Sonia Pena

Wyclef Jean’s Hopes For Haiti [VIDEO]

This weekend, CBS’s 60 Minutes ran a story they originally aired in January that looks at Wyclef Jean, the multi-platinum Haitian-American musician and producer. He emigrated to the U.S. as a child to join his family in Brooklyn, NY.

The piece was about his roots in Haiti and his surprising role (even to himself) as a philanthropist and lobbyist here in the U.S. for more aid to Haiti.

I know it’s been done before, but it wasn’t sappy and he came across as a real person responding to a personal need to make a difference, and putting himself in an extraordinary position to inspire change in a country that has been abandoned by many.

As the 60 minutes interviewer put it:

“He comes from a country both beautiful and destitute. The average Haitian lives on less than $300 a year. Half the people scratch out a meager living on the land. The others are packed into cities like the capital, Port-au-Prince. When 60 Minutes came with Wyclef, he was greeted like a head of state. To most Haitians, he’s the living incarnation of their dream, someone who got out, struck it rich, but didn’t forget where he came from.”

Posted at 12:04 PM, Aug 03, 2009 in Pop Culture | Permalink | View Comments