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Haitian Government Calls Off Search and Rescue Effort; Haitians in U.S. Granted Temporary Protected Status; Man Uses iPhone App to Save Own Life in Haiti

Aired January 23, 2010 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. From the CNN Center, this is CNN Saturday morning. It's January 23rd'd. Good morning, everyone. I'm Betty Nguyen.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. Glad you could start your day right here with us.

We have some major developments to tell you about overnight, and one, sadly, the search and rescue effort in Haiti officially coming to an end according to the Haitian government.

However, it came a little late for this guy, 22-year-old Haitian man. He was happy to be pulled out a day ahead of that order alive. This was in Port-au-Prince just yesterday. His rescue came ten days after that earthquake shattered the lives of so many there. Rescuers say 72 hours usually is the extent someone can survive without food or water.

An Israeli team rescued that man, but the rescue may be, like I said, one of the last that we see.

NGUYEN: The U.N. issued a statement today saying even though it's shifting to the recovery phase of this, rescues will continue to take place, saying, quote, "Rescue teams continue to work in Port-au- Prince.

But that rescue that we were just talking about, the international search team so far say that they have rescued 132 people, and just hours before the government said rescues were over.

And for the first time we unfortunately do have a death toll, an official death toll -- 111,000 people have been reported dead so far. We also understand that some 600,000 people have been left homeless in Haiti.

The U.N. says international search teams, as I mentioned, rescued 132 people since the quake, about 120 to 140 relief flights are now coming into Port-au-Prince airport, and that compares to 25 a day just after the quake struck in January.

HOLMES: We've been telling you the story today -- so many have been killed, and we have been watching a funeral today that happened for the archbishop there in Haiti. These are pictures from that. He's just one of many, but he had to be buried, a service had to happen outside of the church because the church pretty much is not there anymore. They had to brush off a few places and pop up some chairs and have a service for that archbishop.

And he's just one of many. Again, the number is really staggering for a lot of folks -- 111,000 plus are the victims. We still expect probably that number to go up. A short while ago we spoke with retired Lieutenant General Russel Honore, the military's point person, you'll remember, in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina.

And we asked why still at this point so many supplies still are not getting to the earthquake victims.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LT. GEN. RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY (RET.), CNN CONTRIBUTOR: What we have to do is take all those medical supplies, put them in a tent and allow the doctors to come in and shop. You know, we have to throw away the rules as we know them in America where people are writing prescriptions.

Much like Sanjay did the other day. It's a hasty supply system. That needs to be established. And some of those medicines need to be kept cool. And you need to put the air conditioning on the medicine and not on the tents where people are working.

HOLMES: You still think it's a plausible idea to start evacuating folks? You've talked to us about that a little bit. You still think that's coming and should be coming soon?

HONORE: I don't think -- I think it's an option that has to be on the table for discussion. Particularly the seriously injured and the people with -- the elderly and the pregnant women, they have to be moved to a place where they can be sustained.

Otherwise it will continue to get worse on the ground as people, as Sanjay adequately described earlier, people will start dying from the injuries. And we need to be able to displace them where they can get in a place where they can be taken care of.

And some displacement of the population while you build some of the infrastructure -- we are faced with a short-term and near-term and a midterm recovery that's got to be worked out quickly, T.J.

NGUYEN: General, as we look at this timeline, I want to ask you if you agree with a Haitian government calling off search-and-rescue efforts?

HONORE: That comes with every disaster. It's always heartbreaking for those on the ground as it was in New Orleans, but you have to move on and take care of the -- put the majority emphasis. It's not like people are going to stop looking for people. It's the priority change. Now we are focused on keeping people alive that we have.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Rebuilding Haiti, of course, is going to be a slow process. Even just restoring electricity to Port-au-Prince is likely going to take three to four months.

NGUYEN: Well, a change right now for undocumented Haitian immigrants living here in the United States. Because of the earthquake they will be granted 18 months of temporary protected status.

HOLMES: TPS is what it's called. And while Haitians here see this as an opportunity to push for bigger changes, our Ed Lavandera says it's not an open invitation for Haitians to come over.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the frenzy inside a Catholic church in the heart of Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood -- thousands of Haitian immigrants, many in the United States illegally, are applying for what's called temporary protective status, or TPS. It allows Haitian nationals to live in the U.S. legally for the next 18 months.

For years, Haitian-Americans lobbied for TPS, but many advocates now see an opportunity to make bigger changes, to ease years of immigration restrictions towards Haitians coming to the United States.

IRVIN DAPHNIS, HAITIAN LAWYERS ASSOCIATION: This now is an opportunity for Haiti to change. This is the time right now. And many people this is the last time. A lot of people feel like this is our time.

LAVANDERA: Horrifying images like these have been common in the ocean waters between the United States and Haiti. It's a dangerous and deadly journey for many who try to make it to American shores.

Every year U.S. coast guard officials say about 1,600 Haitians are stopped on the high seas and sent back home. Irvin Daphnis with the Haitian Lawyers Association in Miami says if more Haitians could work legally in the U.S. it would help their country recover from decades of poverty and corruption back home.

DAPHNIS: So that's how it helps. Haitians are going to be able to be in a position financially to help Haiti themselves.

LAVANDERA (on camera): When the Obama administration approved temporary protective status for Haitian immigrants already in the U.S. before the earthquakes, it was expected that some 30,000 people would apply. But immigration officials now say that money could top 200,000.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): U.S. officials have been quick to temper any hopes of vast changes in immigration laws toward Haitians who may now try to come to the United States.

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We are not going to be accepting into the United States Haitians who are attempting to make it to our shores. They will be interdicted. They will be repatriated.

LAVANDERA: The U.S. government is airing radio messages over the country, urging Haitians to stay home. U.S. officials say emergency plans are in place to handle a mass exodus of Haitians fleeing the earthquake-ravaged nation, but so far there have been no signs of Haitians jumping on boats.

LT. CHRIS O'NEILL, U.S. COAST GUARD: It's very, very dangerous. It's very dynamic. And I can't stress enough how important it is for people in Haiti to stay home, stay safe, help rebuild your country, and we'll help you rebuild it.

LAVANDERA: But many Haitian-Americans say help rebuilding should include opening more doors to their beleaguered countrymen.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Of course many Americans are weighing in about how they feel about the U.S. taking in Haitian earthquake victims. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISSY WARRILOW, ATLANTA: I feel that the United States should welcome Haitians who -- you know, their houses have been demolished, all of their community centers, every resource they have has been demolished in this earthquake. So I feel the United States should welcome them with open arms.

However, if they want to stay here indefinitely, I feel they need to go through the proper requirements to become a legal U.S. citizen here.

WALTER WOLF, CAMP SPRINGS, MARYLAND: If you let them come in as refugees, where do you put them? If they have family ties and can come in and live with family members, I guess I don't see any issues with that. But if they don't have any relations then it becomes a big issue of supporting them when there's a lot of people in this can country we need to support anyway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: There are a couple opinions there. I want to bring in a guy with a great reputation of handling immigration issues, Mr. Charles Kuck, immigration attorney here. I appreciate you being here. You talk about this 18 months TPS, but you think it will actually be much longer than that.

CHARLES H. KUCK, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: I do. Every time we've given TPS to a country it's always ended up being longer than the 18- month period that's initially granted.

Think about Katrina. How long has it been since Katrina hit? Five years. We haven't recovered, and that's the full might of the U.S. government trying to fix a city. We have much worse devastation in Haiti. This is going to take much longer than 18 months.

HOLMES: There are discussions sometimes, we've had it in the newsroom even, some of the people that are part of that underground economy, living in the shadows as we say, what would be their incentive to come out? Sometimes they don't want to be in the system because once TPS is gone then the government knows exactly where you are.

But you don't think that's the case. People want to come out of the shadows.

KUCK: Nobody wants to be illegal. Nobody wants to live in the basement of a house. They want to live in the sunshine.

People want to come forward because, one, they are going to be able to work and send money back to their relatives in a manner they couldn't do now. When you live in an underground economy, you're doing jobs and getting paid less than minimum wage. You're hurting yourself by working these positions.

Once you get TPS, you can work any job you can qualify for, and think about the money people will be able to send back home, one. Two, they will be paying taxes. People want to be legal. People do not want to be undocumented.

HOLMES: What happens at the end of the 18 months -- you say it will be longer, but let's just say for now. What happens to their status? Do they go back? If they were illegal before, are they illegal at the end of that, or can you work in that 18 months towards being legal?

KUCK: You can work during that timeframe. Once you have TPS you're legally in the United States as if you entered legally. So if you get married you have an opportunity to obtain permanent residence through a spouse, though different means. You can find a position. You can get a visa to go back and come back into the country. So TPS gives you avenues to become legal.

Two, once the 18 months is over, or whatever extension is granted, typically what you're given is called deferred enforced departure, another period of time to get your affairs together to leave during which time you have other options you can pursue.

HOLMES: What happens as well, because there's been all this talk as well that if you give this TPS people were screaming oh my goodness this opens it up and people are going to hop into boats and try to come over.

But of course the homeland security says clearly if you weren't here on the day the earthquake happened then we're going to send you back. Now what are people's options, because I would imagine -- we haven't seen a flood of people?

KUCK: We have not.

HOLMES: We haven't seen that. We could because the situation is still dire. But how could they? Is there any way that Haitian who comes after January 12th, the earthquake date, they could possibly still try to get TPS?

KUCK: No. They won't be qualified. Secretary Napolitano has been crystal clear. You come in, we're sending you back, I mean, crystal clear about that.

We've also opened up space in Guantanamo Bay to house people that are interdicted on the sea. Those that actually make it to the United States, the immigration service has opened up a space in a detention facility just north of Miami to house them there before they can be processed and sent back home.

HOLMES: But a point that maybe people aren't clear on -- how do they go about proving or disproving whether or not they were here by January 12th?

KUCK: The key is they have to have documents of some kind or even affidavits from friends or relatives. Many people have documents that show they've been here, either somebody has written them a letter to an address in the United States, they paid for something, they have a receipt for it, they have a lease to an apartment here.

Many of these people came in legally. Let's not forget, there are legal immigrants who came in and then became undocumented. So they have the means to show they were in the United States.

HOLMES: As we heard from our Ed Lavandera as we wrap up here, they think maybe 200,000 people. Charles Cook here thinks, who does this immigration all the time, thinks that's a very low number to say 200,000 will want this TPA.

Charles Cook, good to have you here.

KUCK: Great to be with you.

HOLMES: Betty?

NGUYEN: All right, well, do you know how to survive a major injury? Well, there is an app for that, yes, an iPhone app, that shows you how to treat your own wounds, and apparently it works. One man is living proof. And up next he shares his life-saving story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: That's Wyclef Jean, one of over 100-plus singers, other musicians, performers, actors, you name it, who were part of the Hope for Haiti Now telethon that you saw right here on this network last night, on a bunch of networks. I think it was 20 plus last night.

NGUYEN: In 640 million homes worldwide. A lot of eyeballs watched that and hopefully gave a lot of money. We don't have an official total just yet, but of course as soon as we get that, we'll bring it to you.

HOLMES: All right, we've got a story here for you. We often take for granted the mobile technology out there, but it can play a critical role even in a life or death emergency.

NGUYEN: This is quite a remarkable story. Our Josh Levs has really the details of a worker who got trapped under the rubble in Haiti for days, and of all things, he used his iPhone to learn how to treat his injuries, which perhaps saved his life, right, Josh?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. And it is so good to see these rescue stories, these survivor stories. And the man himself is here to join us. Dan Woolley is joining us by Skype. There you go. Say something to me. You there?

DAN WOOLLEY, COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL: Yes. Can you hear me?

LEVS: Awesome. I can hear you. Not too bad as Skype goes. Listen, we have some pictures of the kind of work you do. First of all, I want to lay this out -- you were in Haiti because you're with Compassion International, which fights poverty. You work with children there. And I know we have some photos of that.

And you were in the Hotel Montana when the quake happened. Talk to me about what happened, what it felt like.

WOOLLEY: Sure. My colleague, David Haines, and I had just come back from a day of filming. We were just heading up to our rooms to relax, so we were in the lobby on our way to the elevator.

And then all of a sudden just all craziness broke loose. Convulsions of the ground around us, the walls started rippling and then falling on us. He yelled "I think it's an earthquake!" I looked for someplace safe to jump to and there was no safe place.

LEVS: And as you were talking, we're showing our viewers the transformation of the Hotel Montana before and after.

You're underground, stuck there, and I understand that you used the light on one of your phones in order to try to find a place that you could breathe. What happened?

WOOLLEY: Well, actually, so there was complete darkness, couldn't see anything. And I had pain in my leg and my head. And I realized I had my camera around my neck, so I used the focus light on my camera to look around me.

And I'm nearsighted and I didn't have my glasses, so I actually took some pictures and would look at the back of the lens of the camera and saw in one of those pictures the elevator that I ended up hobbling over to, and that became my safe place.

LEVS: So you got into this elevator shaft. And it's at that point you figured out you had serious wounds in your head and leg, you were bleeding from the leg and head. You wanted to save your own life, and you used an iPhone application, I understand. Tell me about that.

WOOLLEY: Sure. Well, I just survived a major earthquake and I really wanted to be rescued and get back to my family. And I was not going to let, you know, a mistake I might make trying to treat my wounds -- I have basic first aid knowledge, but not advanced, and I didn't want to in my disoriented state make a mistake.

So I knew I had my iPhone. I opened it up, and I had an app that had pre-downloaded all this information about treating wounds. So I looked up excessive bleeding and compound fracture.

LEVS: You looked it up.

WOOLLEY: Later I looked up...

LEVS: I got it here, looking at it right here. I know it's going to be tiny on your screen, but I'm looking at it here. It's a basic first aid and CPR application that talks you through various things.

And I understand what you did was you used this to make sure you weren't going to hurt yourself, that you were going to do it right.

WOOLLEY: Yes, that's right. And just knowing that I had the confidence -- had a guy from the American Red Cross, so I knew I wasn't making mistakes, and that gave me confidence to treat my wounds properly.

LEVS: Well, listen. There's something else you did while you were down there, and that is you wrote notes to your family when you thought you wouldn't make it. And I understand you have with you right now the journal that you kept. You can read us a passage there of something that you wrote your family?

WOOLLEY: Yes. I was there for several days and I thought I might be rescued, and thought I might not, so I wanted to leave some notes to my family.

So here's one of the notes. "I was in a big accident, an earthquake. Don't be upset at god. He always provides for his children even in hard times. I'm still praying that god will get me out, but he may not. But even so he will always take care of you."

LEVS: Dan, could you turn that around so our viewers could see it? It's obviously your handwritten in there. I know there are some pages that have your blood on them as well. This is something you're going to hold onto a long time.

So talk to me about the moment of rescue. You were down there more than 60 hours, you were taken out on Friday. Moment of rescue -- you hear rescuers, you're calling, you're screaming. What happens? What goes through your mind? What happened?

WOOLLEY: Well about a day, maybe day and a half in, we heard rescuers, and they had a list of our names at that point, because they were able to talk to one of the people we were talking with. And so then it seemed like, OK, this is going to happen, we're actually going to get rescued.

But then it just took a long time and there were times where I didn't hear anything or I'd hear drilling in a far part of the building and just didn't get any reassurance they were still coming for me.

It was just because the scene outside was a lot more chaotic and less simple than I imagined in my head. I just did not know how quickly they were coming. But eventually they came for me and did an amazing rescue. Those guys are rescue heroes.

LEVS: We've got to go. They are heroes.

And I want to show everyone the pictures of you and your beautiful children. You were reunited in Denver there with your wife, Christina, and your two sons, right, Josh and Nathan. You have a six- year-old and three-year-old son.

We don't have the photos, OK -- there you go. There's you back with your beautiful family. I know you must be appreciating life in a whole new way right now, another gratitude you have.

WOOLLEY: Absolutely.

LEVS: Listen, thank you so much for joining us with a really powerful story. Thank you.

WOOLLEY: Thank you.

LEVS: And Betty and T.J., I'll tell you guys, after all these horrible stories we've seen, these moments of reunion and relief and rescue are exactly the stories that we want to see right now.

NGUYEN: Quick-thinking guy right there, and he's alive to tell the story. Thank you, Josh, we appreciate it.

WOOLLEY: Thank you.

NGUYEN: Weeks after a foiled terror attack in the U.S., now Britain is raising its terror threat level.

HOLMES: Also, it's the morning after "Tonight." Yes, that "Tonight," minus one Conan O'Brien now. I know you're sad. I like the hair. I'm going to miss that. I'm going to explain what's going on with this guy, where he's going and how much he's going with.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Let's get you the top stories right now.

Great Britain is on a heightened alert for a possible terror strike. They've raised their terror threat level from substantial to severe. The escalated rating means a terror attack is likely, but Britain's home secretary stresses there is no specific intelligence to suggest an attack is imminent.

HOLMES: And part of the 30,000 troops bound for Afghanistan have arrived in country. They're part of the surge recently approved by President Obama. Their primary orders are to help train Afghanistan's national army. U.S. troops' arrival comes just days before an international conference on Afghanistan is to take place in London.

NGUYEN: President Obama and top Democrats say they'll push ahead on health care reform, but they are still trying to figure out how exactly they're going to do that. The president admits the situation got a little more complicated this week when Democrats lost their super majority in the Senate.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: This information just coming into us here at CNN. The vice president, Joe Biden, says the U.S. plans to appeal a federal judge's dismissal of charges against five Blackwater security guards. Blackwater, of course, is the private security firm that operated in Iraq. It goes by a different name now.

But these five were accused of killing 17 people in Baghdad back, in 2007. They were actually guarding a U.S. state department convoy when they opened fire on a group of civilian you Iraqis. Some say they were not provoked at all. We are getting this information from our White House correspondent Dan Lothian. He is getting more details for us. as we get them, we will bring them to you.

NGUYEN: In the meantime, though, it's been 11 days since the earthquake in Haiti and search-and-rescue operations are officially over according to the Haitian government, with the focus now fully on survivors. The government of Haiti wants to move some 400,000 I mean to tent cities in the countryside.

HOLMES: But some people not waiting, homelessness and hunger driving them from Port-au-Prince. CNN's Karl Penhaul is live from the capital for us now. Karl, where exactly are these people going, and what will they see when they get where they're going?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think the best way you can describe it destination anywhere but here. These people want out of Port-au-Prince, and according to some U.S. estimates, 200,000 people have left Port-au-Prince.

It's very difficult to get a real estimate, though. The real number could be much, much more than that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL: Cheerful-colored busses with passengers fleeing tragedy. Destination -- anywhere but here. The mass exodus is underway. Thousands of survivors are abandoning the ruins of Port-au- Prince, not so much searching for new life, just looking for any old way to survive. To many, it may be a one-way ticket.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not come back to Port-au-Prince. Port-au- prince is finished.

PENHAUL: Outside, the temperature hits the mid-90s Fahrenheit. Inside this rust bucket bus, it's boiling over. They're headed for a southern town of Jellameed (ph).

PENHALL (on camera): As they leave, these people take the only possessions they have left with them. They know it should take about ten hours to their destination, but they have no idea when they may be back.

PENHALL (voice-over): If you've ever wondered what it really means to lose everything, look at the 1,000-yard stare in Rosie Nelson's eyes. She was working at a kindergarten. Her five-year-old son and 18-month-old daughter were crushed to death at her home.

ROSIE NELSON, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR, (via translator): "It's best not to cry because everybody's dead. It's over with now. I only cried the first day," she says. She doesn't even have photos of her children. I asked her if at least she had a chance to bury them.

"There was no burial. I just threw them away. I tossed them away," she says.

Nelson shows me the only treasures left in her world -- a kid's memo pad, an old slip for a $90 money transfer from Canada, and her bible. Psalms 46, "The lord is my refuge and my strength," she recruits.

Others draw comfort from the small things they carry -- a plastic water jug, a grubby Winnie the Pooh. And right behind them, more people fight for a seat on a bus to an uncertain future.

I think if you look at the numbers of people now leaving the Haitian capital, I think it is fair to say that reconstruction effort or no, this city will never be the same again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PENHAUL: And then if you take it down to the micro level and look at people like Rosie Nelson, who was featured in that report, how do you ever rebuild a life after your own children have died and you haven't been able to bury them and you just had to toss them away? I think the best she can aim for the rest of her years is just to get by, T.J.

HOLMES: Karl Penhaul, we appreciate you. Painful stories we're seeing, but important for us to see. Thank you so much, Karl.

NGUYEN: It is so hard just to imagine.

We're going to shift gears right now because President Obama is coming off a lousy week. Democrats lost their Senate supermajority and maybe their best shot at any confidence in health care reform.

And the Supreme Court reversed a century of campaign finance doctrine, and corporations will now be allowed to spend freely to influence elections.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: By a five-four vote the court overturned more than a century of law, including a bipartisan campaign finance law written by Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold that had barred corporations from using their financial clout to directly interfere with elections by running advertisements for or against candidates in the crucial closing weeks.

This ruling opens the floodgates for an unlimited amount of special interest money into our democracy. It gives the special interest lobbyists new leverage to spend millions on advertising to persuade elected officials to vote their way or punish those who don't.

That means that any public servant who has the courage to stand up for the special interests and stand up for the American people can find himself or herself under assault come election time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: We are just days away from President Obama's annual state of the union speech, and CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser joins us with a preview of that. So I imagine he's going to be talking a lot about the economy and jobs in the speech.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: No doubt, Betty. We got a little taste, a little preview of what he may say on Wednesday night when he goes primetime. We got it yesterday. President Obama was in Ohio at a town hall taking questions, talking to voters out there, and one of the things he did at that town hall yesterday was talk about, as you just mention, the economy and jobs, of course.

He talked about creating more jobs. You'll hear him talk more about his plans for maybe new legislation to create more jobs. Another thing he did at this town hall was talk about Wall Street reform and his populist message of cracking down on the banks. That's something else you'll hear a lot more of on Wednesday night when the president goes in front of Congress and the American people.

Also, you mentioned that defeat in Massachusetts for the Democrats, the president saying yesterday once again he's still fighting for health care. It's tough, but I'm here to tackle tough problems. You'll hear more about health care reform in primetime when he gives that state of the union address, Betty.

NGUYEN: How much time do you think he'll spend on his push for health care reform considering that the Democrats did lose that supermajority in the Senate?

STEINHAUSER: They're not waving the white flag on health care reform, no doubt about it. Will he emphasize it over the economy -- no. I think they get the message. The Democrats say the economy is job number one.

But the president has said health care reform kind of goes hand in hand with the economy, so I think you'll see a mix of both that and the economy come state of the union.

NGUYEN: All right. Paul, as always, we appreciate it. Thank you so much for that insight.

And you're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right, everybody wants to succeed in life and also exceed in life sometimes. We want to break down some barriers, set some records.

This guy sitting next to me has taken this to a whole new level. Just take a look at this face here. He's sitting next to me, but here's a picture at least. He has that sweatshirt on that says Morehouse College. This is a Morehouse man. Don't take offense to this, maybe a Morehouse boy.

The kid is 13, and he's a college student. And he didn't just enroll. He's been there since he was about 11. All right, he caught the eye of all of us. We've been keeping up with him the past couple years, and also caught the eye of our education contributor, Steve Perry, who's joining me this morning.

Always good to see you, Steve. And also we have the youngster sitting next to us in the studio, Steven Stafford and his mother Michelle Brown Stafford. Welcome to you all.

I have to ask you first, what is it like being -- I mean, a college campus can be a wild place. I've been on them before. And a 13-year-old kid, what is it like? You've been there since you were 11. What's it like running around with grown men?

STEVEN STAFFORD II, 13-YEAR-OLD COLLEGE STUDENT: Well, they act more like teenagers.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: That's a good point, one of the more mature guys on campus.

STAFFORD: Actually, yes. And I've been hanging out with teenagers my whole life. I've always been around kids that are older than I am.

HOLMES: You're used to it.

STAFFORD: Yes.

HOLMES: Well, mom, how did you -- what did it take for you to get comfortable with your son, your 11-year-old, now 13, to be running around a college campus?

MICHELLE BROWN-STAFFORD, MOTHER OF PRODIGY CHILD: A few years, actually. When we started, I did say that this was going to be an experiment, because the moment that I saw that it was really taxing on him or causing him undue stress I really was prepared to pull him.

HOLMES: Yes?

BROWN-STAFFORD: Yes. So initially I walked him to his classes, kind of stuck around, you know, waited for him to come out, picked him up, and took him home. So that's what I did to make myself feel comfortable.

HOLMES: Steve, let me bring you in here now. I want to ask you a question first, and I think you might have a question or two for mom and my man, my 13-year-old here.

But how, I guess, rare is it to see something like this, something like this young man who is able to enroll in college at 11? And how important is it for him -- for his genius to be identified early so he could get on this path?

STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: Your first question about the rarity -- there are a number of children throughout the country who take college courses, but there are very few who are enrolled at this early an age.

I think the real superstar in the Brown Stafford family is mom. She has had the capacity to see something in her child that so many parents see, and then she had the courage to push herself and the community, because the school system wasn't able to provide what it was that she needed, and she was able to come home and do what was necessary to make sure her child was successful.

So I do have a lot of questions. I mean, I could sit and talk to Mrs. Stafford for hours because --

HOLMES: We ain't got that kind of time.

(LAUGHTER)

PERRY: I recognize that. We're going to talk about your hair a little later on.

(LAUGHTER)

PERRY: But one of the things that's so important to so many parents, Mrs. Stafford, is how is it you decided to pull your child from the traditional public school?

BROWN-STAFFORD: The thing is, Dr. Perry, I actually started with both my kids when they were young, talking about two or three. I didn't really hold fast to a curriculum, but we just did a lot of light things around the house. And then we just kept going with it.

And as far as Steven is concerned, when he kept going through workbooks at age four is when I talked to my husband about it, and my husband was the one that told me, well, give him a higher grade level. And we just kept going ever since then.

Now, when we did try to enroll Steven in schools, one was a private school, and then another was a public school, we noticed that the gap was getting really, really wide in terms of what he learned at home and what was not really covered in class.

In fact, Steven can tell you that he would sit and look at work at his desk and be, like, I know this already, why can't I work on something else a little more advanced.

HOLMES: I want to bring you back in, Steven. Are you challenged now in college? Are the courses now as such that you're not bored? Do you feel like you're at your right level being in college?

STAFFORD: Well, they're still a bit easy, but I know that the further I go into the classes the harder they'll get. And really I love good challenge.

HOLMES: It's a good chance he hasn't been challenged that much in life, quite frankly.

And Steve and mom, I want to ask both of you all something here. What are some dangers and things you're concerned about in a young man being in that type of environment? I know there are some concerns maybe a mother would naturally have.

And Steve, I want you to jump in, too, but some things he might miss out on, just that high school experience hat a lot of us had, a prom, or maybe it's best he skip that stuff. You start first, mom.

BROWN-STAFFORD: Well, in terms of what he's missing out on, Steven will tell you, he's been asked that question so many times. I understand that for many of us that may have been the thing to do. But he has always stated, mom, that was other people's experience and it was good for them, but for him it was something different.

I know we like to impose what we thought was good for us onto other people. But the thing of it is what I really learned in this whole experience is that these kids need to be challenged intellectually.

I mean, can you imagine being in a classroom where, you know, you have already mastered most of the grade level stuff? I mean, it's like torture. I've read about so many other kids having the same experience.

HOLMES: Steve, go ahead, buddy.

PERRY: T.J., one of the things that's also important is we lose so many of these children along the way. I've seen very talented children, and this is in defense of the schools -- when there are 24 other kids in the classroom it's hard to do something.

We often talk about the socialization of these children. They find themselves in many cases in traditional school settings the most ostracized. I've seen children like this put in the hall because the teacher really didn't know what else to do.

But the kid is sitting in the hall at a desk attempting to do something meaningful and not look like an outsider versus coming home and being with their family and their kin. We have to begin to find ways to find the gifts children have.

And one of the things Mrs. Brown-Stafford has, in fact, done is what so many parents out there have done, is begun to unlock the code. There are many children out there whose gifts have not been discovered -- not all of them are as easily seen as his -- that we need to lean on the parents.

I'm hoping Mrs. Brown-Stafford's school district has called on her regularly to talk to her about what it is she does and what it is the school district can do to meet those kids who may not be as talented in the way he is, but are talented still.

HOLMES: It sounds like you've certainly tapped into something important. So young man, we are going to keep up with you. We know you want to go to medical school so we'll keep up with that as well. He should be done by 15 or something like that? Is that right? He'll be my doctor in a couple years.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: Good to have you all.

BROWN-STAFFORD: Thank you.

STAFFORD: Thank you.

HOLMES: Steve, good to see you. We appreciate you guys coming in this morning.

Quick break, and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Take a look at some of the top stories we're keeping an eye on this morning -- 11 days after the earthquake devastated Haiti, the government has declared the search-and-rescue operation over, that's the Haitian government that has declared that.

In the meantime, humanitarian relief efforts are still being ramped up. The U.N. says international search teams have rescued 132 people since that quake hit.

NGUYEN: The first of the 30,000 troops bound for Afghanistan have arrived in the country. They're part of the surge recently approved by President Obama, and their primary orders are to help train Afghanistan's fledgling national army. The U.S. troops' arrival comes just days before an international conference on Afghanistan in London.

HOLMES: Authorities in southern California have lifted the evacuation orders issued earlier this week, but a major cleanup greets evacuees returning to their homes today. That cleanup may heavily depend on elbow grease, if you will, as thousands remain without electrical power from storms that have battered the state this week. NGUYEN: The airline industry lost $11 billion last year and it is expected to lose another $5 billion this year according to the International Air Transport Association. CNN's Ayesha Tejpar says that may mean much better deals for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AYESHA TEJPAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 2010 may be a banner year for travelers looking for a deal.

GABE SAGLIE, TRAVELZOO.COM: Huge competition among airlines, hotels, vacation packages, and certainly on the cruise front.

TEJPAR: Caribbean cruises can be a great vacation on a budget. And now there are much lower prices and complementary upgrades.

SAGLIE: For the vast majority of Americans who have not cruised, the price point alone in 2010 could be what finally gets them on the ship.

TEJPAR: More direct flights are making places like China, South Africa, and Central America accessible and affordable. And closer to home, Las Vegas is a good gamble.

SAGLIE: And it's not really about the pricing that's been reduced dramatically. It's about the sweetening of the deal, the room upgrades, the complementary meals, the late checkout, two for one show tickets.

TEJPAR: New destinations and big savings may make 2010 a great year to be on the go.

SAGLIE: I think people will stand to benefit from holding out, doing some research, and really pitting some of these travel options against each other. The values are going to be up there, and people are expecting that as really the main incentive to get them packing and going.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Beyonce singing in the Hope for Haiti Now. Really people were donating last night. We don't have an exact number just yet, but this was broadcast to some 640 million homes worldwide. And there's still time to donate if you want to, and you can deduct that from your 2009 taxes.

So if you're one of the many people making a charitable donation for the earthquake victims in Haiti, you can, as I mentioned, write those off for your 2009 taxes. And this is because Congress rushed a bill through this week and the president signed it last night. Those donations, however, must be made before March 1st to qualify.

HOLMES: We still got a lot more coming up this morning to tell you about, including saying goodbye to a spiritual leader. In the next hour, we'll check in with our correspondents in Port-au-Prince about the funeral mass for the country's Roman Catholic archbishop.

NGUYEN: And in our noon hour, Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us about the second wave of critically ill patients and diseases about to wash over Haiti.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: A collector's item right there, Conan O'Brien walking on to the set of "The Tonight Show" for the last time. NBC replaced him as a host after just seven months, giving the job back to Leno.

HOLMES: A lot we've seen about this whole "Tonight Show" drama, and it's given us a new word, what they're saying is called a "Leno- giver."

NGUYEN: Yes, so what is a Leno-giver? Let me define it for you from the urban dictionary, and I'm quoting here -- "When someone retires from a legendary television franchise and passes the torch to a worthy successor.

Then he gets bored, starts a new show, which sucks, and then asks for his job back by firing the successor." That according to the urban dictionary is a "Leno-giver."