Over the weekend, Jim Chu, the Silicon Valley-based founder and CEO of dloHaiti, updated the Swim for Haiti Facebook page with alternate routes so that participants could bypass the election protests on their way to Kyona Beach.
While 40 participants had flown in from the around the world, several of the local aid workers Chu expected to join the open water swim event failed to show up, not because they were intimidated by the 4.8 miles to Iles des Arcadins, but because they were on lockdown.
Over the weekend, nimble organizations with local staff carried on with their lives, whereas larger organizations with teams far from centralized headquarters stayed behind the gates. The turnout at Swim for Haiti represented a trend Chu has seen over and over again as he’s divided his time between Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and San Francisco, California, these past five years.
About the author
Catherine Cheneycatherinecheney
Catherine Cheney is the Senior Editor for Special Coverage at Devex. She leads the editorial vision of Devex’s news events and editorial coverage of key moments on the global development calendar. Catherine joined Devex as a reporter, focusing on technology and innovation in making progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. Prior to joining Devex, Catherine earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Yale University, and worked as a web producer for POLITICO, a reporter for World Politics Review, and special projects editor at NationSwell. She has reported domestically and internationally for outlets including The Atlantic and the Washington Post. Catherine also works for the Solutions Journalism Network, a non profit organization that supports journalists and news organizations to report on responses to problems.
