When Jay Haze heard the news about the major tsunami in Southeast Asia several years ago, he felt he had to do something. He called a few friends, created a CD and a world-wide press campaign, and in short time raised 46,000 Euros for Doctors Without Borders, an international aid organization. He was 24 years old at the time.

Jay Haze is an internationally recognized DJ and producer. Originally from Pennsylvania, U.S.A., he has pursued his music career in the United States, Germany and the Netherlands while performing around the world. As the founder of DJs for DRC, an independent charity project aiming to provide relief in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, he brings social consciousness to the global electronic music scene by asking artists to donate half of their earnings from music gigs to address social issues such as sexual violence, starvation and environmental disasters. "I realized that there is something wrong with the world, and I need to be a part of making it better," he said. "It was a primal feeling, as if I didn't have a choice."

Through DJs for DRC, Jay Haze donated all of his fees for 24 gigs around the world and one mix CD to address issues such as the systematic rape of women that now is used as a weapon in DRC, and care for the thousands of orphans who lost their parents in the war. Through his personal efforts, Jay raised 57,000 Euros, and other musician friends also got involved, raising the total to more than 100,000 Euros for the project. Jay Haze was especially moved by the women who are working to rebuild the DRC. "Women are taking the leading role in getting the Congo back on its course," he said. "The women who work with survivors of rape use theatre and music to help rebuild self confidence through art."

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Recently he has relocated to Peru, and he is working on a project which will teach electronic music production to children living in impoverished areas. He joined Peace Boat as a guest educator on the 72nd Voyage between Callao, Peru and Cartagena, Colombia.

Having grown up in small-town American poverty and having experienced the criminal justice system and living in a group home as a teenager, Jay Haze is deeply committed to issues of poverty, and has started a charity project for children in Peru. "I went to a slum in Lima and talked with people, and I found that in one case 24 people were living in one room with no toilet, just a bucket," he said. "Here in South America the gap between the rich and the poor is at an astronomical level, so I decided to give it a shot and see what I could change," he said. "Latin America is really a place where we can make a difference." But Jay emphasized that poverty is not limited to Latin America. "Right now the world is in an advanced state of poverty, even in first world countries," he said.

For Jay Haze, the arts and activism are connected, but he emphasized that anyone can become involved in helping others, and that we all need to act now. "Help is like a cold; it's contagious, so start with your neighbour because they're usually the one who needs it most," he said. "We can all do something if we try."

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Peace Boat staff member, Emilie McGlone, met Jay Haze through her involvement in Parties 4 Peace, a Tokyo-based group that fundraises for various causes by organizing art and music events. Parties 4 Peace asks artists and venues to volunteer their time, talent and resources to raise funds for non-profit projects around the world. "By getting artists to volunteer to play and venues to provide the space and resources, we can raise funds to really make something positive happen," said Emilie, who founded Parties 4 Peace in 2002. Sometimes parties raise as much as 3,000 US dollars in one night, she said.

After Emilie's meeting with Jay Haze in Tokyo, Parties 4 Peace and Peace Boat together invited him onboard in hopes of expanding fundraising efforts to include artists and producers from around the world. "If we could get more artists around the world fundraising for the same projects we would gain more support and be able to create more projects," she said. Parties 4 Peace works with volunteers in Tokyo and has also held parties in Chile. The group is working to expand its fundraising parties to cities around the world, and is looking for people interested in forming partnerships. In addition to looking for volunteers to work at the parties, venues and sponsorship to support the work, Parties 4 Peace is looking for artists who want to make donations by having music events in their own cities or by collaborating on international music projects.

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Peace Boat also hopes to collaborate with Jay by organizing projects with other partner organizations. Jay Haze participated in Peace Boat's cultural exchange programme with Arena y Esteras, a theatre and art collective in Villa El Salvador, a community outside of Lima, and he hopes to organize workshops or other projects with the collective in the future.

And of course together with other DJs onboard Peace Boat, Jay Haze provided a lively party for Peace Boat participants and staff. "He has a very original and innovative sound, and I really enjoy his music and I appreciate how active he is and how passionate about issues he is," said Jake Shea, a volunteer English language instructor onboard Peace Boat. "I think if he can inspire people with music it?fs definitely a powerful thing."

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