February 19, 2011
A new partnership between the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) and the Green Family Foundation (GFF) will enable the completion of a one-of-a-kind exhibit that provides a free, online experience that walks users through the complex and often understudied history of Haiti, from the Arawak indigenous groups through the fall of Jean-Claude Duvalier.

Haiti: An Island Luminous features contributions from current scholars and students, excerpts from past publications, and direct links providing free access to books, manuscripts and newspapers, joining expert commentary and original documents to introduce users to 500 years of Haitian history.

Read more: GFF and Digital Library of the Caribbean Announce "Haiti: An Island Luminous"

THURSDAY, 2/10/2011

@GreenFamilyFdn CBS NEWS MIAMI: S. Florida Woman’s #Haiti Music Project Gets 2 #Grammy Nods « http://t.co/06ILODL #TeamLomax

@GreenFamilyFdn #TeamLomax assembling in LA for #Grammys @ffhaiti @rbecker51 here. Rumor is sound master @wrs_presents is wandering round Santa Monica now

FRIDAY, 2/11/2011
@GreenFamilyFdn Great interview by @jhood on #TeamLomax member @wrs_presents http://bit.ly/e06o3y Looking good Warren! #Grammys #Haiti

@GreenFamilyFdn @wrs_presents on GFF Pres. Kim Green: without [her] the project would still be scuttling around... She made it happen. #TeamLomax #Grammys

@ClintonGlobal Congrats @GreenFamilyFdn for their Grammy nominated CGI commitment celebrating rich Haitian music history #GRAMMYs2011 http://bit.ly/hxhgyj

@GreenFamilyFdn RT @ClintonGlobal: Congrats @GreenFamilyFdn for their #Grammys nominated CGI commitment celebrating rich #Haiti music http://bit.ly/hxhgyj

@GreenFamilyFdn #TeamLomax #Grammys party 2nite. Ye Olde King's Head, Santa Monica. GFF crew will be there w/ @ffhaiti & the lovely & talented @wrs_presents

SATURDAY, 2/12/2011

@Gr eenFamilyFdn Soul of Miami write-up on #TeamLomax member, GFF Prez Kimberly Green's trip to #Grammys for #Haiti music box set! http://bit.ly/dEIkzc

@GreenFamilyFdn Ex-CA guv Gray Davis visits #TeamLomax lunch to meet #Haiti #Grammys crew. Pictured w/ Alan Lomax's daughter Anna. http://yfrog.com/hshuodj

@GreenFamilyFdn GOV Gray Davis, AMB Steven Green, 1st Lady Sharon Davis, Mrs. Dorothea Green, Kimberly Green #TeamLomax #Grammys http://yfrog.com/h01llqhj

GRAMMY SUNDAY, 2/13/2011

@GreenFamilyFdn #TeamLomax GFF Prez Kimberly Green & @ffhaiti Tatiana Magloire on the way to #Grammys Good luck #Haiti box set http://yfrog.com/h4uyihbj

@GreenFamilyFdn @wrs_presents ready with his #Grammys pin #TeamLomax http://yfrog.com/h2v7alsj

@GreenFamilyFdn #TeamLomax GFF Prez Kim Green w/ Magic Shop founder, 3-time #Grammys winner engineer/producer Steve Rosenthal http://yfrog.com/h3y1yduj

@GreenFamilyFdn Thank you! RT “@ffhaiti: @GreenFamilyFdn GOOD LUCK ....all the spirits and angels of #Haiti send you the best” #TeamLomax #Grammys

@Haiti_11 #grammys good luck to @GreenFamilyFdn for #Lomax and #Haiti: #grammys good luck to @GreenFamilyFdn for #Lomax... http://bit.ly/eeAWpz

@GreenFamilyFdn GFF Prez Kimberly Green at #Grammys #TeamLomax #Haiti http://yfrog.com/h4omtpnj

@GreenFamilyFdn @ffhaiti Tatiana Magloire at #Grammys #TeamLomax #Haiti http://yfrog.com/gyqmmnbj

@GreenFamilyFdn #TeamLomax #Haiti Box Set is kinda honored to lose to @thebeatles in the Best Historical album category #Grammys

@GreenFamilyFdn #TeamLomax & GFF congratulate Best Album Notes winner Robert Gordon for "Keep An Eye On The Sky" #Grammys

@GreenFamilyFdn GFF President Kimberly Green with Tracy Rosenthal #TeamLomax #Grammys #Haiti http://yfrog.com/h4lkunhj

@GreenFamilyFdn GFF Prez Kim Green: 100000 LPs rel. in 2010 #TeamLomax 2 nominations. Artists of #Haiti, recorded by Alan Lomax 70 years ago, are winners today!

@GreenFamilyFdn GFF Prez Kimberly Green with ?uestlove - @questlove drummer for @theroots - & @ffhaiti Tatiana Magloire #Grammys http://yfrog.com/h0kj1mgj

@GreenFamilyFdn #Grammys nominee & #TeamLomax member ethnomusicologist Gage Averill http://www.arts.ubc.ca/about-arts/ubc-dean-of-arts-at-the-grammys.html

@GreenFamilyFdn #Grammys #TeamLomax http://yfrog.com/hsjqqurj

@GreenFamilyFdn Will be bringing Lomax #Haiti music to Jazz Fest! RT “@jazzfest: Who's watching the #Grammys? Which winners will bring theirs to Jazz Fest?”

@GreenFamilyFdn @arcadefire Yay for #Haiti #Grammys #PIH

@GreenFamilyFdn Congrats @jazziest #Grammys winners @arcadefire @theroots @questlove @johnlegend @AlejandroSanz @jeffbeckmusic Fantasia & D.L. Menard

Check out our Flickr page for more photos from the Grammys!

Tweet

While Sunday's Grammy's will be dominated by big-name stars and pop hits, sound engineer Warren Russell-Smith is more interested in a lesser-known piece. Russell-Smith, of New York City's The Magic Shop, digitized Alan Lomax in Haiti: Recordings For The Library Of Congress, 1936-1937, a 10-disc collection that is nominated for two Grammys. NBC New York's Niteside columnist John Hood interviewed Russell-Smith about Lomax, Boardwalk Empire and The Green Family Foundation.

Here's an excerpt from the article:

Q: What was your role in the set's creation and how'd it come about?

A: Around 10 years ago the Library of Congress had transferred the aluminum discs; five years ago it showed up at The Magic Shop, and me and Will Berlind restored maybe a hundred hours of everything and put it aside. Then the Association of Cultural Equity (ACE) sifted through what we restored and picked out about 10 hours that best represented the various styles of music, and they came back to me, and, using even newer technologies, better plug-ins, higher quality things, I went across the 10 discs and reduced the noise even further.

In between the original restoration and the final mastering I met [Green Family Foundation president] Kimberly Green and mentioned that I'd worked on this project. She seemed excited and said she'd like to stay in touch about it. After the 10 hours came back from ACE I contacted Kimberly, told her the project was picking up again and asked if she'd like to be involved. She asked 'how?' So I put her in touch with ACE and it just went from there. I think she developed a great relationship with [ACE Director] Anna Lomax Wood, and I think without Kimberly the project would still be scuttling around between ACE and The Magic Shop. She made it happen.

Click here to read the full interview.

Tweet

February 3, 2011
In the decade the Green Family Foundation has been working in Haiti, we have come to know one true, definitive and wise voice the world should hear and learn from: Dr. Paul Farmer.

Farmer's recent interview published in the Los Angeles Times, along with fellow Partners in Health co-founder Ophelia Dahl, is a must-read for anybody currently working in Haiti or thinking about helping Haiti.

We urge you to carefully consider and understand Farmer and Dahl’s message, especially as it relates to public health and the recent cholera outbreak.

Excerpts from the Los Angeles Times:

"Q: Can we trust the ministry of health to be doing these things, how much of this should be done by outside NGOs?

Dahl: You cannot afford not to trust that system…

Farmer: You can’t have public health without a public health system. We just don’t want to be part of a mindless competition for resources. We want to build back capacity in the system.

Dahl: For us to build a separate parallel health system is not doing anything to forward the rights of the Haitian people. Much better to beef up the public health system than to build a separate one.

Q: Could you talk a little bit about the cholera epidemic in Haiti and what treatment you would recommend?

Farmer: There’s been a lot of bogus discussion about this. You can spend half your resources telling people to wash their hands or drink clean water, but if they don’t have access to clean water, it’s a peculiarly noxious way of approaching the problem because you’re basically taking a social problem -- which is lack of access to potable water or municipal water supplies -- and making it a cognitive or psychological problem. It’s a terrible kind of irony…"

Finally, for those looking to help in Haiti, please heed Ophelia Dahl’s advice: "Do a little bit of research into the organizations you’re giving your resources to. Don’t go down and dig pit latrines -- Haitians need those jobs."

GFF has proudly worked with Partners in Health over the years and personally, I am deeply honored to call Dr. Paul Farmer my friend.

Kimberly Green
President
Green Family Foundation

To read the full article "Q&A: Dr. Paul Farmer and Ophelia Dahl on recovery efforts in Haiti" -- January 29, 2011 -- Los Angeles Times, click here.

For other resources and must-reads about the amazing work of Dr. Paul Farmer and Partners in Health, visit these sites:

Stand with Haiti – Partners in Health
Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder
The Uses of Haiti, by Dr. Paul Farmer

Tweet