But, as their trip to America draws to a close, the kids in the Haitian Harmony choir appreciate some simpler things.

"I like to be able to play soccer and to take a bath," Jean-Noel Mednightson, 11, said Monday night before performing in a concert with The Chieftains to benefit Alltech's project that brought them here.

Wyclef Jean has accepted a position as a visiting fellow at Rhode Island's Brown University.

The AP reports that Jean will instruct students in the African Studies department during the 2010-2011 school year.

The rapper is expected to address students and faculty during lectures, conferences and classes on his work with the Haiti Initiative charity organisation.

Jean said that the position will give him a chance to have "a period of learning and reflection".

The former Haitian presidential candidate attended lectures at the university's Providence campus for the first time on Monday.

“THEY took away my Twitter,” moans Wyclef Jean, only half-joking. If anybody thought it was easy to mix success as an entertainer with a saintly image, his recent story is a cautionary tale. “They” refers to an army of PR and marketing professionals hired to restore the Haitian-born musician’s reputation after questions were asked about the management of his charitable foundation, Yéle Haiti. And “their” wish to silence him seems understandable. Shortly after he started raising money for victims of the Haiti earthquake in January, a website called Smoking Gun published tax returns from the foundation (three years’ worth were filed on one day last August), showing payments to businesses owned by Wyclef and his partners. After a tearful statement in which he admitted “mistakes” but denied misappropriating funds, he unleashed a barrage of tweets. One said: “My Garage could fit half of the people on twitter why would I steal Charity Money!” And in April, after a surge of gossip about his relationship with the foundation’s vice-president, Zakiya Khatou-Chevassus, he tweeted: “Donkeys spread rumours about me I don’t respond cause I’m the master that leads them to the well to drink the water.” Now, says one of his new advisers, “Wyclef is only allowed to tweet under supervision.”

The professional approach of stars like Bono, Shakira, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie has raised the expectations of other celebrities engaged in philanthropy, says Trevor Neilson of the Global Philanthropy Group, which advises a roster of so-called “celanthropists”. “It is no longer enough to turn up on a red carpet and say charitable things. You have to be businesslike.”

That entails at least three things. First is that it is a mistake to rely on friends and family, however trusted, to oversee your philanthropic activities: hire respected professionals. Wyclef insists that Yéle’s problems were the result not of any dishonesty but of hiring the wrong people. “I don’t know any celebrity who sits down with their accountant and goes through the numbers,” he maintains. Maybe so. But that makes it all the more important that the accountant is of the highest quality. Yéle now has a new accountant, as well as not one but two advisory firms. One is New Partners, an advocacy firm founded by some former members of Barack Obama’s campaign team. The other is Euro RSCG, a global advertising firm.

Second, full transparency is a must. “Yéle had never disclosed how much it had raised, how much money came from Clef and his family, how many hours they put in,” says Marian Salzman, of Euro RSCG. Accounts were filed late, if at all, and contained little data on how money was spent. Inquiries from the media often went unanswered. Now, Yéle pumps out fresh information. As of March 10th, it had raised $9,139, 324 for relief activities, it says, of which $1,327,764 had been spent. Recipients included other non-profit bodies, including outfits providing food and water; other costs included shipping and rental.

The third element is to focus on something that makes a clear difference, says Mr Neilson. In this respect, Bono has gone further than any other celebrity through his One organisation: it worked with McKinsey, a consulting firm, to hone its thinking on how best to promote aid, trade and debt relief for poor countries. Yéle has so far pursued a more scattergun approach, although there seems to be the germ of a strategy in Wyclef’s talk about rebuilding Haiti through job creation and investment.

For now, the rebuilding of Haiti is too slow, he says. As a celebrity, he can make sure people don’t forget about the ongoing tragedy; that may explain why many people trying to put the country back on its feet are willing to forgive his past failings, especially now he is working to amend them. Other celanthropists may wish to avoid getting into a position where they need a second chance.

As Haiti relief efforts roll on, a group called Cinema Under the Stars aims to give Haitians something to be proud of by showing Haitian films to those made homeless by the Jan. 12 earthquake.

Carrefour, Haiti

Eight-year-old Isma Widline hasn't had any homework since her school was one of 3,000 to collapse during the Jan. 12 Haiti earthquake. Electricity, thus television, is spotty, and a lot of her friends have left the area.

So when she saw hundreds of people gathering around a podium assembled a few blocks from her house on a recent evening, she went to check things out.

This was not just another evening in Carrefour, the neighborhood best known now as the epicenter of the quake. Curiosity turned to excitement as Widline watched, for the first time in her life, a movie projected onto a large screen.

Her smile is what the creators of Sinema Anba Zetwal – Cinema Under the Stars – had hoped for when they founded their nonprofit nine years ago.

Composed of professional artists from various disciplines, the group’s mission – to unite people through cinema, video, and the power of mass media – has become even more significant in the country’s post-earthquake recovery.

“Everything that was being donated for the victims of the quake was for their belly,” says general coordinator Tatiana Magloire, whose mother cofounded SAZ. “But nothing was for the head. So the theme of this four-day SAZ tour is 'Food for the Soul.' You have to feed yourself within to heal, and the best way to do that is to share and learn together in the community setting."

Despite rain and technical difficulties, the crowd gathered under umbrellas, shelters, and tarps, some dripping wet, others with plastic bags over their heads.

They listened to singers and watched documentaries and films produced by Haitians for Haitians, selections designed to encourage Haitians to have pride in their country, their culture, themselves.

Cheers, giggles, and laughter erupted when the microphone was passed through the crowd and people saw and heard themselves on the big screen.

“Our job is not just to help educate them with films about the environment, their body, and their country,” says Greg Gilles, one of SAZ’s animators, “but to ask them how they feel. What do they want to change? We give them a chance to express themselves and let them know that people are listening. That’s empowerment.”

One of the guests was Cato Tholin.

The 20-year old first heard about SAZ when the group showed a film by Josh Sundquist, a paralympic ski racer, at the hospital where Ms. Tholin had her leg amputated.

The house that fell on her during the quake also killed her father.

“At first it was really hard, but SAZ helped me realize that there are people that I can talk to about this,” she says. “They have given me courage, showed me that life goes on.”

SAZ expects to reach 100,000 people in its three-month tour across the country. The group's goal is to have 260 shows in 52 locations, but they currently have funding for only 24 shows for the next six weeks. Its sponsors, which include nongovernmental organizations such as Mercy Corps and the Voila Foundation, hope to continue funding for the long-term.

“The content is 100 percent Haitian, so they are looking at themselves,” says Kyle Dietrich, who heads Mercy Corps' youth program in Haiti. “It’s inspiring, informative, and entertaining. It will help them re-imagine what is possible so they can return to some sort of normalcy.”

At the very least, it’s a welcome distraction from the mundane.

Huddled under a stoop, 22-year-old Fontus Benirandar didn’t mind that she was getting wet as an environmental documentary flashed in front of her.

“I’ve been waiting for this for two weeks,” she says. “I just wish it was going to last more than four nights.”

Girls want to be girls, no matter their circumstances.

Three Haitian girls who lost limbs in January's 7.0 magnitude earthquake were able to relax and shop Tuesday with $1,000 shopping sprees at Kmart.

The W. 34th St. store partnered with Wyclef Jean and his charity, Yele Haiti, to give the girls much-needed clothing and shoes, as well as electronics and makeup.

"When you come from a country where you make $1 a day, giving them $1,000 is like giving them $10,000," Jean said.

The girls who arrived in New York Tuesday morning will also be fitted for prosthetic limbs on June 3.

The youngest of the three girls, Farah Maurice, 8, lost a leg above the knee in the earthquake.

But she didn't seem to think about her disability as she zoomed around the girl's department with her crutch, picking out clothes to fill her personal shopping cart.

"They need to know there are people like them and they're normal," Jean said. "Today they're not thinking, 'I don't have a leg.' They're just being kids and they're happy."

The other two girls, Magarette Pierre, 17, and Chantal Mori, 17, each lost an arm.

"I want to buy clothes and shoes," Mori said in Creole. "I'm very happy."

The girls will later be treated at Shriners Hospitals for Children in Philadelphia for free.