ZUMALAND

ZUMA Press Launches this week: zReportage: “Sleeping Outside” Photos by Renee C. Byer/The Sacramento Bee and the story by Theresa Clift/Sacramento Bee

Posted by ZUMAPRESS.com on February 20, 2020
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Sleeping Outside

Six months ago, in the middle of the night, Lane’t Lynn’s friend decided she and her two children couldn’t stay with them anymore. Suddenly, they found themselves homeless.Unable to find a shelter, they started sleeping in her car. She thought it would be temporary. It stretched on for six months. They stayed mostly in the parking lot of a Citrus Heights park that had a bathroom. They weren’t the only homeless family staying there, she said. For four days, they stayed in a downtown Sacramento hotel with a voucher from the county’s department of human services. But it expired, and they went back to sleeping in the car.’It’s hard,’ said Lynn, 24. Lynn, who is known by this name and requested her legal name be withheld because she fears for her welfare, was sitting on the bed of her room at America’s Best Value Inn in Sacramento last week. She was feeding her year-old son London Velavaz apple sauce while her 3-year-old daughter Kalaya Warren watched ‘Frozen’ in pajamas. ‘But I make sure my kids have what they need. We make it the best we can,’ she said. Homeless mom describes the hardship of finding housing with her children. Many homeless mothers in Sacramento have a similar story. As Sacramento rents continue to rapidly rise, affordable housing has become scarce. As a result, the region’s homeless shelters are typically full, while many people have taken to living in encampments along the American River Parkway, under freeway overpasses, and in downtown doorways. A huge number of them are families, quietly sleeping under blankets in winter coats in cars parked in tucked away in the corners of parking lots at grocery stores, churches and parks.

Scott Mc Kiernan, Founder & CEO, ZUMA Press

Scott Mc Kiernan Presents the ZUMA PRESS zReportage Magazine story #722 of the Week by Richard Tsong-Taatarii / ZUMA Press picture essay and text: ‘Moment Of Truth: LOST DECADE: 2010 Haitian Quake Aftermath’.

Posted by ZUMAPRESS.com on February 12, 2020
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Lost Decade: 2010 Haitian Quake Aftermath

When Haitians started their day on 12 January ten years ago, they could not have imagined the devastation that was about to befall their country. Later that day, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck, claiming the lives of more than 220,000 people. The quake, one of the deadliest natural disasters on record, destroyed much of the country’s fragile infrastructure and left many Haitians in dire need of assistance. Some 1.5 million people were displaced, according to the International Organization for Migration. Donors from around the world gave billions of dollars to aid agencies who made promises to rebuild. But a decade later, Haitians who survived say they feel forgotten, as much of the goodwill and billions have been lost to waste, greed and corruption. The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicenter near the town of Leogane and approximately 25 kilometers west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.

Scott Mc Kiernan, Founder & CEO, ZUMA Press