The fundraiser/fashion show brought to Boston University by the organization Boston Stands with Haiti Sunday at Metcalf Hall brought together students and community members active in the relief for Haiti after the devastating earthquake that shook the nation January 12. The event, initiated by a team of student volunteers headed by Sam Minkoff, featured Haitian cuisine, local and international fashion, a pop-up museum with Haitian art, dancing and over 25 musical performances.
Restaurants in the greater Boston area catered the event. Sunrise Caribbean Cuisine, a family-owned Haitian restaurant in Somerville, donated barbeque chicken, fried pork, baked macaroni and pasta salads, asking for a $5 donation for a heaping plate of authentic Haitian cuisine. The owner, Rubin Pierre, smiled fondly when asked what makes Haitian cuisine stand out from its Caribbean cousins.
“The spices and ingredients are unlike anything else,” Pierre explained. “For instance, the black mushroom comes straight from Haiti and we use it in our rice.”
The Dear Abbeys, BU’s all-male a cappella group, sang a medley at the event. Nate Martin, a College of Fine Arts junior, said that although they didn’t sing anything in French, the group was enthusiastic about participating in the fundraiser.
“This was a good thing to do, and I think more stuff like this should be happening on campus,” Martin said after the performance. However, the singer and bassist felt that the participation by the student community was lacking.
“As college students are supposed to be activists and the lack of people here shows how apathetic people are,” Martin added. “The university isn’t organized enough to push itself out there, people need to find a way to communicate this stuff without confronting people’s emotions. People don’t want to confront this kind of problem.”
Although the turnout of BU students was less than satisfactory, there was an abundance of cultural sharing, heightened awareness and a feeling of unity among those at the event with the myriad performances. The BU dance group Bulletproof Funk performed a freestyle dance routine, the dancers popping, locking and interpretive-dancing on a stage flooded with blood-red lights to electronic music laced with snippets of haunting news audio.
DJ’d by College of Communication senior Nooka Jones, Haute for Haiti was the event’s crowd favorite, a fashion show channeling the spirit of Carnival, a celebration that occurs twelve days before Mardi Gras. International design house Betsey Johnson contributed corseted dresses and eccentric floral prints, and BU students modeled Tom’s Shoes with a masquerade theme.
One of the designers, Kat Schamens, flew from North Carolina to attend the event and showcase her Carnival couture, helping out close friend and event assistant director, Amanda James. Schamens’ models brought vibrant fluorescent pinks and greens to the catwalk, highlighted with bright rosettes and funky patterns lightened up the event’s somber undertones.
The event was a cultural success; the exhaustive efforts of BU students and volunteers, community members and local businesses contributed to a well-done, tactful fundraiser and homage to Haiti. Haiti will be recovering from the earthquake that cost over 200,000 lives for an undetermined period, but the majority of the apathetic student community at BU seem to have not felt even a slight reverberation. Hopefully with continued efforts for Haiti aid on-campus, the BU bubble of desensitized indifference will be ruptured.
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