable all of our students to learn. In every profession, she pointed out, there are people who aren't very good at their jobs. We have bad contractors, bad police officers, bad taxi drivers, bad doctors -- but the nation doesn't get all worked up about those. But a few bad teachers, and it's suddenly a national crisis. Shoot, we even have bad Presidents. You'll never have all "good teachers" any more than you'll have all good parents, all good students, or all good anything else.

This got me thinking about those Rhode Island teachers again, or any teachers, for that matter, who work at "failing" schools. I guess I'm still thinking about it because I haven't come up with a good answer to the teacher assessment issue. I mean, lets face it, if half the time I can't tell if I'm meeting my student's needs, how is anybody else going to be able to figure it out?

I did come up with a missing point in the argument of Melinda Gates in her Washington Post article, "Education Reform One Classroom at a Time". She claims that all children can succeed in large numbers, no matter what their economic status. She uses her schools, and their high success rates as proof. It occurred to me, however, that Gates did not take into consideration a critical component. The students at her school are there because they have someone at home who wants very badly for their child to succeed, and who isn't afraid to think of alternative routes to make that happen. Someone who is paying attention. Someone who washes and puts out their child's uniform every morning. Someone who decided to seek out the best school possible for their child, who went to the trouble to fill out an application, and who made the commitment to make sure their child makes it to school every day -- week after week, year after year.

Maybe the Gates Foundation schools do have a better curriculum. I'm sure, with all of that extra money, they probably do. Maybe they do have better teachers. Again, with such powerful resources at their disposal, I'm sure they can hand pick all of their instructors. But what she doesn't mention is perhaps the most critical component of all. These students have someone at home who cares about education. If only every child were so lucky, my job would be a lot easier.

I have always been against animals in circuses, in amusement parks and any other place where they are held captive and made to perform. More often than not, they are exploited and abused in order to keep the show going so the owners can reap the profits. Jason Hribal wrote a compelling article on killer whales in amusement parks in this week’s edition of the online counterpunch.org, in which he describes the history of these animals in the captivity of these parks. He also describes the nature of killer whales – they live in a matriarchal society in their natural environment – and of course are used to the wide open spaces of the ocean, and not a confined tank. Hribal discusses in detail the lamentable stories of killer whales at Sea World, whereby they were forced to perform time and time again, although the whales had demonstrated a certain uncooperativeness, and at times aggression. But of course Sea World was determined to make its bucks off of these huge creatures, and so the show always went on.
Most people know of the recent tragedy at Sea World, in which a trainer was killed by a whale, that she had worked with. There are speculations that the whale was playing, or that he was distracted by her ponytail, or that he suddenly lost control. We’ll never know what exactly set him off. According to Hribal, killer whales have shown aggression towards their trainers in the past, and that includes the ones born in captivity. Trainers have really suffered serious injuries.
Personally, I think that when you put such a huge mammal in a giant fish tank, you are automatically asking for trouble. If this is not playing with fire, I don’t know what is. Most animals don’t belong in captivity. They don’t belong in a confined artificial environment for the amusement of the crowds. They get pissed sometimes, and when they do, and they are huge and powerful, then everyone should beware. Destroying the matriarchal society of the killer whales, putting them in a tank, making them do eight shows a day, 365 days a year, according to Hribal, is just plain cruel. It’s a circus like any other, and as such, it exploits animals. Hribal describes how other whales are killed when Sea World goes hunting for whales for its show. And it isn’t pretty. People, like the recent trainer who died, and others who have been seriously injured or died in the past, are also victims of this three ring circus that is Sea World, or other so called amusement parks that feature killer whales or other performing animals. It is a huge injustice against nature. These parks should close down, release the killer whales that can survive in the wild, and make sure that the ones that can’t survive find a decent home where they won’t have to be exploited for the entertainment of the crowds. It’s not Sea World for the animals, it is a Sea Prison.

The recent statement by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility that the lawyers who wrote the so called “torture memos” exercised “poor judgment” in writing legal opinions related to the use of torture techniques is a disservice to justice. It is a topic that should be properly addressed by a serious inquiry to establish if there were any violations of the law.

According to the Justice Department’s ethics watchdog, lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee wrote opinions on the subject that “contained significant flaws.” In addition, investigators found that Yoo had “violated his duty to exercise independent legal judgment and render thorough, objective and candid legal advice.” As for Bybee, they determined that he had “acted in reckless disregard” of ethical obligations for his actions regarding those memos.

However, the report containing these conclusions stated that Yoo and Bybee were not guilty of professional misconduct that might have led to their disbarment. This is a puzzling statement if one considers that Yoo and Bybee’s actions led to serious violations of national and international law.

It is even more puzzling if one considers that a cover letter accompanying the report stated that an earlier version of the report found “professional misconduct” by the two lawyers. David Margolies, a senior career official at the Office of Professional Responsibility in charge of reviewing the report overruled that finding.

“Justice Department lawyers have an obligation to uphold the law, so when they write legal opinions that are designed to provide legal cover for torture, they need to be accountable with more than a slap in the wrist,” stated Andrea Prasow, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch. She added, “Last minute changes in the Justice Department’s findings should not stop state bars from investigating whether these men violated their ethical obligations as lawyers.”

The “torture memos” sought to provide legal cover for US interrogators to use abusive interrogation techniques such as sleep deprivation and waterboarding. This last practice has been prosecuted as a war crime in the United States. In 1947, the US charged a Japanese officer, Yukio Asano, with war crimes for carrying a form of waterboarding on a US civilian. Asano was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, when Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives were captured, CIA interrogators sought authority to use coercive means of interrogation. These methods were then cleared not only at the White House during the Bush administration, but also by the Justice Department, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

CIA officers used waterboarding at least 83 times against Abu Zubaydah and 183 times against Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, according to a 2005 Justice Department legal memorandum, even though the United States had historically treated waterboarding as torture. “We prosecuted our own soldiers for using it in Vietnam,” said Attorney General Eric H. Holder.

Information obtained from waterboarding may not be reliable because a person under duress may admit to anything. “It is bad interrogation. I mean, you can get anyone to confess to anything if the torture is bad enough,” said former CIA officer Bob Baer.

In December 2008, Robert Muller, Director of the FBI, stated that despite Bush Administration claims that waterboarding has “disrupted a number of attacks, may be dozens of attacks,” he didn’t believe that evidence obtained by the US government through enhanced interrogation techniques such as waterboarding disrupted any attack. Despite numerous and serious abuses, not a single CIA official and only a few military personnel have faced meaningful punishment.

There are widespread demands for the Justice Department to broaden its preliminary investigation of CIA abuses and on the role that Bush administration lawyers played in justifying those abuses. Former Vice President Dick Cheney boasted that he was a big supporter of waterboarding. President Obama stated at the beginning of his term, “I believe waterboarding was torture and it was a mistake.” By conducting a proper inquiry on the matter, his administration can show that it is still adhering to those same beliefs.

Cesar Chelala is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

Listen to the February 21st broadcast of Sundays at Five by clicking the play button below.

Kate and Ali, with The WIP's film critic Jessica Mosby, discuss Soundtrack for a Revolution, which combines powerful music and footage of the Civil Rights Movement with contemporary artists and interviews. In the second half of the broadcast, the trio interview special guest, Dr. Morty Slater, who was a Freedom Rider in the Civil Rights Movement and now heads the Gateway Institute, a non-profit organization based in NYC which prepares low-income minority students for careers in science, medicine, and technology.

About the Broadcast: The WIP’s Executive Editor, Kate Daniels teams up with identical twin sister Ali Daniels to present Sundays at Five, a weekly radio broadcast on KRXA, Monterey Bay's Progressive Talk Radio station. The twins share stories and discuss topics ranging from campaign finance reform to the phenomenon of Facebook. Tune in every Sunday from 5-6 pm PDT or listen online. Podcasts of previous broadcasts are available on The WIP Talk.

Make a cup of tea and join the conversation!

Today, a news headline in my inbox reads: Rhode Island District Superintendent To Fire Entire Staff At Underperformed High School. According to the article, this high school is the lowest performing in the State, and their test results have continued to drop too many years in a row. The teachers have refused to adopt the changes mandated by government program improvement, and so the Superintendent must choose the only other option given by No Child Left Behind legislation, and fire them all.

Next I read an article by Melinda French Gates, published in the Washington Post. Ms. Gates seems to believe that even schools that carry the weight of the At Risk student population can produce consistently high test results, as well as high school graduates who plan to attend college. What students need, she writes, are good teachers. The teachers hold the key to student success -- and if the teachers are good enough, then the students will succeed across all social and economic barriers.

Now, I am not one to romanticize the public school teacher. I went to public school, and I remember with bitter clarity what it was like for me there. Socially dysfunctional and boring. So boring. Boring beyond boring. I have never been so bored in my life, boring. I stopped counting the holes in asbestos ceiling panels the last day I spent in high school, boring. So don't expect me to carry on about the invaluable nature of the holy K-12 "teacher". On the other hand, for many of my students, a good teacher is the best chance they have -- because when they aren't at school, no one else is in their life is paying them any positive attention.

Ms. Gates readily admits that assessing teacher performance is complex, and that assessing teacher performance based one standardized test results alone, is not enough. After all, by the time students reach my classroom, they have already been taught for the previous 11-13 years, by other teachers. Yet suddenly I am responsible for their achievements, as well as their failings. And what if my students do not do well on the Standardized Test? What if they still stink at writing when they leave my room -- sorry, but if the multitude of teachers who came before me couldn't do it, what makes you think it can be done?

On the other hand, what if they learning something in my class that cannot be measured via multiple choice? What if they read and enjoyed their first story? What if they learned to be more tolerant? What if they, for the fist time ever, like English -- when previously it was a subject they found most loathsome? How do you measure that?

So maybe those teachers in Rhode Island really are terrible at their jobs. Maybe they are boring, so boring that the smartest kids refuse to go to school because they've already counted all the holes in the ceiling and there are none left to count. Maybe they are mean teachers, who unjustly punish their students, refuse them creative expression, and belittle them in front of their peers (we've all had those). On the other hand, what if the students are learning something? Something we haven't yet figured out how to measure?

I don't know the school, I don't know the community, and I don't know the teachers -- but I imagine, even if I did, this would not be an easy question to answer.

In the parts of the world that pretend to be civilized, strict laws are imposed to define who is locked in prison and for how long. Unfortunately, even these countries often practice arbitrary and indefinitely long detention, as long as the building where detainees are kept is not called prison. This includes orphanages, psychiatric wards, "care homes" for the disabled and - this will be my subject now - facilities for "temporary accommodation" of refugees and illegal immigrants. I recently described one such facility in Bulgaria in my blog post "Prison by any other name":
http://mayas-corner.blogspot.com/
2010/02/prison-by-any-other-name.html
I advise you, if you have time and are interested in human rights issues, to follow the link. There, you can watch the videos presenting the documentary "Bulgarian Guantanamo" and read the script. Made by Bulgarian journalist Ivan Kulekov, the documentary presents the so-called Home for temporary accommodation of foreigners in the Busmanci district of Sofia, Bulgaria. My thoughts were echoed by a former inmate who said, "They say it is not a prison, but unfortunately it IS a prison." Of course he is right - prison is every institution that imprisons people, that is, keeps them inside against their will; but calling the prison some other name allows you to lock people for years without the bother to hold a due process.
In fact, some of the prisoners at Busmanci would not qualify for any process. Because, while most inmates are adult men, some are women, and some of these women are mothers imprisoned together with their children. If you watch the first video, you will hear a headscarved woman with a bitter smile say, "No, I don't know how much I will stay here. Why we are here... We have children here. They want to help us, I see. They make a room for the children, they ask "What do you want?", they give clothes now. But I don't know. May be (to) live here (is) nice, the best for our (children?), I don't know." Unlike some of the male prisoners who openly express their anger, this mother does not dare to say much - with her children by her side, she has too much to lose.
Because all kids shown in the videos are toddlers and preschoolers, we do not know whether there are school-age children at Busmanci and, if so, whether any education is provided to them. Also, nobody says whether the little inmates are given the vaccines and well-child pediatrician visits required by law.
I first learned about the Busmanci detention center in 2006 from a newspaper article. However, I naively thought that the problem would be quickly solved after Bulgaria's joining EU in 2007. How wrong I was. It soon became clear that the European Union has no mechanism, and little will, to ensure even the most elementary human rights standards within its borders. It seems to be more concerned with talking about violation of human rights of suspected terrorists in far-away countries. The obsession with Guantanamo, to my opinion, distracts us from cleaning our own backyard and makes the illusionary impression that everything is OK in our backyard. Hence, it creates a smokescreen behind which xenophobic, careless or corrupt buraucrats in a EU member state can lock innocent mothers for years together with their babies.
For those who do not know me, I am also fairly xenophobic, with far-right views on immigration. So if treatment of foreigners makes a person like me outraged, then it really must be outrageous. Where are all the human rights watchdogs of Europe now, as prisoners at Busmanci are on hunger strike?

A simple procedure is saving thousands of lives. Although it has been known for many years it has not been not widely used. This approach shows how sometimes simple ideas which respond to real needs can have a dramatic impact on people’s lives and health.

The rationale behind the development of this procedure was based on the several steps doctors have to follow when treating people in intensive care units, also known as “critical care”. It is estimated that, on a given day, some ninety thousand people are in intensive care, almost five million a year.

During a typical stay in an intensive care unit, patients undergo several procedures, most of them critical for its survival. Under these circumstances it is most important that some basic and necessary procedures are properly carried out. Failure to do so could result in the death of the patient.

In 2001, Dr. Peter Pronovost, a Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, began studying hospital-acquired infections. These infections affect 1 in 10 patients, killing 90,000 of them and costing as much as $11 billion each year.

Pronovost began investigating this alarming situation at Johns Hopkins Hospital focusing on bloodstream infections from central venous catheters used in intensive care units (ICUs). He concluded that providing physicians with a chart reminding them of each step in some routine procedures could drastically reduce the number of errors leading to such infections.

Pronovost shortened lengthy guidelines into a simple checklist of five precautionary steps. According to Pronovost doctors should wash their hands with soap; clean the patient’s skin with chlorhexidine antiseptic; put sterile drapes over the entire patient; wear a sterile mask, hat, gown and gloves, and put a sterile dressing over the catheter site.

Although it can be argued that these are very simple procedures, neglecting one or more can lead to disastrous results.

Pronovost initial findings were confirmed two years later in a Michigan study called the Keystone Initiative. The results of this study, published in 2006 in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that in the first three months of the project the infection rate in Michigan’s ICUs decreased by sixty-six percent. Within the Initiative’s first eighteen months, the authors estimated that 1500 lives and $100 million were saved.

Based on his initial success, Pronovost and his colleagues later developed checklists for other situations in the ICU such as mechanical ventilation. Although he is not the first one to use a checklist to guide procedures, he is the first to be aware of its advantages and exploit its possibilities.

Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School enthusiastically promoted this approach. Writing in The New Yorker, Gawande stated that Pronovost work had saved more lives than any other laboratory scientist in the last decade.

Working for the World Health Organization, Dr. Gawande brought the checklist idea to several hospitals around the world, with equally startling results. In eight hospitals ranging from a rural hospital in Tanzania to a high-tech university facility in Seattle Dr. Gawande and a team of public health experts applied a version of the checklist to assess if it improved surgical care.

Without adding a piece of equipment or any extra spending, the rate of major post surgical complications dropped by 36 percent in the six months after the checklist was used and deaths fell by 47 percent in all of the eight hospitals studied.

Despite some drawbacks, such as what to do when a patient has several disorders at the same time and its lack of flexibility, as pointed out by Dr. Sandeep Jauhar, author of “Intern: A Doctor’s Initiation,” it is clear that using checklists for some situations can save lives and money in health care. Pronovost’s approach is now being tried in California and in Spain. If the results are equally positive, it will create new standards of health care performance both in the U.S. and at the international level.

Cesar Chelala, MD, PhD, is an international public health consultant.

The Women's International Perspective and The Women’s Fund of Monterey County, in association with the MIIS National Association of Women MBAs, invite you to our International Women's Day Celebration: "Women and Leadership: The 30% Solution."

Monday, March 8th 2010

5:30 pm | Informational Fair and Reception

Browse local organizations' informational tables. Enjoy appetizers, drinks, and music.

6:30 pm | Keynote Speaker and Panel Discussion

Linda Tarr-Whelan, Demos Distinguished Senior Fellow, President Clinton’s ambassador to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, and author of Women Lead The Way: Your Guide to Stepping Up to Leadership and Changing the World will deliver the keynote address.

Tarr-Whelan advocates the "30% Solution," a concept that gained traction at the U.N. Conference on the Status of Women in Beijing in 1995. According to Tarr-Whelan, both businesses and governments do better when they adopt a 30% measure for women in leadership positions. "Often without even thinking about it, we are seeing the world through men's eyes and don't realize a woman's perspective is missing."

A panel discussion including Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) Provost Dr. Amy Sands; Linda Alepin, Founding Director of the Global Women's Leadership Network (GWLN) of the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University; and Christine Grumm, President and CEO of the Women's Funding Network will follow.

Dr. Amy Sands is the Provost at the Monterey Institute of International Studies – an educational institution The WIP has partnered with several times. MIIS’s promotion of international understanding to prepare students for careers in the global workplace is very relevant to our theme. As a nonproliferation expert, we hope Dr. Sands will explore women, leadership and the 30% Solution in this area.

Linda Alepin is the Founding Director of the Global Women’s Leadership Network, which works directly with women leaders on every continent who are actively transforming their organizations and communities. The WIP's Executive Editor, Katharine Daniels is a graduate of GWLN’s Women Leaders for the World program which was developed out of Linda’s vision to empower women leaders with the skills they need to transform their visions for change into reality.

Christine Grumm is the CEO and President of The Women’s Funding Network, an organization that has championed the cause of guiding funds to programs that benefit women and girls. Her commitment to the transformational power of women-based solutions go hand-in-hand with Linda Tarr-Whelan’s message in Women Lead the Way.

We hope you'll join us for an inspiring evening with these amazing women! Click HERE for more information and to buy tickets!

President Obama's State of the Union description of the Cantor/McConnell Republican Faction of NO as "playing short term politics" and failing to display “leadership” was an understatement. The Faction of NO poses a profound threat to the United States. They, like their nineteenth century confederate counterparts, have seceded from constitutional government and declared a civil war. On Main Street that war is waged with racist hate speech spectacles. In the media it advances from the mouths of Limbaugh and Beck.

In the Senate of the United States the Faction of NO’s civil war is waged with Rule 22 that establishes the parliamentary procedure for stopping debate on bills including those to change Rule 22 itself. If sixteen Senators sign a motion to bring to a close the debate upon any measure, motion, or other matter pending before the Senate, the Presiding Officer, without debate, submits to the Senate for a yea-and-nay vote the question: “Is it the sense of the Senate that the debate shall be brought to a close?” If that question is decided in the affirmative by three-fifths of the Senators present or in the case of a motion to change Rule 22 by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of those present, then debate limitations are imposed. If not, the bill or motion can be filibustered to death.

In the Senate the Faction of NO has obstructed the appointment of Obama nominees. As of November 2009, 53 of Obama nominees are still waiting for a full Senate vote, and another 175 are pending in committee. Since 1949, “cloture votes” under Rule 22 have focused on only 24 nominees. In the first nine months of the Obama administration, however, there have been 5! In the Democrat-controlled 110th Congress, Republicans have filibustered more legislation and have required more “cloture votes” to break them than in any other Congress in history. (Rebecca Lehman 11/05/2009 http://www.ourfuture.org) No matter what party is in the majority, under Rule 22, the Senate’s functioning is subject to the risk of minority tyranny, because a super majority of 60 votes is required to perform its constitutional role.

So how can the country deal with the civil war by the Faction of NO in the United States Senate?

For starters we can resurrect the wisdom of Founding Father and Fourth President of the United States James Madison. Following the constitutional convention in Philadelphia, Madison, Jay and Hamilton published the Federalist Papers to promote ratification of the new Constitution. In Federalist Papers, No 10, Madison wrote, “By a faction I understand a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” The causes of faction are ‘sown’ in the nature of man. They divide mankind in parties, “inflame them with mutual animosity, and (render) them much more disposed to vex and oppress each other than to cooperate for their common good.” Madison argued, “the most common and durable source of factions is the unequal distribution of property. Those who hold and those who are without property have ever formed distinct interests in society. Those who are creditors, and those who are debtors, fall under a like discrimination. A landed interest, a manufacturing interest, a mercantile interest, a moneyed interest, with many lesser interests grow up of necessity in civilized nations, and divide them into different classes, actuated by different sentiments and views. The regulation of these various and interfering interests forms the principle task of modern legislation and involves the spirit of party and faction in the necessary and ordinary operations of government.” Madison concluded, “…the causes of faction cannot be removed and the relief is only to be sought in the means of controlling its effects.”

Now, more than two hundred years after Madison’s wrote those words we are faced with tyrannous minority waging civil war in the Senate of the United States. Madison tells us what to do by what he proposed and argued at the constitutional convention. There, his “Virginia Plan” was presented to the convention that contained the basic design of the future U.S. Government. It provided for a bicameral legislature, with both houses based on proportional representation…. (Chernow, Ron Alexander Hamilton, Penguin ,2004, page 230)

By switching the words “minority” and “majority” in Madison’s argument to the convention justifying proportional representation he speaks directly to us today. According to his biographer Ralph Ketchem, “Next, Madison presented to the convention for the first time the argument that since honesty, respect for character, and conscience had proven insufficient guards against faction and oppression of the majority, only the inclusion within a government of a multitude of interests, sentiments, and sections, each with the power to resist others, would prevent minority tyranny. History proved conclusively that “where a minority are united by a common sentiment, and have an opportunity, the rights of the majority party becomes insecure.” The only remedy, he concluded, “is to enlarge the sphere, and thereby divide the community into so great a number of interests and parties … that in case they should have such a (common) interest, they may not be apt to unite in the pursuit of it. It was incumbent on us then to try this remedy, and with that view to frame a republican system on such a scale and in such a form as will control all the evils which have been experienced.”

When the convention split on the question of proportional representation in the Senate, Delegate Roger Sherman proposed the “Great Compromise”: let representation in the lower house be according to the respective numbers of free inhabitants, and in the upper house let the states be equal. (Ketcham, Ralph James Madison, University of Virginia Press, 1991, page 203).

As result of the “Great Compromise,” Article 1, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution provided that the legislatures of each state shall choose two Senators and with one vote each. By June 5, 1914 the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution changed Article 1, Section 3, to read: “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote…”

Today we can undo “the Great Compromise” and implement proportional representation in the Senate with a 28th Amendment to the Constitution that would provide: “The Senate of the United States shall be composed one Senator for each Federal Senatorial District containing 3.5 million persons of voting age in each State determined by the census and shall be elected by the people of each Senatorial District, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.

I offer the number 3.5 million only for illustration purposes and to suggest that the proposed federal senatorial districts in each state should be substantially larger than congressional districts. A 28th Amendment would enlarge the membership of Senate to more accurately reflect the diverse factional and regional interests of the nation and would likely neutralize the power of the Faction of NO or any other minority that seeks to tyrannize the majority in the Senate of the United States.

Recently, I spoke with an educator who is employed at a high school under "government improvement" -- this is what happens to a school when their student scores fail to improve on the yearly STAR assessment exams. I've talked with teachers who work at these "failing" schools and actually drive door to door during testing time, rounding up kids and dragging them in so that the school can meet the mandatory quota for student participation. And once the kids get there, well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out exactly how hard they try.

This educator likened the environment at her "failing" school to George Orwell's, 1984. Which caused me to ponder, how can any intellectual environment truly thrive in any sort of creative, inspiring way, if the setting is such that teachers are afraid to speak their minds and express their opinions? And so, on the eve of the decision made by the Santa Rosa City School Board, (home to some 30 schools), to eliminate 7.6 librarian jobs, cut funding for campus police, increase class size, shorten the school year by 3 days, and cancel all spring sports, (track, swimming, softball, baseball), I have decided to begin giving voice to as many teachers as I can find who are willing to speak.

Please enjoy what will be the first of many short teacher interviews.

Bob Klein teaches English, among other things, at a continuation high school in California.

Q. How long have you worked in the public school system and what subjects and grade levels do you teach?

I’ve worked in the public school system since the mid-80s. I began my career at Casa Grande High School in Petaluma, with a population that has ranged, through the years, from about 1500-1800 students. For thirteen years, I taught introductory Spanish to mostly freshman. I also taught Human Interaction for about six years, exclusively to freshman. That class was a lot of fun, providing information and living skills to help teenagers make right choices in their personal lives. This class informed and shaped my own perspective of what it means to educate youngsters.

For the past nine years, I’ve been teaching English at San Antonio High School, also in Petaluma. This is a continuation school where kids find it a little easier to succeed without the pressure of homework and strict academic standards required by most colleges. It’s a great place to work, but when I transferred there, I miscalculated how the difference in the level of behavior and attitude would affect my approach and my curriculum. It took me a good couple of months to re-orient myself to a different type of student, and classroom. These are students whose needs are primarily dictated by a combination of low motivation, drug dependency, little family support, anti-social behavior, and any combination of these and many other factors that create the need for alternative sites.

Q. What effect do you feel No Child Left Behind legislation has had on the schools where you have worked? Have these changes been subtle? Profound? Inconsequential?

When I took my education courses at Sonoma State, I experienced a renewed sense of love/hate with the many pathways into academentia. And though I would soon be an agent of the academic environment, I always kept a safe distance from some of the ideologies that characterize the “academic paradigm,” such as using terms like “academic paradigm,” and leading to such legislation as No Child Left Behind.

There is not one teacher in my sphere of colleagues who feels that there is any wisdom in No Child Left Behind. I see it as a misguided and short-sighted piece of politics. In the interest of brevity, I will point to the ultimate manifestation of this policy, which is to test our students based on curriculum standardized to meet arbitrary and unrealistic goals. And then to take the results of these tests and determine which schools are wonderful bastions of student success, and which schools suck and need government intervention to improve student success.

Success at what, and according to whom? is a favorite question, but I will remain brief on that subject.

Q. With the Obama administration, comes new attempts to reform the public school system. Top on the list is merit pay, formation of national standards, and an increased emphasis on data collection and standardized assessments. If you were the President's Secretary of Education, what would be your top suggestions to improve our struggling education system?

More alternatives! Standards, data, assessments...they work for certain kids, the ones who are driven to succeed in the academic world. For those students, schools are just dandy, and they will adapt to just about anything we throw at them. But some students aren’t getting what we’re feeding them, and can’t handle the delivery system. We can try to change the system, which is what Washington wonks and bureaucrats have attempted. Then policies such as merit pay become a desperate attempt to make us compete for the big bucks. Some teacher stuck in Lower Skunk High School where the population is 85% minority, or the average income is below the poverty line, or for whatever other reasons the young Skunks don’t rise to a specified level, Mr. John Q. Teacher at Skunk High is #@!! out of luck!

What to do? More money for programs that matter. When the first thing to be cut from a school are the music and arts programs, we have a problem. We need the arts and music, woodshop and auto tech, and movement classes, including dance and tai chi; these programs are the heart and soul of a school. Librarians get cut, as if they were expendable. Why is mathematics sacrosanct? And Ancient History? It’s interesting, and great stuff, but why not share the pain? Do kids need English class every single semester? What about the kids who hate English, and will never read a book even if their lives depended on it?

by Dr. Cesar Chelala (New York) and Dr. Manuel Peña (Lima, Peru)

Poverty cannot be defined solely in terms of lack of income. A person, a family, even a nation is not deemed poor only because of low economic resources. Little or no access to health services, lack of access to safe water and adequate nutrition, illiteracy or low educational level and a distorted perception of rights and needs are also essential components of poverty.

Poverty is one of the most influential factors for ill health, and ill health — in a vicious cycle — can lead to poverty. Education has proven to be a
There is a two-way link between poverty and health. Illness impairs learning ability and quality of life, has a negative impact on productivity, and drains family savings. Poor people are more exposed to environmental risks (poor sanitation, unhealthy food, violence, and natural disasters) and less prepared to cope with them.

Because they are also less informed about the benefits of healthy lifestyles, and have less access to them as well as to quality health care, they are at greater risk of illness and disability.

Close to 1.5bn people in the world live in extreme poverty, a situation which is particularly stark in the developing world, where 80% of them live. Poor people have little or no access to qualified health services and education, and do not participate in the decisions critical to their day-to-day lives.

Those who live in extreme poverty are five times more likely to die before five years of age, and two and a half time times more likely to die between 15 and 59 than those in higher income groups. The same dramatic differences can be found with respect to maternal mortality levels and incidence of preventable diseases. Level of education in relation to health is particularly important among women. In addition, education for women is closely associated with later marriage and smaller family size.

The impact of poverty on health is largely mediated by nutrition and is expressed throughout the life span. However, nutrition and health are only somewhat responsive to mere economic growth.

Increased income alone cannot guarantee better nutrition and health because of the impact of other factors, notably education, environmental hygiene and access to health care services, which cannot necessarily be bought with increased income in the developing world.

Those living in poverty and suffering from malnutrition have an increased propensity to a host of diseases, a lower learning capacity, and an increased exposure and vulnerability to environmental risks. Poor children frequently lack stimuli critical to growth and development.

The unrelenting stresses in the struggle for survival do not allow poor families to fully appreciate the importance of stimulation and nurture, and even if they do the opportunity to provide these stimuli.

Experiences in several countries have demonstrated the power of education to increase the nutritional levels and the health status of the poor. In urban India, for example, it has been found that the mortality rate among the children of educated women is almost half than that of children of uneducated women.

In the Philippines, it has been shown that primary education among mothers reduces the risks of child mortality by half, and secondary education reduces that risk by a factor of three.

Several strategies can be used to improve the access of mothers and children to educational opportunities as a way of improving their health status. At the national level governments, particularly in developing countries, have to establish education — including the education of the parents — as a priority, and provide necessary resources and support.

Interventions should be targeted to vulnerable groups such as those with lower income or with less access to adequate food.

At the international level, lending institutions have to implement debt-reduction policies for those countries willing to provide increased resources for basic education.

Although an important goal is to reduce economic inequity to improve the health status of populations, emphasis on education can provide substantial benefits in the health status of populations even before reducing the economic gap between the rich and the poor.

Dr. Cesar Chelala is a public health consultant for several international organizations. Dr. Manuel Peña is the Pan American Health Organization representative in Peru.

Listen to the February 14th broadcast of Sundays at Five by clicking the play button below.

Kate and Ali discuss social media with guest Steven Spencer-Steigner, a brand strategist based in San Francisco. Between Facebook, Twitter, and other technologies, our children are wired more than seven hours a day. How many “friends” do you have? What about privacy? … And what the heck is Farmville?!

Guest Biography: Steven Spencer-Steigner is a brand strategist at Addiction Marketing, based in San Francisco, CA. He has enjoyed a career in marketing and media for 12 years and counting in technology media, Internet community and traditional brand marketing, as well as luxury and travel consumer services. He holds both a BA and MA in sociology from the University of California, where he focused on ethnographic methodologies, pop culture, and political consciousness.

About the Broadcast: The WIP’s Executive Editor, Kate Daniels teams up with identical twin sister Ali Daniels to present Sundays at Five, a weekly radio broadcast on KRXA, Monterey Bay's Progressive Talk Radio station. The twins share stories and discuss topics ranging from campaign finance reform to the phenomenon of Facebook. Tune in every Sunday from 5-6 pm PDT or listen online. Podcasts of previous broadcasts are available on The WIP Talk.

Make a cup of tea and join the conversation!

Movements of people whether from rural to urban areas or from one country to another often alter the characteristic epidemiological disease profile, and at the same time new diseases appear or old ones reemerge. Such is the case of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, yellow fever, dengue, and Lyme disease.

For example, large-scale migrations to Costa Rica in the 1980s, stemming from conflicts in other Central American countries, produced a palpable increase--especially along border areas--in the prevalence of malaria and other infectious and parasitic diseases. At the same time, urbanization is associated with changes in diet and exercise that increase the prevalence of obesity with increased risks of type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Among migrants, mobility-related risks include poverty, vulnerability to sexual abuse and exploitation, dangerous working conditions and separation from social support networks. Many of these conditions affect the most vulnerable segment of the population: women, children and the elderly.

The reproductive system of pregnant women is especially vulnerable to environmental contaminants. Each step in the reproductive process can be altered by toxic substances in the environment that increase the risk of abortion, birth defects, fetal growth and perinatal death. Many studies have shown that exposing pregnant women to carbon monoxide can damage the health of the fetus. In addition, the developing fetus is susceptible to environmental factors – for example through the mother’s exposure to toxic substances in the workplace.

Children are especially susceptible to disease when they are born and develop in an environment characterized by overcrowding, poor hygiene, excessive noise, and a lack of space for recreation and study. They suffer not only from a hostile physical environment, but from stress and other factors such as violence that such environments create.

The more obvious ill effects of urban life--emotional stress, loss of family structure, congested traffic, noise, environmental pollution-- affect people from all incomes. Many city dwellers take for granted access to basic public services, such as drinking water supply, housing, solid waste disposal, transportation, and health care. For the poor, however, these are either deficient or nonexistent. Instead, those in poverty zones usually receive an extra dose of environmental pollution, since industries tend to cluster in outlying areas where regulations are more lax.

Particularly in cities, motor vehicles are an important source of air pollution. In addition, they can be a significant cause of pedestrian injuries and fatalities. The pollutants that originate from motor vehicles, particularly nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, ozone, and particulate matter, account for a substantial proportion of air pollution in cities and serious impact on health.

Lead particles released as a result of gasoline combustion pose a significant potential threat to children, whose behavior and psychological development can be affected. In Mexico City, a city notorious for its air pollution, children are exposed to several million tons of contaminants.

Yet Mexico City's pollution problem is hardly unique; virtually every major city in the Western Hemisphere is fighting the same battle. Residents of Santiago, Chile, are afflicted with a host of chronic respiratory infections caused by large concentrations of particulate pollutants in the atmosphere, whose persistence is, in turn, facilitated by the area's unique topographical and climatic circumstances.

The crowded urban neighborhoods combined with poor sanitary conditions and inadequate waste removal create conditions favorable to the spread of infectious diseases.

The overcrowded housing in the slums expose the urban poor to high rates of infectious diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis and diarrhea. As a result, the proportion of children dying from infectious and parasitic diseases in poor households in Africa, Asia and Latin America is several hundred times higher than in households in Western Europe or in the United States.

The environmental, social and economic situation at home is, in turn, influenced by the general social, economic and political situation. The rules, regulations, and laws governing a particular city or country will be a reflection of the priority that the government attaches to providing good services and a healthy environment to the population.

Given the serious effects that urbanization can have on health, it is essential to include health considerations into policy making. Because many of the negative effects are suffered by the poor and minorities, it is equally essential to view the challenges incorporating considerations of social justice and equity. The economic situation is a key determinant in the decision, resolve and capacity of the authorities to tackle environmental problems more effectively.

As Herbert Girardet, an expert on urban sustainability has stated, “If we are to continue to live in cities, indeed if we are to continue to flourish on this planet, we will have to find a viable relationship between cities and the living world –a relationship not parasitic but symbiotic, or mutually supportive.”

- In this blog series, Dr. Cesar Chelala explores the many challenges presented by urbanization, the impact of urban migration, challenges to health, and challenges of providing clean water. - Ed.

Cesar Chelala, MD, PhD, is an international public health consultant and a writer on human rights issues and foreign affairs.

Listen to the inaugural February 7th broadcast of Sundays at Five by clicking the play button below.

Kate and Ali discuss Haiti with Michele Wucker, Executive Director of the World Policy Institute and author of Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola and Catherine Delcin, a native Haitian and law student in San Francisco.

About the Broadcast: The WIP’s Executive Editor, Kate Daniels teams up with identical twin sister Ali Daniels to present Sundays at Five, a weekly radio broadcast on KRXA, Monterey Bay's Progressive Talk Radio station. The twins share stories and discuss topics ranging from campaign finance reform to the phenomenon of Facebook. Tune in every Sunday from 5-6 pm PDT or listen online. Podcasts of previous broadcasts are available on The WIP Talk.

Make a cup of tea and join the conversation!

I have been very curious about those American missionaries who are currently locked up in a Haitian prison for allegedly trying to kidnap 33 children from that country, and take them to the Dominican Republic. It is said that everything is the fault of the leader Laura, and that the other nine didn't know that she didn't have the proper paperwork. Supposedly, they blindly followed her. Did they think it was possible to just go into a poor and devastated country, round up a bunch of children and take them across the border? I believe Laura does bear the major responsibility and that she was acting illegaly, but the others are also responsible nevertheless.
Haiti is a sovereign country. It is not a colony of the United States. And even if it were a colony, you still cannot grab children, put them in a bus and head for the border. Those missionaries did not have the legal right, or any right to take those children away, allegedly for their own good.
There is another part of this saga which I find deeply troubling and that is the missionary zeal to interfere and wreak havoc in another culture. There is pretty recent dramatic evidence of this wreaking havoc in the U.S. when Indian chidren were torn from their families, and sent off to Christian boarding schools in order to become good Americans. They stayed in those boarding schools for years and were forbidden to speak their native languages.
Back to Haiti. The Idaho missionaries seemingly didn't have such plans but they were certainly showing a total disrespect and disregard for Haitian law, and ultimately, for the children themselves.

As the re-haul of the tragically misguided No Child Left Behind fiasco begins -- or begins, at least, in theory -- I increasingly hear the words "Our educational system IS NOT WORKING" being bandied about by politicians and theorists across the country. This has given me pause for thought. Since first being tossed into the public school educational ring at the vulnerable age of five-years-old, I have been pondering this question in one form or another. What am I doing here? Why am I doing this? What does this all mean? I still don't know the answer, but it seems like if we are going to make bold statements like "It's not working" we had better have a pretty good idea what "working" means exactly.

Does "working" mean that all students, regardless of economic level, are doing well on multiple choice exams? Does "working" mean every single high school graduate is qualified to get into a university, regardless of whether or not they can afford it? Does "working" mean every graduating 12th grader can perform algebraic equations? Can read and understand Shakespeare? Can fill in a map of the world -- countries and capitals -- with no errors? What would our public K-12 school system look like exactly, if it was "working"?

I can already predict the academic papers, the grant funded studies, and the government mandated trainings and re-trainings -- all of which will claim to have found the answer to our educational woes. National Standards will be created, standardized tests will be re-evaluated and enforced, teachers will be put through increasingly rigorous, yet meaningless hoops in order to meet state requirements, without seeing any increase in salary -- and yet none of these things will create any fundamental change.

I can also predict that none of these re-trainings, and new standards -- which will doubtlessly come with new standards aligned text books, and new formulaic, yet supposedly "creative", curriculum -- will make our K-12 education any better. In order to create positive learning environments schools need an abundance of creative, inspiring programs -- culinary arts, music, sports, book-filled libraries, jewelry making, wood shop, photography, technology studies, environmental studies, field trips. Whenever possible, core curriculum -- math, science, English, foreign language, history, government -- should be integrated into abundant enrichment programs.

Class sizes must be small -- no class should be more than 20 students. In order to learn, students need to feel safe when they are at school,which means, again, smaller class size, smaller schools, more teachers, healthy food, gardens, plenty of supplies, well kept grounds, more counselors, and a wide variety of student support. In short, all of the things that are eliminated first due to lack of funding, are the most critical components to creating life-long learners who are passionate about educating themselves.

But maybe this isn't what we are really looking for. Maybe a K-12 school system that helps to create healthy, well-informed, well-rounded, intelligent citizens is not what "working" means. I have a sinking feeling that it is not.

This year’s Sundance Film Festival officially ended yesterday. The winners were announced on Saturday night, final screenings were held, and then everyone left town until January 2011.

At this year’s festival I saw 14 films. Not too shabby, but I would have like to see more. I’ve long given up trying to see every film, and each year I carefully plan out my days to see as many films as possible (scheduling over five each day is impossible, and three is more realistic). So, here are the top ten films I wish I would have seen.

1. Howl
2. happythankyoumoreplease (Audience Award: Dramatic)
3. His & Hers (World Cinema Cinematography Award: Documentary)
4. The Red Chapel (World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary)
5. 8: The Mormon Proposition
6. Son of Babylon
7. Obselidia (Alfred P. Sloan Prize and Excellence in Cinematography Award: Dramatic)
8. Waste Land (World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary)
9. Smash His Camera (Directing Award: Documentary)
10. I'm Pat ____ Tillman

I’m already looking forward to Sundance 2011!

In 2008, the world reached an important milestone: For the first time in history more than half of its human population - 3.3 billion people - were living in urban areas. By 2030, their number is expected to swell to almost five billion. Many of the new urbanites will be poor and their future will depend, to a large extent, on decisions made now.

Rapid urbanization is related in part to population growth and also to migration--both domestic and external--that many countries are experiencing. Frequently, the causes are rural poverty, the search for better social and employment opportunities, or flight from political persecution and violence.

An example of the last situation is the urbanization process in Colombia. Unlike that characteristic of most other Latin American countries the process in Colombia was stimulated, and to some extent defined, by episodes of violence, which occurred principally in rural areas. Since the 1930s, violence has been an inescapable fact of Colombian civilian life.

As families were uprooted and displaced by successive waves of violence, they fled en masse to the country’s main cities, where the majority among them now resides in poverty-stricken marginal areas. As a result of the violence either witnessed or experienced first-hand, many of Colombia’s young generation have internalized the culture of aggression into which they were born.

Colombia's case is certainly not unique. More recently, the rural poor in many other countries throughout the world have been uprooted by violence and forced to flee en masse toward the large urban centers. The recent tragedy in Haiti exemplifies a massive population movement of people from rural areas to the capital city of Port au Prince, where they ended up living in precarious tenements that were destroyed by the earthquakes that cost the lives of over 200,000 people.

Large migrations will intensify as changing climate conditions will lead to abandonment of flooded or arid and inhospitable environments. This will lead to serious health problems both from the various stresses of the migration process and from the civil strife that could be caused by the chaotic movement of people. Every year, climate change causes the death of approximately 300,000 people, and seriously affects 325 million, according to the Global Humanitarian Forum.

A climate refugee is a person who is forced to relocate, either to a new country or to a new location within their country, due to the consequences of global warming. Sometimes, climate refugees are classified as environmental refugees. The number of environmental refugees will reach 150 million over the next 50 years, according to Professor Norman Myers of Oxford University.

In Africa, desertification and its consequences in agricultural production is displacing increasingly large amounts of people. Approximately 10 million people in Africa have been forced to migrate over the last two decades as a consequence of desertification and environmental degradation.

In addition, most people in Africa move into mostly marginal urban areas because of poverty, environmental degradation, political persecution, and religious strife. In addition, food insecurity and lack of basic services in the rural areas encourage people’s migration into the cities, where they all too often end up living in marginal areas.

These marginal areas, known as bidonvilles in French-speaking West Africa, ishish in some Arab countries, kampungs in Indonesia, villas miseria in Argentina, favelas in Brazil, pueblos jóvenes in Peru, and ranchitos in Venezuela, may contain from 30% to 60% of the population of many Third World cities, according to Worldwatch Institute.

Many governments attempt to discourage migration from rural areas to the cities, but these measures are by and large unsuccessful. Since large cities enjoy preferential treatment in terms of infrastructure and industrial development, they serve as magnets for the "have-nots."

Regardless of the big city's allure, many observers now feel that conditions for the ever-growing numbers of urban poor are most likely worse than for their rural counterparts. The true dimensions of this phenomenon remain elusive, according to World Health Organization expert Dr. I. Tabibzadeh, because the poor are either omitted from official statistics or are not considered separately.

Migrations between countries also continue unabated, usually stimulated by similar factors responsible for internal migration. The Latin American country that has produced the greatest number of migrants is Mexico. Among Mexicans living abroad, 99% can be found in the United States, where income opportunities are greater. In the Southern Cone, Argentina is the main destination for migrants from Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia. In Central America and the Caribbean, the U.S. is the most frequent destination, although there are also significant migratory flows from the Dominican Republic to Venezuela and Puerto Rico and from Haiti to the Dominican Republic.

Several European countries have attracted a large number of Africans and many Africans form Sub Saharan countries have migrated to north-African countries. In addition, the traditional pattern of migration within and from Africa is changing. A male-dominated process is becoming increasingly feminized.

Women’s migration is increasingly being affected by the host countries’ family reunification policies. But women are also traveling alone in search of better job and educational opportunities. In many cases, they end up working in low status, low wage jobs and are particularly prone to exploitation and abuse.

Migration within and from Asian countries is not a new phenomenon. The current trends and characteristics of migration in the region have been shaped by the political and economic changes in recent decades. It is estimated that more than six million migrants are working in East and Southeast Asia, one third of whom are in irregular situation. Until the recent economic crisis oil-rich Arab countries have attracted large numbers of Asian workers.

The economic, social and political trends influencing migration will continue for the next few decades. The challenge for governments is to design migration policies that take into account the needs of the migrants as well as those of the host population. Industrialized countries’ economic investments in developing countries as well as more fair trade policies can foster long-term cooperation and ease migration pressures.

- In this blog series, Dr. Cesar Chelala explores the many challenges presented by urbanization, the impact of urban migration, challenges to health, and challenges of providing clean water. - Ed.

Cesar Chelala, MD, PhD, is an international public health consultant and a writer on human rights issues and foreign affairs.

“Did you see this?” My colleague asked me in a hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, in 2005. Regrettably, I had seen it. She was referring to a dead child covered by a sheet, flies buzzing around the corpse, seemingly abandoned in a hospital hallway. For days afterwards that sight was a recurring nightmare for me. It also was proof of the already desperate state of Haiti’s hospitals.

I went to Haiti twice, first in 1993 as head of a UN mission to determine the effects of the UN embargo on the population, and again in 2005 to assess the Pan American Health Organization’s efforts in the area.

After my first visit we concluded that although the embargo was worsening the status of the population, the greatest damage to Haitians was caused by the ineffectual and corrupt governments that had plagued the history of this suffering island, as well as by the deleterious influence of the colonial powers.

It would not be fair, however, to easily conclude that everything is wrong with Haiti. In my two visits I was impressed by the Haitians’ entrepreneurial spirit, even among the poor, and by their strong desire for progress and better education. I still remember emerging from my privileged Montana Hotel, now totally destroyed, and seeing clean, impeccably dressed children going to school. And I wondered where they were able to get the water for their basic needs.

I also learned that although the country has among the worst health status indicators on the continent and a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, it also had one of the most effective programs for combating the infection (until the recent disaster.)

I saw what centuries of unregulated deforestation had caused to the country’s environment and how this deforestation would be a critical factor in worsening the negative effects of natural disasters such as the earthquakes the country has recently experienced. As if the Haitian people hadn’t already suffered enough . . .

Like many, I ask myself if there is a future for this country, and what shape that future will have, particularly after the first phase of reconstruction is completed.

I believe that Haiti’s natural and human resources should be the base for a strong new society, one that will right the many wrongs done to the country before. Some have proposed strengthening the country as a manufacturing outpost for industrialized nations, mainly the United States.

Although this point of view is not incorrect, it does not take into account the tremendous intelligence and resourcefulness of Haitians. Although the re-creation of a manufacturing base is important, it is only part of what Haiti needs. What is now necessary is a base for a sustainable future through agricultural renewal, education, a solid infrastructure, further development of tourism through the stimulation of artistic endeavors and, yes, manufacturing.

Haiti has long been a nation of farmers, even though the country has gone through one of the worst deforestation processes of any other country in the Americas. That is why reforestation –as had already been carried out, albeit in a limited way - and creation of a strong agricultural basis are critical. In order to accomplish these goals, Haiti needs other governments to cooperate in rebuilding agriculture in a sustainable, ecological way. But it also needs fair trade policies from industrialized countries, particularly the U.S.

There cannot be a rebirth of the country without a serious massive education effort. A national education plan can be created with input from teachers and administrators from other countries that wish to collaborate. The strides Haiti was making in the fight against HIV/AIDS show that, given appropriate support, the country can respond adequately to its needs. And the same is true for Haiti as a source of artistic creation, closely associated to its tourist potential.

Aside form the obvious rebuilding of houses, roads need to be built to facilitate the easy movement of people and goods throughout the country. It can be a most useful way of employing large number of workers who can stimulate local economies.

Over the years, a brain drain has evacuated top talent from the country. The collaboration of the Haitian diaspora is critical for the rebuilding of the country, a process that can be encouraged through the financing of temporary contracts with Haitian professionals and technicians living overseas. The degree of cooperation of national authorities and international aid organizations will determine the future of this suffering, noble country.

Cesar Chelala, an international public health consultant, is a co-winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award for an article on human rights.

¿Has visto esto? me preguntó mi colega Mariela Cánepa en un hospital en Port-au-Prince, la capital de Haití, en el 2005. Lamentablemente, lo había visto. Se refería a un niño muerto cubierto por una sábana, mientras las moscas zumbaban alrededor del cadáver, al parecer abandonado en un pasillo del hospital. Durante los días posteriores a la visita, esa imagen fue una pesadilla recurrente para mí. También fue una prueba de la situación ya desesperada de los hospitales en este injustamente castigado país.

Fui a Haití en dos oportunidades. La primero en 1993 como jefe de una misión de las Naciones Unidas para determinar los efectos del embargo de las Naciones Unidas sobre la población, y de nuevo en 2005 para evaluar la cooperación de la Organización Panamericana de Salud.

Después de mi primera visita, llegamos a la conclusión de que, aunque el embargo había agravado la situación de la población, el mayor daño a los haitianos fue causado por los gobiernos ineficaces y corruptos que habían plagado la historia de esta isla, así como por la influencia nociva de los potencias coloniales. Esa influencia nociva, particularmente de Francia, tiene efectos aun hoy en día.

Durante mi segunda visita en 2005, tuve oportunidad de experimentar lo que significa vivir en un clima de violencia, que es un factor cotidiano en la vida de este país. Habíamos decidido visitar Cité Soleil, para ver que servicios de salud estaban disponibles a la población. Cité Soleil es un área marginal localizada en el área metropolitana de Port-au-Prince.

Esta zona, donde vivían entonces entre 200.000 y 300.000 personas es una de las áreas más pobres, violentas y peligrosas de nuestro hemisferio, con una gran carencia de servicios básicos a la población. Para dar una idea de su peligrosidad la policía no se atreve a entrar allí.

Aunque la Misión Estabilizadora de las Naciones Unidas (MINUSTAH) está en Haití desde el 2004, siempre intentó, infructuosamente, tener control sobre esa zona, la que mantenía bloqueada con tanques armados. Cuando manifesté mi deseo de visitar esa área, me dijeron que la única forma de hacerlo era en un tanque militar armado.

A mi y a mi colega que me acompañaba en esta misión nos dieron sendos chalecos anti-balas y en un tanque con custodia militar nos acercamos a la zona. Una vez llegados allí, la custodia militar nos informó que no podía garantizar nuestra seguridad y que debíamos esperar por un par de horas en una barraca militar de Naciones Unidas localizada a la entrada de Cité Soleil.

Rodeados de soldados jordanos de Naciones Unidas esperamos un cambio en la situación. Allí pudimos ver de cerca la frustración de estos soldados jordanos al estar en una situación y un país para ellos totalmente desconocidos e incomprensibles. También pude ver su cara de felicidad y sorpresa cuando, utilizando las pocas palabras árabes que recordaba, me dirigí a ellos en ese idioma. Aun esa rudimentaria comunicación fue capaz de romper, transitoriamente, la monotonía en que viven allí estos soldados.

Al cabo de casi 3 horas, el jefe de nuestra custodia regresó y nos dijo que ellos no podían garantizar nuestra seguridad, por lo que tuvimos que regresar sin haber podido visitar esa zona. Un año más tarde, en Enero del 2006, dos de estos soldados jordanos fueron asesinados en Cité Soleil, triste corolario de una situación casi insostenible para ellos.

Cuando el primer terremoto asoló al país el 12 de Enero del 2010, su epicentro estaba localizado apenas afuera de la capital Port-au-Prince. Curiosamente, la mayoría de las casuchas de Cité Soleil resistieron el embate y los Médicos Sin Fronteras fueron capaces de reabrir el hospital localizado en el centro de esa zona. Los miembros de pandillas que escaparon de las prisiones luego de los terremotos están regresando a Cité Soleil, lo que aumenta notablemente la situación de inseguridad en esa zona.

No sería justo, sin embargo, llegar a la conclusión fácil de que todo está mal en Haití. En mis dos visitas, quedé fuertemente impresionado por el espíritu emprendedor de los haitianos, incluso de los pobres, y por su fuerte deseo de progreso y de una mejor educación. Todavía recuerdo que saliendo de mi privilegiada estadía en el Hotel Montana, ahora totalmente destruido, vi a los niños ir a la escuela, impecablemente limpios y bien vestidos. Y me pregunté cómo eran capaces de obtener el agua necesaria para cubrir sus necesidades básicas.

También aprendí que si bien el país tiene uno de los peores indicadores de salud sobre la situación del continente y una alta prevalencia de VIH / SIDA, también tenía uno de los programas más eficaces para combatir la infección (hasta los terremotos recientes que asolaron parte de la isla).

Vi también los efectos que siglos de deforestación no regulada han causado al país y a su medio ambiente, y cómo la deforestación podría explicar el mayor impacto que los desastres naturales han tenido sobre el país. Como si el pueblo haitiano no hubiera sufrido bastante. . .

Como muchos, me pregunto si hay un futuro para este país, y qué forma tendrá ese futuro, sobre todo después que la primera fase de la reconstrucción se haya completado.
Creo que los considerables recursos naturales y humanos que posee el país deben ser la base para una nueva sociedad, que compense los muchos errores causados antes al país.

Algunos expertos han propuesto fortalecer el país como un puesto de avanzada de fabricación de mercaderías para los países industrializados, principalmente Estados Unidos. Aunque este punto de vista no es incorrecto, sin embargo no tiene en cuenta la gran inteligencia y el ingenio de los haitianos. Aunque la re-creación de una base de fabricación es importante, es sólo parte de lo que Haití necesita. Lo que ahora se necesita es una base para un futuro sostenible a través de la renovación agrícola, la educación, una sólida infraestructura, un mayor desarrollo del turismo, mediante la estimulación de actividades artísticas y, sí, también de fabricación de mercaderías.

Haití ha sido tradicionalmente una nación de agricultores, aunque el país ha pasado por uno de los procesos de deforestación más marcados que cualquier otro país en las Américas. Por ello, la reforestación, como ya se había llevado a cabo, aunque de manera limitada - y la creación de una fuerte base agrícola son pasos críticos. Con el fin de lograr estos objetivos, otros gobiernos deben cooperar en la reconstrucción de la agricultura en forma sostenible, ecológica. Pero también Haití necesita políticas de comercio justo por parte de los países industrializados, en particular los EE.UU.

No puede haber un renacimiento del país sin un esfuerzo serio de educación masiva. Un plan nacional de educación se puede crear con la participación de los maestros y administradores de otros países que deseen colaborar. Los avances que Haití estaba haciendo en la lucha contra el VIH / SIDA indican que, dado el apoyo adecuado, el país puede responder adecuadamente a sus necesidades. Y lo mismo es cierto para Haití como fuente de creación artística, estrechamente asociada a su potencial turístico.

Aparte de la forma obvia de la reconstrucción de casas, se deben construir caminos para facilitar el movimiento fácil de las personas y bienes en todo el país. Esto puede ser una forma más útil de emplear gran número de trabajadores quienes pueden estimular las economías locales.

Con los años, una fuga de cerebros ha evacuado a los mejores talentos del país. La colaboración de la diáspora haitiana es fundamental para la reconstrucción del país, un proceso que puede ser estimulada mediante la financiación de contratos temporales a los profesionales y técnicos haitianos que viven en el extranjero. El grado de cooperación de las autoridades nacionales y organizaciones internacionales de ayuda determinará el futuro de este sufrido y noble país.

El 28 de Enero, un grupo francés de rescate encontró a Darlene Etienne, una joven de 17 años quien, increíblemente, había sobrevivido dos semanas bajo los escombros de un edificio. Sabemos que es difícil que nadie pueda sobrevivir por más de 72 horas sin agua, mucho menos dos largas semanas. Y aunque es posible que Darlene haya tenido acceso a un poco de agua de los restos de un baño ubicado cerca y, según se la oyó murmurar poco después del rescate, tenía con ella restos de una botella de Coca Cola, su sobrevivencia es casi milagrosa. En un periódico veo su cara llena de lágrimas y cubierta de polvo. Son las lágrimas secas de Haití.

César Chelala, consultor internacional de salud pública, es co-ganador del premio Overseas Press Club of América.