Yeah, you read that correctly. The American rock band Linkin Park is teaming up with the United Nations and the UN Foundation in an effort to fill a specific gap in Haiti’s reconstruction and relief efforts: street lights for displaced persons camps.
Here’s the story: the UN Population Fund put in a request for lighting as a way to prevent an epidemic of gender-based violence in sprawling tent cities. In the dark of night, women are sometimes even afraid to walk to a latrine out of fear they might be targeted for sexual violence. So, the UN Foundation (disclosure) and other partners are teaming up to raise funds to install solar power lighting in displaced persons settlements in Haiti.
In an item in the Huffington Post UN Foundation Vice President Peter Yeo and Linkin Park member Dave “Phoenix” Farrel from the Huffington Post explain the partnership.
So far, 200 lights have been installed in camps. But the need is much greater than that. That is why Linkin Park’s Music for Relief is teaming up with the UN Foundation to raise money for solar lighting. Music for Relief, a nonprofit founded by the band members of Linkin Park after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, is helping the United Nations and the UN Foundation provide solar powered streetlights in camps to keep women and girls safe at night.
Linkin Park decided to team up with the United Nations because rebuilding after a disaster of this magnitude requires sustained investment, not just a one-time injection of funds. The United Nations has been in Haiti for years — and long after Haiti fades from the headlines, the United Nations will still be in Haiti helping the country get back on its feet.
It costs about $2,000 to procure, ship, and install one solar powered street light. Our goal is to send 100 lights to Haiti’s camps. It is easy to help at Downloadtodonate.org and as an added bonus those who donate will have access to several dozen special tracks available for download from top artists. Stay tuned for a new video for the Linkin Park song “Not Alone,” which is included in the collection to illustrate the progress Haiti is making and the great needs that still exist.