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Soledad O’Brien: The ‘Rescued’ Interview with Kam Williams

Soledad O’Brien: The ‘Rescued’ Interview with Kam Williams
Soledad's Follow-Up Report about the Haitian Relief Effort by Kam Williams

Soledad O'Brien and Haitian baby
*Since Haiti’s no longer front-page news, it’s very easy to forget about the fact that there’s an ongoing crisis there in the wake of the devastating earthquake which hit the island on January 12th.

Fortunately, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien stands out as a journalist who has remained very committed to keeping the story of the country’s recovery on the front burner.

Cendy Jeune is featured in 'Rescued'
She recently returned to the region to investigate the plight of the disaster’s most vulnerable victims – the kids. Interviewing locals, missionaries, aid workers, bureaucrats and children themselves, Soledad discovered not only that Haiti now has about 380,000 orphans, but that many have been sold into slavery.

Their perilous predicament is the focus of Rescued, Soledad’s shocking special report which is set to premiere on CNN on Saturday May 8th at 8 PM and Sunday May 9th at 8 PM.

Here, she talks about the riveting documentary, which will be voiceovered by Wyclef Jean and Edwidge Danticat and told from the perspectives of 6 year-old orphan Cendy Jeune and a freed slave named Marc Kenson Oliphi.

Kam Williams: Hi, Soledad, thanks again for the time.

Soledad O’Brien: You bet.

KW: How are the kids? Last time we spoke, they played such a big role, demanding your attention periodically during the interview.

SO: [Chuckles] They’re fine, thanks. When I go back to Haiti in June and Sofia’s out of school, I’ll take her with me, which will be an interesting trip. And, from there, we’ll go to New Orleans, because she’s getting old enough to start touring some of the places I’ve worked.

KW: What interested you in covering this story?

SO: I don’t think you can walk around reporting on Haiti and be on the ground there, and not feel compelled by the story of the orphaned and abandoned children. When I was there immediately after the earthquake, there was certainly nothing as heart-wrenching as seeing the condition of many of the kids, because it’s such a massive problem. So, I was eager to cover the story for CNN with a potential global audience of two billion people.

KW: Two things that shocked me watching an advanced copy of the special: the sheer number of Haitian children without parents, 380,000, and the fact that about 300,000 of them are enslaved.