Hi all, while the world is ignoring it, the situation in Haiti has become absolutely horrific, "near anarchy" as the NYT calls it. My good friend and translator from when I covered Haiti, Jean Pierre Marseille, managed to get almost all of his family safely to the Dominican Republic, where his younger children are in school and excelling. (Jean proudly sends me pictures of his youngest sons' achievement awards.) But he had to stay in Port-au-Prince to get his teenage son Marc Donald's passport, so that he could legally travel. As they waited, gangs overran the city. They took his home and have been hunting for them ever since, trying to kidnap them for ransom he could never pay. Gas stations, banks, grocery stores have burned to the ground. The President was assassinated last year. Roaming bands of heavily armed men rape women with impunity, recruit boys into their ranks and shoot anyone they want. The police are no match. Jean and Marc have slept in parks, gulleys, and cinder block "hotel" rooms with no running water. We have been able to periodically send him cash through Western Union. Now the warlords have made it almost impossible to get food and water, trying to pressure the overthrow of the government. They have blocked all roads in and out of the city, making it impossible for the moment to escape. Jean was almost shot yesterday just venturing out to get a bottle of water to drink. I'm hoping to send him enough money to weather the spate of violence until he can get in a car in the middle of the night to escape to the DR where his wife and other children await. All his paperwork is in order and he is ready to go. He just has to wait until it's reasonably safe. Last week he spent $150 to hire a driver to take him to the border, and they were all pulled from the car at a roadblock and forced to run, as the gangs lit the car on fire. If there is excess money in this fund drive, I have other friends in similar situations who I will try to assist in getting out as well. Any amount will help! Every single cent will be wired directly to Haiti. Jean is a great person and the most devoted father I know, who would die for his kids and is literally risking doing that right now.