"Sístema de mierda" part 2

Below are the lyrics to the Mac Salvador song "Sístema de mierda" that I referred to in an earlier post.

Each time I hear this song, I just want to share it and have others here it. Hearing people's passion for fighting for their community and their rights is inspiring. The other day I was meeting with some community promotores about household water problems, and they all got worked up hearing about this private company who is taking water from a valley and selling it to the public water company. There are laws in Peru about rights to water, but they are not followed. Anyway, here are the lyrics:

Ya no creo mas en políticos,
por que es sinonimo de porquerías
para creer en unos cuantos
si esos cuantos representan
falsedad,

suficiente con tragar
sus promesas que saben a mierda
son capaces de negar su sangre
por que no sus promesas,

Quisiera yo poder cambiar
esta realidad, mi sangre
derramaría por verla distinta,
poder soñar con un futuro
no muy lejano, ver a mis
hijos llegar hacia la meta
y que este abismo de corrupción
termine aquí y muera con ellos
que lleven consigo ese cáncer social
que no hacen otra cosa que jodernos la vida

Cambiaré el futuro de mi pueblo
con una cruz en la mano izquierda
y en la derecha una cuchara,

Esa cruz para espantar a esas bestias
y la cuchara para comer lo que
ellos acaparan

(hablando)
Si ante los ojos de Dios
y este pueblo indignado,
no se puede negar, que
somos gobernados por corruptos
he inmorales que se refugian en
leyes falaces para no ser juzgados
entonces digo yo, por que han de
callarme, por que han de amortazarme
si no es delito decir la verdad.

Para que ofrecer mi lealtad si
lo primero que saben es traicionar
para crecer en el sistema, si nos
han robado hasta la dignidad
suficiente con vivir de favores
reciclados de unos mierdas
que jamás permitirán levantarnos,
no aceptaré yo luchare para demostrar
que puedo cambiar el futuro de mis
hijos, no arriesgaré yo luchare
y que nunca mas que a mi bandera
estos la manchen de mierda por
gobernantes sin vergüenzas con
inmorales congresistas que venden
su alma por un par de monedas y en
nombre de Dios juran por la plata

garúa and a metal heart.

Winter in Lima is confusing. I am looking out my window, and it looks like it's snowing. I can hardly see to the other side of the street. I am wearing my vest and hat inside, so it could be snowing. But it's mist and fog, covering the city in a dense blanket of coldness that offers no escape. I am so confused about what month I am in--what season I am in. I feel like Halloween should be coming up, but it's June. Instead of picturing crocuses where I would be if I weren't in Lima, I am picturing damp colored crumpled leaves. But in reality what I see are damp pink flower petals on the sidewalks.

I procrastinated big time and am still preparing for a couple meetings tomorrow listening to Cat Power. Somehow Chan's voice is giving me just the right amount of accompaniment, so I don't feel alone (everyone else is asleep.) But not enough warmth and comfort that I am tempted to curl up and sleep instead of finish my work.


Ten fe that I get this work done for the meetings tomorrow. We are starting group therapy for patients with HIV. Tomorrow's goal is to get the psychiatrists from the Ministry of Health on board to help run the groups.

noticias

Pictures
I just made a flickr page to show pictures of my wonderful wonderful trip to the Sacred Valley with Michelle (one of my oldest friends.) The pictures hardly do it justice. I'll try to write more on the trip. I admit it's depressing to be behind a computer again after being in such a beautiful and "special" (as Holly describes it) place as the area around Cusco.

To stay or not to stay
I have gotten the word on high that I am invited and welcome to stay longer as a volunteer. I originally had been hired for a year which would come to a close this August. The current plan is to kind of flip-flop my projects. Currently I spend about 5 days on the mental health for TB patients project, and one day for the water project. Soon I will spend close to 5 days on the water project. I am excited that I still don't have to choose between one or the other--since I like them both (and don't liked deciding.) So to answer the question I get asked the most (when am I coming home,) I think I'll stop working here in December.

Winter
The seasons in Lima this year went straight from summer to winter. We are experiencing record low temperatures right now. For a city covered in humidity without heating, that means we are pretty cold. Not as cold as the people in the mountains though. We heard on the BBC this morning that 200 Peruvians have died recently in the mountains because of the cold.

I think those are the big news updates for the week. The other obvious one being that I have returned from my incredible week-long vacation.

"Sístema de mierda"

That's the name of a song I'm listening to right now. "System of shit." It's by Mac Salvador, a traditional huayno singer from Cusco. The song is about the corrupt political system. The people from the sierra here have really far left politics. Lefter than anything I've seen in the States. Anyway, I have only been hearing bits and pieces about what's happening in Washington from Collin (it's too disheartening and exhausting to keep up,) but this song reminded me that our political system may not be so unlike those of Latin America. This song is great though because his sweet voice and guitar sounds like he could easily be talking about a girl, or the mountains.

So this week is back to normal work for Chloe. Last Saturday was the big outing that I had been organizing for a while for the MDR TB patients in group therapy in Lima. As some of you may remember, I also organized a fieldtrip for them last December. This time was significantly less stressful, although obviously not without stress. The day went really well. Aldo, Anna, and Collin (the other volunteers who were around and free) came which was fun. About 125 people were there. We played the normal games they play at these kinds of things here (soccer, volley ball, three-legged race.) And then I added in a few (water balloon toss, fear-in-the-hat.) We also had a talent show which included a patient dressing in drag and dancing with his psychiatrist. Quite entertaining.

Anyway, I'm still waiting to hear the final word whether I am staying here longer or not. Supposedly I am not to talk about the fact that I might stay longer, but oh well, I already have. I told my boss (one of my bosses) that I would like to stay til December, so we'll see what happens. In about 8 days I am going to Ollantaytambo, the small town outside of Cusco where Holly lived that I fell in love with when I went with my family. So there is still the fear (or amazing alternative) that instead of staying here working with PIH in Lima, I escape to live there and ride horses all day...

LD crisis, processing, and resolution

As I learned in my time with "Life Directions Boston 2005-2006," when thinking about future plans, worries, fears, and doubts can be cut in half when expressing them (or putting them in a hat.) I recently practiced this quite extensively as I discussed my short-term and long-term plans with a large number of people. Part of it was just me saying "I have to make a decision about whether I'm going to my friend's wedding that makes me feel like I need to decide about whether I want to be a nurse or not." That sounds like it doesn't make sense, and I won't bore you with the whole sequence of choices/decisions that are involved, but in my mind that's how it was working out. Anyway, I've come to the decision that I would like to stay at Socios en Salud longer than my original year. One of my bosses would like me to stay too. Now we're just waiting on the official word from the head honchos, and the decision will be made. This decision does not mean that I have officially decided to study nursing, although currently that's top on the list. Thanks for all who helped me make the decision. I think I knew it all along, but talking to people made it a lot easier. Elaine has a great poem on her blog that feels relevant to this whole process of decision-making that is life. The fun news is that my decision allows me to go to Leslie's wedding! Great how things work out. Hope to see some of you in Boston at the end of July!

la comunidad

A big difference I have always noticed between the States and the few places I have visited in Latin America (few, but a growing list!) is the difference in our sense of community. Neighborhoods here have plazas where families congregate on Sundays, couples walk around together in evenings, and dogs (in rich neighborhoods) are walked. The plazas in the poor neighborhoods are also filled with families, dogs, and couples. Although the dogs aren't leashed, nor are they nicely groomed Shnauzers.

Last week I went to a meeting for Inydmedia Peru and met this really inspiration kid. He's probably 18, but looked 13 or 14. Anyway, he lives up near Carabayllo and has started this education program for the children of his community with some of his friends. They just had their first summer program. The young people that run the group are all anti-machismo and make sure that the boys play volley ball (a very popular sport amongst girls here) and the girls play soccer (obviously you know how popular that is amongst boys.) The group leaders are also all vegetarian (not common in the Peru) and work with other community groups to better possibilities for young people and generate awareness of social issues. It was really incredible to listen to his stories and ideas. I was very impressed, especially because he looked 14. Eric (my brother) has told me impressive stories about what the youth he works with do, so I shouldn't be so surprised.

But going back to the community issue, it just feels like caring about the good of the community is just such an obvious value here that is absent from most communities in the U.S. When I first heard about the Virginia Tech killings I was thinking about Ricardo (the young impressive kid.) He and his community struggle with other kinds of life or death issues (lack of water, lack of toilets, piles of rotting trash, unemployment, gangs.) In communities here, groups like his might not be that uncommon. Look at Socios for example. Ten years ago a few doctors came in and asked community members if they could help out with sick people, and those community members are still working for Socios. People who live near other people who are sick or extremely poor, bring them food and medicine weekly without any compensation. But in the U.S., where we value individualism so much, not only are we making it easy to be anonymous, isolated, and lonely; but we are also not encouraging people to look out and notice their fellow community members. It seems the Virginia Tech shooter is the sad victim of how individualistic our society has become, and his peers and adult society have not been trained adequately to reach out, include him, or feel responsable for him. As the young man's English teacher said on BBC this morning, I mourn for him, for the other students, and for their parents. Included in the victims was a Peruvian student.

I remember when I was in Bolivia dating Juan Pablo and he said to me accusingly, "Chloe, you're so individualistic. You're always looking out for your own needs." I said, "Oh thank you!" Thinking that I was maturing and becoming able to take care of myself finally. I am learning that there are obviously drawbacks to the strong sense of community and drawbacks to the strong sense of individualism. For some reason I feel like I can't ask for sympathy when telling Ricardo about the Virginia Tech shootings because it seems like the kind of tragedy that would only happen in a country as wealthy and, well, I can't think of the word that I'm looking for. But it almost seems like an ironic and tragic luxury that this could happen, and that this is the biggest thing that young people are dealing with in the States this week. Students in Lima recently held a huge march defending their public education. They are seriously fighting for their right to learn. Anyway, thanks for listening to my rant and commentary on what's going on.

tiempo tiempo

I feel like I'm getting all behind in posting. Like I'm having all these great experiences, thoughts, and learning new things, and I'm not sharing them all with my readership (aka, my mom.) But I guess that is the point. I'm supposed to be having the experiences, and not necessarily reporting on them immediately after they occur. In any event, I will try since I do like this whole reporting on events thing. It's a good way for me to process, as well as for you all to see what I'm doing. (by the way, thanks again for helping fund these incredible experiences!)

Anyway, instead of writing a complete post today, here are some pictures of me experiencing Ecuador and Easter taken by Holly. We just spent a week in Ecuador which was really incredible. Fortunately our visa trip fell during Semana Santa, so we could take a couple extra days.





For some reason candy apples are huge around Easter. They were selling them outside of all the churches. Anyway, thanks for reading!

Peru in the news again...

In the headlines on BBC an article about the illegal loggers and indigenous communities in the jungle part of Peru. This will have to suffice as my post-bday party post. This news story is sad because unfortunately the government just doesn't care to bother with illegal loggers and miners, who are damaging the environment not to mention the irreversible damage to indigenous cultures. For the government, those are issues worth worrying about. Unfortunately the communities at stake have little representation or power to make changes happen. After I graduated from college I interned at a cool non-profit, Cultural Survival, in Cambridge that does a lot for indigenous people around the world. They have a weekly online news source reporting on current news about indigenous people that you might be interested in checking out. I'm not sure who the "you" is that I'm referring to, but whoever you may be, person interested in furthering their knowledge on this subject, enjoy it.

Water is the blood of the Pachamama

So as most of you know, water is kind of my thing. I first became interested in it taking medical anthropology before going to Bolivia. We read a book by Nancy Scheper-Hughes, a controversial medical anthropologist, about health in a shantytown in Brazil. I thought it was really revolutionary when she reported on how NGOs and health organizations encourage people to take Oral Rehydration Therapy (a powder you add to water to rehydrate yourself after lots of diarrhea) when people were just adding it to the contaminated water. Or they didn't have water to add it to. So these organizations thought they were really helping the people, but they weren't at all. Then of course Michael, my anthropology teacher, encouraged me to check out the current water situation in Cochabamba two years after the Water War there in 2000. I have now seen lots of articles by people reporting on the state of the water in Cochabamba after the Water War. In Cochabamba, I got interested in water and health, and water and community organizing. Anyway, here I am, 4 years later still interested in water. I kind of feel like I still know very little, but I am learning a lot. Last week's World Water Day events were incredible. It has been a while since I felt so alive here. I just live in such a bubble here sometimes, so it was really awesome to be exposed to all these indigenous organizations and women organizations fighting for water. At the march I met a couple women who run Acorn International in Peru, who handed me funeral flowers to carry at the front of the march. The flowers marked the death of the rivers due to extreme contamination. Here's a link to an article I wrote reporting on the events on a Peruvian news site for English speakers. Here's a picture from the end of the march:

"El agua no se vende!"

Feliz Día Mundial del Agua

Today is World Water Day!!

The UN organized this day with this year's theme: Coping With Water Scarcity. A reality that unfortunately Peruvians are too familiar with.

I can't write much because I participated in the march this morning, and my arms are tired. I was with the women dressed in black, carrying flowers for a funeral to represent the death of the rivers in Lima because they are so contaminated. The arrangement was pretty heavy, literally. Anyway, it was a really awesome march. Ended in a quechua ceremony to bless the water. Also experienced tear gas (or some kind of gas) for the first time. The BBC has a cool article about water in Peru. I'll put some pictures and local news up soon.

Va-cay

So the other night as I was trying to fall asleep, I wrote a whole blog entry in my head that sounded great at the time, similar to a Carrie Bradshaw voice over commentary. In any event, now I completely forgot what was in this half-asleep blog entry, so I'll just move on.

I had a wonderful visit from my family a couple weeks ago, (which I'm not just saying because I know my mom is my most faithful reader.) First they all showed up in Lima, the over-grown city that has somehow grown on me. (must be the sneaky sun and warm weather) At one point they were meeting me at work to take me out to lunch, but they had been a while. I decided to peak my head out the front door of the office onto San Borja Norte, and sure enough saw three very white confused tall Americans. My family! Forgot to tell them that the street numbers don't go in order on my street.

We took an amazing trip to Cusco and the Sacred Valley, which has totally revived my love for Peru. Or maybe didn't revive, but made me love Peru. Before going there if you had said you wanted to visit me, I probably gave you a response something like, "OK, that'd be cool. You know I do work a lot." (Although obviously I would love to see all of you down here.) Which is true, I work a lot and can't easily take time off. But man, after going to Cusco, come on down! I don't care what my crew of bosses say, I'm taking time off. I want to share the beauties of Peru with you! Anyway, people really do talk shit about Lima, and it offends me. I realize that it's huge, overcast, not pretty, dangerous, blah blah, but it's my home. Recently a couple of Zehra's friends came down and were in Lima for a day. They loved it and it made me so happy. Guidebooks really make it sound awful.

When we got to Cusco, anyone who heard I worked/lived in Lima would kind of look at me sympathetically and say, "Oh, how do you like that?" At the beginning of our time in the Sacred Valley (the area that surrounds Cusco which includes Machu Picchu and many other important Inca ruins/cities,) I was all about sticking up for Lima. Saying that oh yeah, it's big, but I like it. Dude, by the end of the week, I had completely switched teams. Was totally rooting for Cusco, and not Lima. We went to this town that has water problems, and my mind immediately started churning about how I could convince my boss that I should be transferred to the town of Maras to do a water project there.

We stayed in this wonderful Inca town called Ollantaytambo right on the Urubamba river. Directly above the town are Inca ruins similar looking to Machu Picchu. One day, Dad and I took horses out through the valley to these ruins called Pumamarca. Not sure if I loved that day just because we had a cute guide, or because it was just incredibly beautiful. Passing people walking down to market day, wearing their traditional dress (and not for the tourists!) on our way up to The next day, Eric and I went on a mountain biking trip with my crush guide's best friend. We had incredible views, but it was kind of a scary ride for a beginner. I took a faceplant at one point, but made it to the bottom! We passed these crazy Inca terraces that filled this crater-like hole in the earth. We passed a town where they had to build 5 churches, placed on each huaca (temple) since the town was so hard to convert. We passed salt mines that were developed from the Incas and are still used today.

Alright, I'll stop rambling. As you can imagine, it was really hard to come back to Lima and work. But don't worry, I am already planning my trip back to the Sacred Valley. I'll post some photos soon.

Hope everyone is well!

stuffed animal cleaning day

Our apartment has a patio/courtyard area where all the apartments in the building have drying racks and open areas. It's really intimate--like we can easily look right into other people's kitchens and lives. Last night I was standing out there, and everyone's racks were filled with clothes drying. A few floors up the drying rack was filled with stuffed animals. Get out your Bumpy, Puffy, Bruce, Bedtime Bear, and all other stuffed animals. It's stuffed animal cleaning day!

inauguración del agua potable

So it turns out in the town where I went to the cool inauguration of the water tank and water in each house, it was actually a project originally not planned. Or rather, the NGO they were working with was hired by the dirigente/dude I talk to about water to build a school in the town. Before having their own school, the kids had to walk really far, crossing fields, a river (which in the summer time is too high to cross and has no bridge) and highway to get to the closest school. So the NGO built the school, but had some left over bricks. Emilio, the dirigente, suggested building the tank. Before the tank, the houses had piping for water that another NGO years ago had donated, but didn't have a tank to hold the water that they pump up from some spring somewhere. So good thing Emilio is on top of the town's needs. I'm kind of worried that someday we're going to be "that NGO that tested all of our kids' diarrhea to prove we needed to clean up how we store water, gave us some new container and disinfecting tablets, and then left." I doubt that will happen. I would love to test all the kids' poop though and see where the whole contamination is coming from before we incorrectly diagnose the problem. Somehow I just have to make friends with the laboratory and some chemical engineer who can tell me about where we get the chemicals we need to treat the water...Anyway, this is all an introduction to these photos from the inauguration:




Included in these photos, there is a tree that they dug up and then replanted. Later in the evening they'll decorate it, and then try to knock it down. Then it's given to whoever knocks it down. I think. I maybe missed something. Also, you'll notice the cross, and the Mary and Jesus sitting on the foozball table. In between the cross and the foozball table is a dressed up spigot which after the nun blessed it, the president of the NGO blessed. Then other people, too. It was a really cool ceremony, and the nun complimented how impressed she is by the obvious strength and sense of community in the town. Afterwards the whole town was invited to eat. I'm really happily to finally have a town that I feel that people know me where I feel welcome. Also a town where I feel that Socios can help out.

Peru in the news!

In the mornings before work, our routine is to eat breakfast while watching the BBC news. Today Peru was in the news. I yelled to Holly to come in and check it out, as they showed pictures of Lima. Then we both laughed at the news story. Peru's current president, Alan Garcia, is trying to shape this country up including it's lax attitude about punctuality. The famous hora peruana will supposedly be something of the past after today at noon. Supposedly at noon everyone in Peru is going to reset their proverbial clocks and start showing up on time. Unfortunately I doubt it will really make a difference because it feels ingrained into people's bones. When I was in Bolivia, we also experienced and joked about the hora boliviana. Although the BBC news story does say that Bush is very punctual and requires the same of people that work with him, so hopefully it's not a sign of also being a extremely un-sympathetic president. It is true here that meetings start hours late sometimes. Although Carlos just told me that when the teenagers he work with are meeting to go do something fun, they always show up on time. I hate waiting for people--feelings of being forgotten, not a priority, and impatience all come while waiting. But I also am not really good at being on time mostly because I have a very distorted sense of how many things I can get done in a certain period of time. For example last week I was meeting a friend of a friend who was in town for a week with a group of architect students. I was on the phone with him and said, I'll be there in 15 minutes. But in reality I still had to look up where the restaurant was that I was taking them to, stop at the ATM and get cash, and on top of that it takes about 20 minutes to get to where he was. Oh well. Looks like the hora peruana is one thing that I have adjusted to quickly.

more espresso? more buddhism?

Do you ever feel numb? I don't know if numb is the right word, but it's the word that has come into my head a lot recently. I think it's one of the most awful states of emotions. It's like you're seeing something that is supposed to be moving or stirring, and all you can think about is something mundane. I am probably exagerrating my feelings, but in the last couple days I have been thinking about this state of emotion. I think what triggered it was actually reading my friend Zoe's email from her current adventure at a 4-month retreat at a Buddhist meditation center. I actually hate to admit that it stirred me so much, but she talked about the clarity in which she understands her own being and voice which will now help her understand and live in the world. I think I'm kind of nervous that I am close to understanding and caring about things, but maybe I don't always get all the way there to real clarity. Maybe I'm not totally aware of myself in a way that will keep me from really opening up to and perceiving others?

Sometimes when I feel like I am not adequately expressing my emotions after observing something impressively beautiful or touching, I think about this friend from my abroad trip in Bolivia. Denali was overly expressive in Bolivia, and I am happy that don't express the exact same way as her. But sometimes I feel like I need a little caffeine boost, and then I will be really excited about something or really expressive. Maybe that's really all it is. A couple weeks ago I had an espresso, and I just got in this great lively mood. Maybe I just need a little more coffee in my life.

Anyway, I was thinking about all this stuff last Friday when I was in Carabayllo, which is the northern part of Lima which is mostly shantytowns and farms. It's where I do my water research, Carlos works with the children, and Collin teaches swimming. As I was riding along on the long trip out to the small town I was visiting that afternoon, Huarangal, I was wondering if I was really open and aware in a way that was really letting me observe and get excited. I had just read Zoe's email and was getting worried that I won't really experience life with as much excitement as I can until I am retired and discovered Buddhism. (I don't really have plans to discover Buddhism when I'm retired.) To put up a case saying that I DO really feel things and experience the world, I should describe my afternoon in Huarangal that day that I made reference to in my last post. It was a really amazing afternoon in terms of seeing how another culture welcomes in a public works project.

On the bus ride a mother and son got on with a chicken and baby chicks. Right after them another pair came on with a dead pig in a bucket. Literally. I think they had maybe cut off it's hind legs and butt and just stuffed it in a bucket. It's front legs and head were sticking out. The skin was all white. Later that day at the eating part of the festival for the water, we were served pig. On Carmen's plate I could see a hairy piece of pig. Eww.

cuye!

I have not been good about posting lately-- I'm sorry! Here's a picture from a good afternoon I had yesterday. I went to this small town I have visited a number of times now for my water project. They were having an inauguration of their new water system. It ended up being this really cool event to observe, especially after taking Michael's anthropology classes at Skidmore on how other cultures talk about and handle water. They had a nun bless the water and hold a mass for the people. Then the dude in the town who is in charge of the water works project had the NGO people give speeches to the town, Carmen, and then me! It was pretty funny to give a speech to a town where I haven't really done anything, nor did I at all have anything prepared. Anyway, I will post more later, but leave you with this picture of the plate of food they gave to the president of the NGO who helped finance the building of the school and water tank. Note the guinea pig (cuye) in the front lying on his back. His head is on the left side and you can see his little feet sticking out.

fieldtrip pictures

So a couple weekends ago Socios organized a fieldtrip for the volunteers and other coworkers who wanted to come. It was a packed day of eating breakfast at roadside place serving only pig products (not so good for our Jewish volunteer Collin,) a stop at a beautiful little beach town Cerro Azul where Peruvian's world champion female surfer grew up, a boat trip around the Islas Bellestas (the main event of the trip,) and a short tour of a couple wineries (where we really just got fed a whole lot of sweet wine and pisco, and didn't learn much about the wineries.) A fun day indeed. Anyway, here are some photos:

Here's a shot from the beach at Cerro Azul.














A baby sea lion hanging out next to our boat! The sea lions were really amazing. I guess babies start going out in the ocean alone when they are 6 months old. Big fat sea lions were just draped all over the rocks.










Sea lions congregated on the island. In the shade there were heaps of sea lions all on top of each other barking and yelling all sorts of things. I guess the mom's are all yelling out to their kids. A frequent reason why babies die is from being squished by their parents. Poor little guys.











The islands themselves were completely covered in birds of all kinds just crammed in and pooping. They export the guana, which gives the trip around the islands a distinct smell. There were pelicans, penguins (my favorite!) and all sorts of birds that I don't remember the names of.

start raising hell!

We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we’re for them and trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush’s proposed surge. If you can, go to the peace march in Washington on Jan. 27. We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, “Stop it, now!”

-Excerpt from Molly Ivin's last column on The Texas Observer, January 27, 2007.

Here's a nice tribute to a pretty noteworthy journalist from AlterNet.

indie rock + giving = cool in my book

Check this out!

Indie rock music is fun and by nature of being "indie" is pretty cool. I think so, at least. Anyway, some indie rock bands also give back to the community. A couple of my favorite bands in fact. I was reading on the PIH website, and Arcade Fire has decided to donate a dollar from each ticket they sell on their tour to PIH. They have a pretty cool website too.

Along the same line of indie rock band's cool non-music activities, our dearest Clap Your Hands Say Yeah has a very nice looking t-shirt at this place called the Yellow Bird Project. All the profits of the shirt goes to a non-profit. Pretty cool!

p.s. I am trying to figure out how to put an mp3 of the Arcade Fire song "haiti" on the blog so you all can listen to it.

"because the world owes us nothing, and we owe each other the world" -from joyful girl by ani difranco.