While many of us are contributing what we can to help the victims of the devastating earthquake in  Haiti, one Indian-American doctor is playing a major role in the relief effort — and I don’t mean Dr. Sanjay Gupta, though he’s doing his usual fine job of surgery-porting.

WASHINGTON — A few weeks ago, Rajiv Shah was an obscure if well-regarded young bureaucrat laboring in the bowels of the Agriculture Department.

 

On Wednesday, six days after he was sworn in as the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Shah, 36, stood before the country on live television as the coordinator of the U.S. response to the Haiti earthquake, one of the worst natural disasters in this hemisphere in recent history.

“He’s really gone from obscurity to the front lines,” said Robert Perito, a Haiti expert at the U.S. Institute for Peace.

A medical doctor who also holds a degree in economics, Shah is the highest-ranking Indian American in any presidential administration, according to the Press Trust of India. Plucked from his perch leading agricultural department research programs, Shah was still finding his way around USAID’s headquarters in the Ronald Reagan Building when the earthquake struck. His agency, which is in charge of development and foreign aid, plays a lead role in international relief efforts. [Link]

The photos from Haiti are just heart-wrenching, reminding me of the Gujarat earthquake of 2001.

While the U.S. is donating at least $100 million and sending 10,000 troops, India is giving $5 million, and Bangladesh is sending medical teams with medicine, clothes and tea. A number of policemen from South Asian countries are serving as peacekeepers in Haiti and helping with the relief efforts. 

If you haven’t already, here are a few of the ways you can donate to the relief efforts:

1. Text “HAITI” to the number 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross. It will be added to your next cellphone bill. You can also donate online through the Red Cross website. Some readers recommend donating to Doctors with Borders and Partners in Health.

2. You can donate your Delta Air Lines SkyMiles to transport CARE aid workers to Haiti or give money for relief funds through its website.

3. Haitian-American rapper Wyclef Jean’s foundation to rebuild Haiti, Yéle, is also accepting text-message donations. Text “Yele” to 501501 to donate $5, which will be added to your next phone bill. (Before donating to Jean’s foundation, you may want to read this Smoking Gun report.)

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I’ve never hitchhiked, but I’ve often wondered what it would be like, sticking your thumb out at motorists, hoping one of them stops, hoping it isn’t someone who wants to take you home and introduce you to his woodchipper.

That’s a reference, of course, to the movie Fargo, set partly in North Dakota, not far from the small city of Edgeley in LaMoure County, where 16-year-old Harman Singh was an exchange student until May 16, when he apparently tried to make it on his own. He left goodbye notes and hit the road for about a week, before calling his host mother from Fergus Falls, Minn., about 130 miles away. He’s now in custody and will be sent back to India.

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The Tamil-Canadian community in Winnipeg is minuscule compared to the one in Toronto, but they’re also making their voices heard. More than 100 of them gathered Sunday evening on the steps of the  Manitoba Legislative Building for a somber candlelight vigil that centered on prayers and songs. “We can only pray to God now,” said Dr. Mathu Singarajah, a dentist. “Nobody else can listen to us.”

They held candles, signs, black flags and pictures of children whom they see as victims of the Sri Lankan government’s assault on civilians. While people in Colombo and elsewhere celebrated the apparent end of the 25-year civil war, those at the vigil mourned the deaths of innocent people and wondered what, if anything, had been solved. “It doesn’t solve anything,” Singarajah said. “People’s grievances aren’t going to be over. This government is so ruthless. They don’t want to give us our rights. As long as that is the case, the problems will go on.”

Anita Subramaniam, a young woman who helped organize the vigil, served as spokeswoman for the group. “I think this is far from over,” she said. “The diaspora all over the world are watching their relatives die and aren’t going to let this go.”

The Tamil community organized the vigil after hearing that 25,000 civilians had just been killed. Because independent journalists aren’t allowed to travel freely in Sri Lanka — some have even been barred from entering the country — casualty numbers can’t be verified and tend to vary considerably, depending on the source. “They need to let the UN go in and investigate,” Subramaniam said.

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