Reply to Msg 338 posted by Cbc.ca on 9/15/08 7:40 AM
Canada's former ambassador to the U.S. joined actor Matt Damon and singer Wyclef Jean on Sunday as they rode in the back of a pickup truck and distributed aid to people in the flood-ravaged Haitian city of Gonaives.
Frank McKenna said he joined in relief efforts, organized by Jean's Yéle Haiti and ONEXONE ("one by one") children's charity, to call attention to a humanitarian crisis caused after one tropical storm and two hurricanes hit the impoverished Caribbean country in the past few weeks.
McKenna, Damon and Jean are encouraging more people to help the United Nations raise more than $100 million US for an estimated 800, 000 Haitians in need of aid.
Jean, who lives in New York but remains a folk hero in Haiti, sang briefly and urged crowd to stay calm and organized.
The crowd surged the stage, and when Jean later tried to leave, people instead swept him out into the streets.
Admirers clung to UN trucks as they drove away, some asking for money.
The goal of the effort is to raise money for food, water, tents, blankets, medical supplies and other items for Haiti, the ONEXONE website says.
McKenna was premier of New Brunswick from 1987 to 1997, and ambassador to Washington in 2005 and 2006.
