Jonathan Katz has written a well-regarded book on the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and the relief efforts that followed. It's titled, "The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster." Katz was then an Associated Press reporter and was the only full-time American correspondent in Haiti. Katz now lives in Durham. He will sign copies of his book Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh. Via email, I recently asked him a few questions.

Q: Why did you write "The Big Truck That Went By"?
A: In may ways it was an extension of the work I was doing as a correspondent in Haiti. There was a much more profound story going on than the one we were able to tell in news stories, from the day of the quake itself, through the misbegotten relief effort, and the political turmoil and massive cholera epidemic that ended the year. What happened over the course of about twelve months in Haiti was simply extraordinary, and a story that has implications for people all over the world. A complete work of narrative nonfiction seemed like the best way to give the necessary context, blast through our pre-conceived notions, and bring that story to bear.

Q: For those who want to help (individuals, countries or groups, including those that are faith-based), what does it take to make a difference in Haiti?
A: Making a difference is easy. Improving lives over the long term is what's hard. In some ways it comes down to humility: knowing the limits (and costs) of our power, the ill effects of so many efforts in the past, and being willing to step back and listen to people about what they want and need in their own lives. That requires a lot of direct engagement, a lot of patience, and a lot of creativity. Any aid effort must begin with the principle of "first do no harm," and have as its ultimate goal its own irrelevance. Haiti, as anywhere, needs strong, durable institutions that are accountable to its own people. If your work is helping to build, and not undermine, those institutions, and is leaving behind something durable that will last long after your organization is gone, you're probably on the right track.

Q: How did you come to live in Durham?
A: As I mention at the end of The Big Truck, I ended up leaving Haiti to move in with my girlfriend, Claire Payton, in Brooklyn. Well, after the book was written, Claire, now my fiancée, transferred to Duke to complete her history PhD at the university's terrific Haiti Lab. I came with her. So here I am!
--John Drescher

If you're keeping score, it's now Julia Gaffield 2, all other Haiti historians 0.

A year ago, the Duke graduate student made international news in scholarly circles upon discovering the first known copy of Haiti's Declaration of Independence. She did so while combing through the British National Archives.It was a big deal, particularly on the heels of the earthquake that did such damage and brought so much attention to the Caribbean nation.

Well. Now Gaffield's just showing off. Last month, she did it again, plucking another printed copy of the document from the same archives.

(Duke University photo)

This one's different. It is one page and as large as a poster, unlike the first, which was an eight-page pamphlet. And it likely served a different purpose.

As Duke News writer Camille Jackson notes here, it was common when Haiti declared its independence from France in 1804 to post poster-sized proclamations in public areas. The eight-page pamphlet version of the declaration Gaffield discovered last year, in contrast, was probably produced for a more formal audience such as the British government.

Gaffield's still doing work in Europe right now but answered some questions via email. I asked her if she's now feeling like an expert in the unearthing of these sorts of documents.

"An expert? No," she wrote. "I think the fun part about studying history is that you constantly find new things and new sources surprise you and make you rethink assumptions that you had made."

Gaffield's first discovery brought with it a great deal of media attention for Gaffield, a doctoral student in history.

"It was incredible to see the power of history in contemporary society," she wrote. "This discovery provided an opportunity for diverse people to learn about and connect with a really exciting moment in the history of the Americas. I really enjoyed and benefited from the opportunity to speak to public audiences about my research and it was cool to see how people engaged with this history."

There’s a good reason they call Jennifer Pierce the shoe lady.

Her organization Share Our Shoes has raised 365,000 pairs of shoes for earthquake victims in Haiti, 27,000 pairs for flood victims in Nashville, and hundreds pairs of shoes daily for people who need them in the Triangle.

Pierce does all this through an organization that started two years ago with fliers on neighbors’ mailboxes. She was simply looking for shoes for the family of her daughter, Catelynn’s friend.

Catelynn’s friend couldn’t comeout and play because she had no suitable shoes, Pierce said. And then when Pierce visited the home, she found the make-do work boots of the girl’s father too small and the mother’s shoes duct taped together.
With that plea to neighbors, Pierce was flooded with shoes, and a mission because a calling. Today, she has a 6,500 square foot building on Capital Boulevard in Raleigh, a shoe warehouse and show room.

And now, Share Our Shoes has a presence in eastern Wake County. There are two drop-off locations in Knightdale: Progressive International Electronics at 1106 Great Falls Court, Suite G and Cathy Lee’s Daycare, 529 Bethlehem Road.
And Wendell Middle School is scheduled to become a drop-off point once school starts back.

“From Knightdale to Raleigh,from Florida to Haiti,” it’s just everybody working together,” said Pierce.

Pierce got some help expanding her 27 shoe drop-off locations with a one-woman SOS promoter Katrina Hearn.

Hearn, a saleswoman for The Cotton Exchange of Wendell, learned of Pierce’s organization at a flood victim’s benefit at the Longbranch in Raleigh.

“I carry those (SOS drop-off)boxes around in my car everywhere I go,” she said. “When I see I client, I ask them if they’d like to be a drop-off location.”

“It’s been real exciting,”said Hearn. She hopes to get the schools on board in the fall. “As fast as kids out grow their shoes, the schools would be a great spot for dropping off the shoes kids out grow.”

Hearn says almost everyone has shoes in their closet they no longer wear that other people could use.

“It’s a simple thing to do,”said Hearn. “I think she’s doing a wonderful thing. When she told me the story of a little boy coming to her house in little girls’ shoes, it just broke my heart.”

If you want to donate, visit one of the locations above or drop off shoes at Share Our Shoes warehouse, 1107 Capital Boulevard located on the Wake Avenue ramp. For more information, see shareourshoes.org.
 

How much do you really know about climate change?

Take the Climate Change Quiz at the Clinton Foundation website, and they will donate $2 on your behalf toward the purchase of solar flashlights for people living in camps in Haiti. There are 10 questions -- I only got 5 correct, but still earned the $2. And I learned a little about greenhouse gases. 

On Feb. 2, Julia Gaffield made a once-in-a-lifetime discovery when, while thumbing through some correspondence in the British National Archives, she discovered a copy of Haiti's Declaration of Independence.

Here's the thing: Nobody's actually seen a copy of this document in generations. Centuries, even.

Written Jan. 1, 1804, the printed copies of the document were all thought lost to the winds of time. Enter Gaffield, a doctoral student studying the early years of Haitian independence.

Oddly enough, she found the document within correspondence between Jamaica and Great Britain, which makes sense, historians say, because Jamaica and Haiti are neighbors and Jamaica, being a British colony at the time, corresponded regularly with the British monarchy.

Duke has prepared a jazzy new website about Gaffield's discovery and is unveiling it today. Have a look here.

And read the News & Observer Thursday for more on Gaffield's discovery.

This week, the 26-year-old, who grew up in Canada and got her bachelor's and master's degrees there before coming to Duke, spoke to the News & Observer.

Here are excerpts.

Beautiful weather greeted runners for benefit road races in Raleigh and Durham on Saturday.

Bolt for the Blue 5K: Two veteran runners from Morehead City
topped the field of more than 280 runners and walkers who turned out
for the third annual Ligon GT Magnet Middle School benefit on a
beautiful morning. ...

newhope 5K – If the family that runs together, stays together, then the Mitchell family will be a close-knit group, Young said. Coleman Mitchell, 39, of Durham and his two sons took the top three spots Saturday at the third annual road race in Durham. ...

Simon Cowell hopes to raise relief money for the earthquake-ravaged people of Haiti with the release of a new single, "Everybody Hurts."

The new recording (originally by the group REM) features 21 artists, including Rod Stewart, Jon Bon Jovi, and Mariah Carey.

The single can be downloaded on iTunes and all proceeds go to Disasters Emergency Committee and The Sun's Helping Haiti Fund.

The video is pretty moving, with shots of the artists singing in the studio interspersed with images of suffering in Haiti. You can watch it below:

In case you missed our previous post on this free live recording, Radiohead is offering the live recording of their January 24th Haiti relief concert for free.

The band does appreciate Haiti releif donations, but it is not required to download. Please share this with others.

We get more than 1,400 letters a month and have room to print fewer than 280. Sometimes we move letters into the publishing pipeline only to have them overrun by other things. Here are some of those letters.

A flash graphic visual guide.