What next for Haiti?

Special to the tribune

WHAT NEXT FOR HAITI?

After a delay of a couple of months I was finally able to take a team of local volunteers to the North Coast of Haiti. My scheduled trip in January was delayed by the devastating Earthquake and the relief effort that made travel to the country difficult. Travel inside the country was almost impossible, considering the amount of luggage and supplies we take. Since we work about 150 miles from Port au Prince (PAP), the logistics of getting our team in and housing them was a reason to wait.
The most depressing picture on our approach to PAP was the proliferation of tent cities (obvious from the blue and white patches) from the tide flats at the oceans edge to the base of the hills that separate Haiti from the rest of the Island of Hispanola (The Dominican Republic). We realized that the next big disasters are just weeks away when the rains, and then the hurricanes start to wash away what little is left. The only property damage we personally saw was the serious damage done to the International Airport building, named after the leader of the Haitian Revolution, Tousant Loverture. Though we were able to deplane for the first time using the jetways that have been in place but inoperable in the past, the airport building itself was damaged beyond use.
Many of you have seen the news reports, special commentaries and exposes from every possible source in the World about what the conditions were, are and possibly will be in Port au Prince and the Southern part of the country where the earthquake made its most graphic impact. This report isn’t about that. Though we flew into PAP, we were only on the ground there for a few uncomfortable hours waiting for our small (19 passenger) plane to take us to the north coast at Port de Paix. What we found there was not much changed from what we have seen in the past, except that there seemed to be even more people in the streets. In an area where jobs are non existent (unemployment is 80% or more) more people just puts an even heavier burden on the local economy. I didn’t see any evidence of foreign aid or even an increase in Governmental presence.
I was able to talk with folks who had been to and in Haiti numerous times since the quake, to every corner and for every purpose. I talked mostly with fellow missions people, but I also talked daily with Haitians. Trying to glean some idea of what was going to be required to put Haiti back amongst the living, and maybe better off than before this unfortunate event. There was not a lot of hope, even in the voices of Haitians who normally have a resilience of spirit that defies their plight in a modern World that still overlooks them as fellow human beings.
There were a lot of comments about the heroic deeds of some relief organizations, the U.S. and Foreign military groups in particular and the many Christian agencies that saw the need beyond their usual narrow focus of how this was going to look in the media. The fact that billions of dollars were pouring into the country for rebuilding was not yet evident. There were many expressions of doubt that the money would ever make it to the people we usually look out for, the poor.
So, what will it take to rebuild a Haiti that resembles the country that once was known as the “Jewel of the Antilles”?
Much of what will be needed will need to come from outside of Haiti, but most of it could come from within. The following are a few of my personal observations.
With the influx of dollars for rebuilding, what is not needed is for relief organizations and foreign corporations to come in and build. What is needed is to provide the materials, training, and funding that will allow the Haitians to rebuild their shattered country and economy themselves. Let the foreign corporations and relief agencies provide the leadership and monetary control, but let the Haitians have the jobs.
Agricultural projects need to be encouraged that will change the landscape and rebuild the soil that was once the most fertile in the Caribbean. What worked in the past were small plots of land given to Haitians to maintain and provide food for their families and a source of income. Sweat equity can build a nation, and in Haiti sweat comes easy.
A change in the way education is provided with a public school system where EVERY child can get a basic education and seek jobs that have traditionally been denied to the poor. The Education for All bill currently being worked on in the U.S. Congress is a step in that direction. In Haiti, education has traditionally been provided by organizations (Christian and others) in French only, rather than in the more commonly spoken language of the vast majority of the population, Haitian Creole. This has prevented large numbers of people from the rural areas of the country from becoming educated and employable. The rural poor can’t afford the tuition for school creating generations doomed to a life of illiteracy.
The government needs to be supported for its efforts, but not without specific criterion for reducing corruption and graft. There needs to be a way to allow free and open elections, with support after the fact of whoever wins. The U.S. has not been particularly fair when dealing with the will of the people of Haiti, but that is another subject that will need to be addressed in many nations where we have imposed our will, without accepting the basic rights of self determination.
As noted above, foreign corporations, construction firms and politicians are good at getting publicity, but not so good at effecting real change.
Nothing in Haiti happens at the same pace that most Americans want. It will take
years to recover from the current crisis, while others cause forward steps to fall back. The people of Haiti will survive this, but we need to be there to help. I intend to keep going back, to see the progress and do what little I can to keep the Haitian people in the minds of those who have so much to be thankful for and just don’t realize how little it takes to be satisfied with just what you have.
What I still didn’t see on a grand scale was people with their hands out. There were some in PAP who were begging, where homelessness is obvious. I was asked numerous times if I had a tent in my luggage. But for the most part, out in the country, they will tell you of their struggles, but will gladly work for little more than a few dollars a day, because that is what they need. They just need a chance.

I welcome your comments, and interest in serving beyond our own neighborhood.

Larry Bailly is mission’s coordinator for Snohomish Community Church. He is also a member of the Snohomish County RESULTS group. He has been taking teams to the Northwest of Haiti for the last 7 years. He can be reached at baillybusbarn@juno.com