The images of devastion from a horrific earthquake which has destroyed Port-au-Prince, Haiti are heart wrenching.  If you are online you have already seen them.  The wife of musician Wyclef Jean, who was on the ground in Port-au-Prince after the quake and who knows the city well, said she fears that a in city with nearly 2 million people in the area, more are dead than alive.  This is an unbelievable tragedy.  Port-au-Prince, once a major city with a population roughly the size of Philadelphia, PA, is now being considered a mass morgue. 

The world watches in horror.  People are moved to donate supplies, food, equipment, time, and money.  I have personally given money, but I plan to do and give more.  Part of what I am giving is this narrative on how to interpret and react to this awful catastrophy. I want this narrative to spread. I want it to influence the direction that the humanitarian efforts take.  I want to influence how the people of Haiti are perceived.  And I want this narrative to influence the strategy for rebuilding Haiti.  An ambitous goal I know, but this is my intention in writing this post.

 Jean Jaqcues Dessalines, Leader of the Hatian revolution and the first ruler of an independent Haiti 

First, the people of Haiti.  The Haitian people are proud and resilient.  The rich history of the Island demonstrates the courage and strength of a people who freed themselves from enslavement by defeating Napoleon Bonaparte and The French, and by establishing the first Black Republic in the Western hemisphere.  Ironically, as a slave colony, Haiti was a rich resource, a cash cow for the French, providing at one time an estimated 60% of the world’s sugar and 40% of the world’s coffee. However as independent nation, Haiti has suffered tremendous debt and poverty.  Why? 

Embargos, tariffs, and economic exploitation have kept Haiti from developing.  The French held a crippling embargo on Haiti until Haiti agreed to pay 150 million Francs to the French or risk being recolonized.  The debt was not paid off due to usarist interest rates until 1947 and by then Haiti was too far behind to compete.  Here is an interesting article on the Haitian French financial relationship and the moral obligation of France to help Haiti in a big way. http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-01-14/why-haitis-earthquake-is-frances-problem

Since that time debt and poverty have become characteristic of Haiti, yet the Haitian people have persevered.  Now the time has come for Haiti to tell it’s story.  Tell the world that the bravery and resilience we see in the women, children, ederly, and in the men of Haiti who sufferred utter devastation from the earthquake was also there hundreds of years ago when Haitians proudly fought for independence. 

Haitians overcome Tell the world how you sang songs while you witnessed the death of hundreds and thousands of your friends, family, and neighbors. Tell the world how your people sang songs while being pulled from underneath the rubble and how those songs of gratititude and faith have carried your people through dark days in the past.   The Haitian narrative is not one of Vodoo and divine retribution, as Pat Robertson and others who are most likely spiritual unenlightened might suggest.  But instead of emotional resilience and spiritual strength.  It is a narrative of Black slaves who freed themselves, established their independence, and who have struggled to survive despite isolation and economic exploitaiton.

Which leads me to my second point, the charities.  Currently, there appears to be an outpourring of support and millions of dollars are being raised, yet it is not reaching the people as it should.  This was also the case in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina.  As a result, hunger and thirst are driving the earthquake survivors into anxiety and a second wave of suffering. Consequently, violence is beginning to emerge because of the lack of distribution of food and resources and help on the ground.   Is this taking the shape of a modern embargo?  Is there any excuse for this? Are these charities operating like a modern economic tarrif imposed on the Republic of Haiti, as millions of dollars are being siphoned off for administration of charities that in the end are not able to actually serve the people of Haiti due to a “bottle neck” and security concerns?   This is unacceptable.  Haiti cannot be isolated and exploited a second time!  So what needs to happen.

There has to be a heavy deployment (thousands) of troops and volunteers on the ground in Port-au-Prince and throughout Haiti to immediately engage the situation in a constructive manner.  The quicker order and control is established through the provision of services, the more the people will be at ease and cooperate. 

1. Military forces need to set up distribution points and lines throughout Port-au-Prince immediately and in locations where survivors will be relocated.

2.  Rescue teams need to be deployed to continue to search and retrieve the remaining survivors.

3. Medical tents and make shift clinics, staffed with volunteer doctors from the US and elsewhere, need to be set up and secured in many locations, in and outside Port-au-Prince.            

4. Temporary housing, possibly a few “tent cities”, needs to be set up outside the city and there must be a mass relocation of survivors to other parts of the island.  Housing capacity in other cities in Haiti needs to be expanded to accomodate more people. 

5. Security, medical assistance, food and other resources have to be organized and provided at each one of these temporary housing locations and in the cities that are accepting survivors.

6. Corporations need to provide expertise and equipment to remove rubble, coordinate distribution, and set up temporary infrastructure such as  communication, transportation, burial sites, sewage, water lines, and limited electricity. 

7.  Charities need to sub contract the work of assisting the poeple of Haiti to companies and organizations on the ground in Haiti that are executing the above points or who at least have an on the ground presence commensurate with the financial support they have received.  There has to be a better reporting on the use of funds. How much of what was donated resulted in direct aid and assistance received? What are the methods used to determine the direct aid and assistance received?  How much of the donations went toward fundraising, public relations, and administration? 

8. There has to be a debt forgiveness from all Haitian creditors so the country can rebuild.  See this article. rich_nations_call_for_haiti_debt_relief_-_nytimescom

9.  The story of triumph has to be told.  The triumph of the Haitian people to endure.  The triumph of quick direct aid and assistance delivered to the people of Haiti from millions around the world who were moved by compassion.  The triumph of Haiti as a nation to rebuild from poverty and ashes and have a new future as a nation now longer isolated and despied, but REVERED AND EMBRACED AS A BEACON OF STRENGTH, COURAGE, AND RESILIENCE.

My prayers go out to the people and Nation of Haiti. May God illuminate the way for you. Protect you. Supply your needs.  And comfort you during these most trying times.  God bless, and long live The Republic of Haiti. 

Also here is a link to the blog of Wyclef Jean, a young emerging Haitian American leader who is doing much to assist his native Haiti.  He deserves support.  http://wyclefjean.wordpress.com/ 

Here is also a video from his press conference. Wyclef Jean on Haitian relief

Here is also the Red Cross website where you can help. http://www.redcross.org/

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