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The US Owes Haiti Billions – An interview with Colin Powell

May 6th, 2010

Why The US Owes Haiti Billions – The Briefest History

(This is a translation. The original English Version is in red text)

Les Milliards d’Haïti – Une exclusive interview de Colin Powell

Collin Powell se passe de présentation. « De sensibilité plutôt démocrate, le général Powell reste fidèle au parti de Ronald Reagan (républicain), entraînant avec lui bon nombre de Noirs américains, séduits par le culte de l’effort personnel (“self-help”) et de la réussite individuelle, spécifiques des années Reagan ». Fils d’immigré jamaicain, Ex Chef d’Etat-major des armées des Etats-Unis, Ex-Secrétaire d’Etat des Etats-Unis, etc…devenu simple citoyen, il se paie la liberté de commenter sans fard et sans ambages le viol et le vol impunis d’Haiti par les Etats-Unis et la France. Ebranlé par le macabre tableau résultant du seisme en Haiti, le trop plein de son coeur s’est renversé sans nuance et sans maquillage lors de son interview par Bill Quigley, Legal Director for the center for Constitutional Rights and a long-time Haiti human rights advocate.
C’est un cri de révolte. Avec une certaine rage, il confont les Etats-Unis à ses devoirs de conscience en relation à ses collusions avec la France pour avoir débauchés et ruinés Haiti pendant plus de deux siècles. Il réclame réparations et jusitice.

Ce qu’il raconte ne nous est point étranger, Tout bonnement, il peut faire trembler d’effroi l’étranger non encore sorti des cavernes. C’est un secret de polichinelle. Mais extrait du subconcient de Collin Powell, le message vient de couvrir une autre dimension. Le pseudo voile de l’anonymat vient d’être déchiré par les mots incendiaires qui sortent de sa bouche, tel un torrent de feu pour dénoncer et fustiger tous les hypocrites et ignorants qui feignent de ne pas connaitre cette relation de cause à effet.

En 1992, après la Guerre du Golf, plusieurs sollicitations avaient failli l’emmener, comme Obama aujourd’hui, à la présidence des Etats-Unis. Après maintes réflexions, il avait fini par décliner les offres et surtout celle de devenir le colistier de Bob Dole pour la présidentielle de 1996.

Vous allez prendre connaissance de cet extrait d’interview qui nous a été soumis par notre ami du Canada Max Dorismond dans sons soucino de us tenir tous informés. Une publication exclusive de Haiti Connexion Network. Toutefois, n’hésitez pas, chers lecteurs à poser l’équation: « Si Powell était devenu Président des Etat-Unis, ce coup de sang aurait-il été bénéfique pour Haiti ou aurait-il étouffé son maître? » Bonne lecture !
Herve Gilbert

Pourquoi Les Etats-Unis doivent des Billions à Haiti ? Colin Powell, ancien Sécrétaire d’Etat du gouvernement américain, disait que selon lui, la politique étrangère est comme la règle de Pottery Barn, c’est-à-dire « si vous le cassez, vous en êtes le propriétaire ».

Les Etats-Unis ont travaillé depuis deux cents ans à l’écrasement d’Haiti. Nous avons une lourde dette envers Haiti. Ce n’est pas de la charité . C’est une question de Justice. Nous y avons un devoir de réparation. Les 100 millions de dollars promis par le Président Obama n’est qu’une bagatelle qu’on peut gagner à la loterie “Power Ball”. Il y a rien là. Le gouvernement américain doit à Haiti des Billions avec un grand B .

Les Etats-Unis ont travaillé depuis des siècles à la destruction d’Haiti . Nous avons utilisé Haiti comme notre domaine, notre propriété. Les Etats-Unis ont aidé à saigner le pays économiquement depuis qu’il s’est libéré du joug de l’esclavage. Ils l’ont envahi militairement à maintes reprises, ont longtemps supporté les dictateurs qui abusaient du peuple en utilisant le pays comme un dépotoir dans l’intérêt de nos propres avantages économiques. Ils ont entravé leur développement, ruiné leur agriculture et renversé les gouvernements populaires légalement élus. Les Etats-Unis ont même utilisé Haiti comme leur cour de recréations à des fins sexuelles.

Voici un bref rappel historique de plusieurs tentatives des Etats-Unis visant à détruire Haiti

En 1804, quand Haiti conquit son indépendance de la France, la première révolution d’esclaves réussie dans le monde, les Etats-Unis refusèrent de reconnaitre le nouveau pays. Ils ont nié l’indépendance d’Haiti pendant plus de 60 ans. Pourquoi ? Parce qu’ils continuèrent de maintenir en esclavage des millions de ses propres citoyens. Ils évitaient comme la peste cette reconnaissance, de crainte de ne pas alimenter la révolution appréhendée des esclaves sur son propre territoire.

Après la révolution de 1804, Haiti a été l’objet d’un embargo économique coercitif mis en place par la France et les Etats-Unis. Les sanctions américaines durèrent jusqu’en 1863 et finalement la France fort de sa puissance militaire, contraignit Haiti à lui verser une idemnité de 150 millions de francs pour les pertes subies par ses colons suite à cette revolution. (La France a vendu l’ensemble du territoire de la Louisiane aux Etats-Unis pour 80 millions de francs)

Haïti a été obligé d’emprunter auprès des banques de France et des Etats-Unis pour rencontrer cette obligation abusive. La grande partie de l’emprunt obtenu aux Etats-Unis en vue de payer cette indemnité à la France a finalement été remboursée vers 1947. La valeur actuelle de ces 150 millions versés aux Francais et aux banques américaines se chiffrent aujourd’hui à plus de 20 milliards de dollars – avec un grand M.

Les États-Unis ont occupé et contrôlé Haïti par la force de 1915 à 1934. Le président Woodrow Wilson y débarqua des troupes sur l’île en 1915. Les révoltés Haïtiens ont été réprimées par l’armée américaine – tuant plus de 2000 d’entre eux dans une seule escarmouche. Durant les prochaines dix-neuf années de l’occupation, les Etats-Unis ont contrôlé les douanes d’Haïti, collectaient les impôts, et dirigeaient d’une main de fer de nombreuses institutions gouvernementales. Combien de milliards ont été détournés par les États-Unis pendant ces 19 ans?

De 1957 à 1986, Haïti a été contraint de vivre sous les régimes dictatoriales de “Papa Doc” et “Baby Doc” supportés par les Etats-Unis. Ces derniers ont soutenu ces dictateurs économiquement et militairement. Pour les bénifices des USA, ces valets devraient pratiquer un anti-communiste notoire et sans faille. Ce qu’ils ont appliqué et pratiqué avec cruauté et sans ménagement aucun, au detriment du droit de leur peuple. Les Duvalier ont volé des millions durant leur règne et ont encouru des centaines de millions de dettes qu’ Haïti doit encore aujourd’hui. Dix mille Haïtiens ont perdu leur vie Durant cette époque. En toute estimation, Haiti doit 1,3 milliard de dollars de dette extérieure, mais 40 % de celle-ci originent de la période durant laquelle les USA supportaient les Duvalier.

Il y a trente ans, Haïti n’importait pas de riz. Aujourd’hui, Il fait venir de l’étranger presque tout son riz. Bien qu’ Haïti fût autrefois l’un des plus grands producteurs de sucre dans les Caraïbes, aujourd’hui, il en importe. Pourquoi? Les États-Unis dominent les institutions du monde financier – le Fonds monétaire international et la Banque mondiale – Au nom de la mondialisation, Ils ont contraint Haïti à ouvrir leurs marchés au monde. Ensuite, Ils (USA) ont envahi leur marché avec des tonnes de riz et de sucre subventionnés, décourageant les fermiers haitiens, – paralysant d’un coup l’agriculture haitienne. Ils ont forcé Haiti à devenir le troisième marché mondial du riz américain. Ce qui est intéressant pour les agriculteurs américains mais fatal pour les fermiers haitiens.

En 2002, Les Etats-Unis ont bloqué des centaines de millions de dollars de prêt consentis à Haiti. Ces sommes devraient être utilisés dans des projets publics comme l’éducation, les routes. Ce sont ces mêmes routes que les équipes de secours ont du mal aujourd’hui à parcourir pour apporter de l’aide aux blessés du récent séisme.

En 2004, les Américains ont de nouveau détruit la démocratie en Haiti quand ils ont soutenu le coup d’Etat contre le Président élu Aristide.

Haiti a même été utilisé comme le lupanar (bordel) des USA, tout comme au temps des plantations dans l’ancienne colonie. Regardez les nouvelles avec soin et vous trouverez de nombreuses histoires d’abus de mineurs par des missionnaires, soldats et travailleurs de la charité. Haïti fut une destination sexuelle pour plusieurs vacanciers américains ou autres en mal de fornication. Quel a été le prix de tout cela ?. Quelle valeur leur attribuerez-vous si c’était vos soeurs et frères.

Les corporations américaines basées depuis des années en Haiti font le bon ménage avec l’élite haitienne en embauchant des dizaines de milliers d’Haitiens qui gagnent moins de 2 dollars par jour.

Le peuple haitien a résisté à la puissance économique et militaire des Etats-Unis et même à d’autres depuis leur independance. Comme nous tous, les Haïtiens ont commis des erreurs aussi. Mais la puissance américaine a contraint les Haïtiens à payer le prix fort – Ce qui se traduit par ces morts, ces dettes et ces abus.

Il est temps pour le peuple des Etats-Unis de se joindre aux Haitiens pour renverser le cours des relations américano-haitienne.

Ce bref rappel historique montre pourquoi les Etat-Unis doivent des milliards à Haiti avec un grand M. Ce n’est pas de la charité. C’est la justice. Il s’agit de réparations. L’actuelle crise est une occasion pour les États-Uniens de renverser le cours de l’histoire en apportant une réponse de droit aux Haïtiens.

Why The US Owes Haiti Billions – The Briefest History

Why does the US owe Haiti Billions? Colin Powell, former US Secretary of State, stated his foreign policy view as the “Pottery Barn rule.” That is – “if you break it, you own it.”

The US has worked to break Haiti for over 200 years. We owe Haiti. Not charity. We owe Haiti as a matter of justice. Reparations. And not the $100 million promised by President Obama either – that is Powerball money. The US owes Haiti Billions – with a big B.

The US has worked for centuries to break Haiti. The US has used Haiti like a plantation. The US helped bleed the country economically since it freed itself, repeatedly invaded the country militarily, supported dictators who abused the people, used the country as a dumping ground for our own economic advantage, ruined their roads and agriculture, and toppled popularly elected officials. The US has even used Haiti like the old plantation owner and slipped over there repeatedly for sexual recreation.

Here is the briefest history of some of the major US efforts to break Haiti.

In 1804, when Haiti achieved its freedom from France in the world’s first successful slave revolution, the United States refused to recognize the country. The US continued to refuse recognition to Haiti for 60 more years. Why? Because the US continued to enslave millions of its own citizens and feared recognizing Haiti would encourage slave revolution in the US.

After the 1804 revolution, Haiti was the subject of a crippling economic embargo by France and the US. US sanctions lasted until 1863. France ultimately used its military power to force Haiti to pay reparations for the slaves who were freed. The reparations were 150 million francs. (France sold the entire Louisiana territory to the US for 80 million francs!)

Haiti was forced to borrow money from banks in France and the US to pay reparations to France. A major loan from the US to pay off the French was finally paid off in 1947. The current value of the money Haiti was forced to pay to French and US banks? Over $20 Billion – with a big B.

The US occupied and ruled Haiti by force from 1915 to 1934. President Woodrow Wilson sent troops to invade in 1915. Revolts by Haitians were put down by US military – killing over 2000 in one skirmish alone. For the next nineteen years, the US controlled customs in Haiti, collected taxes, and ran many governmental institutions. How many billions were siphoned off by the US during these 19 years?

From 1957 to 1986 Haiti was forced to live under US backed dictators “Papa Doc” and “Baby Doc” Duvlaier. The US supported these dictators economically and militarily because they did what the US wanted and were politically “anti-communist” – now translatable as against human rights for their people. Duvalier stole millions from Haiti and ran up hundreds of millions in debt that Haiti still owes. Ten thousand Haitians lost their lives. Estimates say that Haiti owes $1.3 billion in external debt and that 40% of that debt was run up by the US-backed Duvaliers.

Thirty years ago Haiti imported no rice. Today Haiti imports nearly all its rice. Though Haiti was the sugar growing capital of the Caribbean, it now imports sugar as well. Why? The US and the US dominated world financial institutions – the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank – forced Haiti to open its markets to the world. Then the US dumped millions of tons of US subsidized rice and sugar into Haiti – undercutting their farmers and ruining Haitian agriculture. By ruining Haitian agriculture, the US has forced Haiti into becoming the third largest world market for US rice. Good for US farmers, bad for Haiti.

In 2002, the US stopped hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to Haiti which were to be used for, among other public projects like education, roads. These are the same roads which relief teams are having so much trouble navigating now!
In 2004, the US again destroyed democracy in Haiti when they supported the coup against Haiti’s elected President Aristide.

Haiti is even used for sexual recreation just like the old time plantations. Check the news carefully and you will find numerous stories of abuse of minors by missionaries, soldiers and charity workers. Plus there are the frequent sexual vacations taken to Haiti by people from the US and elsewhere. What is owed for that? What value would you put on it if it was your sisters and brothers?

US based corporations have for years been teaming up with Haitian elite to run sweatshops teeming with tens of thousands of Haitians who earn less than $2 a day.

The Haitian people have resisted the economic and military power of the US and others ever since their independence. Like all of us, Haitians made their own mistakes as well. But US power has forced Haitians to pay great prices – deaths, debt and abuse.

It is time for the people of the US to join with Haitians and reverse the course of US-Haitian relations.
This brief history shows why the US owes Haiti Billions – with a big B. This is not charity. This is justice. This is reparations. The current crisis is an opportunity for people in the US to own up to our country’s history of dominating Haiti and to make a truly just response.

(For more on the history of exploitation of Haiti by the US see: Paul Farmer, THE USES OF HAITI; Peter Hallward, DAMNING THE FLOOD; and Randall Robinson, AN UNBROKEN AGONY).

Bill Quigley is Legal Director for the Center for Constitutional Rights and a long-time Haiti human rights advocate. Quigley77@gmail.com

By Roth, Robert at Jan 17, 2010 18:58 PM

Thanks for the third time this week, Bill. As Danny Schecter points out on his ZSpace, even the pocket change Obama promised is not being competently delivered, and the quake itself will be used to continue the exploitation of Haiti. I’d like to suggest that anyone who has the resources to help directly consider donating at the websites of Madre and Haiti KONPAY, both of which can deliver help through longstanding prior contacts within Haiti.

Translation English to French : Max Dorismond, Herve Gilbert

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Teach a Man to Fish

February 17th, 2010

Wanted, both Haitian and non-Haitian farmers, growers, food processors, venture capitalists, educators and government officials, non-profits, NGOs and Governments interested in the Haitian reconstruction: We have the solution to Haiti’s regrowth and it involves MORE than just an end to the marginalization of Haiti, the forgiveness of WTO debt and the disposal of ALL international trade embargoes, it involves teaching Haitians to work their country and it requires our help.

In the most recent years preceding Haiti’s earthquake, Haitian business leaders and entrepreneurs have been focusing on growing on Haiti’s greatest hope, agriculture and education. Prior to the quake, the average Haitian family could be described as duo-parental with 6-8 children. Such families were being fed on farm plots less than 2 acres in size by people untrained or unskilled at farming, and worse, their situation was regularly hampered by flashfloods and hurricanes, with no cash reserves for recovery. Rather than continuing attempts to scrape an existence out of the dirt, many farmers fled to the capital hoping to find work or opportunity unavailable to them on the farm. Some were successful, but many were not.

As such, the situation created severely dense concentrations of people in the capital city of Port-au-Prince on the day of the quake which helps explain why it was so devastating to so many. Over 1.5 million people in the quake zone find themselves altogether destitute. The United Nations Development Programme has begun by offering jobs to Haitians who are willing to work clearing rubble from the devasatated capital. This project alone is expected to provide a job to over 200,000 Haitians, which will in turn directly benefit 1,000,000. Once the rubble is cleared, these jobs will cease to be required, and 200,000 Haitians will once again be left wondering, what next?

Which brings the partners of Operation Ayiti back to the work they were doing pre-quake.

Organizations such as Bel Soley use a combination of entrepreneurs, investors and non-profit organizations, both Haitan and non-Haitian, working together to pave the way for non-profit organizations to do what they do best; provide education, training, infrastructure improvements and micro-credit loans while the entrepreneurs and investors buy, process and distribute the output. Because such projects combine the best of Haitian culture and North-American standards in harmony, it is difficult to argue that this new approach and business model isn’t best for giving Haiti hope and a future.

The business model helps set up small for profit businesses in decentralized (rural) areas by partnering them with local Haitian non-profits and their international supporters. Each stand-alone business creates jobs and a future for those in the local area and provides food crops for schools and orphanages.

Bel Soley, in particular, has a focus on building a local production center that will handle fresh produce, and provide the HACCP certified facilities for food processing. They help the small farmer and their co-operative organizations from seed to end product, actively helping procure purchasing contracts in the US, Canada and Europe. Essentially covering every aspect of commercial farming from seed to table.

Partnering allows schools and orphanages funded by non-profits and farmers to guarantee a give and take for the output of the food crops to be produced. Schools and orphanages benefit by having direct access to food without regard to the immense price fluctuations that occur on the common market and farmers have a guaranteed purchaser for their crops at a set price.

Noula Solidarity Coop purchase coffee grains from farmers, bringing them to Canada to be roasted, packaged and sold specifically to generate revenues for the Haitian farmers. Brooks Pepperfire Foods holds a mandate from Transfair Canada to create the market for Fair Trade certified chilli peppers purchases fresh chilli peppers, goatpeppers to be precise, processing them into mash to be sold to both institutional and domestic customers as pepper mashes, salsas and sauces. It is their desire to help open a Haitian-owned processing facility, creating even more jobs.

Noula Solidarity Coop and Brooks Pepperfire Foods are just two examples of companies that work with Transfair to help create the markets that are needed to provide purchase contracts for Haitian food products. One such project will see school children in Canada selling food products sourced from or processed from Haitian produce. Half of the proceeds raised on this project will be used by the Canadian school children to fund their projects while an equal amount will be sent to the schools supported through SOPUDEP.

We believe that projects like these offer the most hope for giving Haitians a real future and as such, Operation Ayiti is working to help facilitate even more such projects. As the Bible says; Give a man a fish and he will eat today, teach a man to fish and he will always eat. Ask yourself, how you can help us facilitate the rebuilding of Haiti.

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Ciné Institute — Hope for Haiti

February 16th, 2010

Prior to the earthquake, there was a tiny film school in Jacmel. It had only been in operation a few short years, and although it is not considered one of those must-attend film-schools such as New York Film Academy, Vancouver Film School or Columbia University, for those aspiring Haitian filmmakers who were lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend, Ciné Institute it is an important stepping stone to their future careers in film. The school got its start in a Film Festival; Le Festival Film Jacmel launched in 2004. Brainchild of filmmaker David Belle, the school has been using Film production as a catalyst to give a future to students in Jacmel. Their work had already begun receiving early acclamation prior to the quake.

Ciné Institute’s mission reads:

Using the power of cinema, integrated educational programming, technical training and media production support, Ciné Institute educates and empowers Haitian youth who seek the creative, technical and business skills necessary to grow local media industries that can provide jobs and spur economic growth needed to improve their lives and the lives of others.

For anyone working in some way in Haiti prior to the quake, it is difficult at best to realize that all of the work has to begin again; that what had been laid down prior to the quake has to be rebuilt from scratch is altogether heartbreaking. Still, what the students of Ciné Institute have aside from talent and desire is hope and opportunity.

Ciné Institute’s first tweet, post-quake read “Massive damages all over Jacmel. Staff and students ok.”

Since that tweet, a mere seven hours after the quake, several students have posted their videos to the web. These films document the aftermath of the disaster with a professional eye and a personal heart that many filmmakers can only dream of.

In the rebuild, it is schools and businesses like Ciné Institute who will fly to the forefront of Haiti’s future, not because the school is filled with talented filmmakers or scriptwriters, but rather because, every Haitian who had hope for the future prior to the quake, knows that this disaster brings more hope to their homeland than ever existed before. And what better way to showcase hope and opportunity to a devastated populace than through the magic of cinematography?

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Saving Babies

February 7th, 2010

One of the most frustrating things about trying to help our friends in Haiti is the physical limitations given to us by our physical bodies. We have to eat, we have to sleep and sometimes, we have to simply be really patient when things are out of our control.

We’re learning a very important lesson in patience as I write this as we await news of baby Landina’s fate. It came to our attention, well, Sally’s actually, that this tiny baby, just three months old is in desperate need of neurosurgery and will die if she doesn’t get it. A British Doctor, David Nott happens to be in Haiti with Doctors without Borders and is the one caring for Landina and dressing her wounds for the last two weeks when she was brought to the hospital.

The child has no known family and only Dr. Nott and other volunteers are there to comfort her.

Upon seeing a report on Channel 4 News, our Sally was moved to action when she realized that Dr. Nott was British and that there was the possibility of flying the baby to the UK for her surgery. Sally called 6 hospitals to learn what could be done to contact Dr. Nott directly and put him in touch with the #Haiti tweetchain. Finally Sally spoke to Sean Stephens at the Channel 4 news desk.

It wasn’t until very early this morning, that Sally found herself on the phone with Jackie Rush who is a colleague of Dr. Nott’s and a chain of events was launched. The contact information for Dr. Nott, in Haiti was shared with
@ShaunKing, an American who was also on the case.

In a series of direct messages, a way of sharing private information in Twitter, the contact information was passed to Mr. King who has arranged the airlift transportation for the baby and as soon as the red tape clears tiny Landina will be winging her way to a neurosurgery for a life-saving operation which could give her a future.

As of this posting, Sally who has still not slept, is anxiously awaiting news of Landina’s fate.

We ask that you summon the energies of whichever faith or God it is that you follow and send positive thoughts and prayers to Landina so that she will have the best possible opportunity.

We know that we cannot save everyone, but we here at Operation Ayiti, and everyone who is volunteering in the tweetchain is doing everything they can to create as many positive outcomes for people as we possibly can. Baby Landina is probably just one of tens of thousands of children who will possibly be saved by the efforts of the tweetchain, and sadly, the reality is that no matter our efforts, there is no way that any of us can guarantee a positive outcome for anyone, but we try. Yet, in the immortal words of George Lucas’ Yoda from the Star Wars films, “There is no try. There is do or not do.” One can but do what one can. Here at Operation Ayiti, we are left powerless, knowing we have done everything we can. Now, we await the fates of the universe and we hope that the outcome will be one that has all twitterdome jumping for joy.

Stay tuned, we will keep you updated as the story continues to unfold. And if you haven’t said that prayer yet, what are you waiting for?

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Faith Can Move Mountains

February 5th, 2010

On January 12th when the earth shook, and didn’t stop shaking for a full minute. You couldn’t help but know that there was an earthquake occurring. Buildings fell, people lost their lives, their loves and their livelihood. But underlying the deep mourning that the entire nation of Haiti feels at this time is a rumbling of regrowth, rebirth and rebuilding. Because the light of faith, trust and love that the Haitian people have is stronger than the darkness that the pain of grief has cast across their hearts, the earth will move once again, only this time it will move entirely in favour of the Haitian people. Such is the promise of the voudou culture.

Haitians are a highly spiritual people. On the surface they appear a nation of Christians, until you scratch a little deeper. There you find a faith and a culture that is riddled with love, pride, and a source of great strength for all. This faith is what carries a Haitian man or woman through the grief that they feel, supports them through their shock and will ultimately help them move the mountains of rubble and rebuild their homeland.

They say that voudou is what makes the Haitian culture so great, it smoulders and pulses like a flaming drum in the hearts of all Haitians, even when they don’t practice it as a religion. For a brief look at the Voudou culture, I invite you to read the linked transcript or listen to the show on this topic that aired recently on NPR (National Public Radio):


“Host Michel Martin talks to NPR’s religion correspondent Barbara Bradley-Hagerty about the political and social influence of a religion often surrounded in mysticism and misinformation.”

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Our New Haiti

January 30th, 2010

L’union fait la force — Unity brings strength.

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Haitians tire of waiting, start own rebuilding

January 29th, 2010

Sick and tired of waiting for any aid to come to them, Haitians are beginning to do what it takes to give themselves some modicum of life akin to that which they were living just 15 interminably long days ago.

Many with severe injuries, no food or water, have refused to move from the pile of rubble that is their home, because, as any human being can understand, when you have nothing, what little you do have is everything.

People have been left in shock, dazed and hurt. They were poorer than dirt before the quake and for many, all they have left is dirt.

Like the Haitians we at Operation Ayiti know personally, many have decided it’s time to do, rather than wait for the aid that isn’t coming, so they have begun to rebuild homes, some of them, right on top of the rubble that was their old home.

Would you or I have the wherewithal to do this? I think not. Our prayers of strength and love go out to these people, for it is THEY who will be the backbone of the new Haiti.

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/haitians-tire-of-waiting-286528.html

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Rescuing Rodney St Eloi

January 23rd, 2010

I had the pleasure of meeting Rodney St. Eloi the other day. Rodney is a beautiful Haitian man with the light of poetry in his eyes. Never having met him before, I had to wonder, did he have that light before his experience this past week? He very well may have; he is a poet, literary essayist and a painter. With the soul of a poet, one may very well survive the shock of being in the heart of Port-au-Prince having a drink on the patio of a hotel with a much beloved friend when the earth starts to shake violently and the very world crumbles around your ears!

Rodney was in Port-au-Prince for a literary conference along with “Haiti’s best and brightest writers and literary minds” — as Rodney put it, when the earth started to quake last week. Rodney described to me what it was like to realize that the Hotel Karibé, a five story building, looming over the restaurant where he was relaxing might fall right on top of him and his companion.

Before they could move, Rodney watched the stone walls of the building crack and begin to crumble before his very eyes. In a flash, what was five stories, suddenly became four as the mezzanine level disappeared. Rodney said he just knew that everyone on that floor was dead. It wasn’t very much longer when the side of the building on which Rodney’s room was housed completely collapsed in on itself.

They did not have very long to contemplate the situation when they noticed a group of people, mostly children and youths, standing on a balcony on the uncollapsed side of the building, screaming for help!

The men immediately sprang into action, finding a ladder so that they could climb up to what was now the fourth floor and rescue the children. All the while knowing they had to act quickly for the rest of the building could collapse at any time.

As Rodney told me the story, I could tell he was a poet, for he relived the story as he told it. The excitement flashing in his eyes, with just a hint of fear. He told of climbing the ladder to get to the frightened women and children who all wanted off the building at the same time. So, he said they calmed the children and lifted them down one by one. He didn’t mind that so much, he said the most difficult thing was the children pointing out that their friends on the other side of the building were no doubt trapped and crushed!

Rodney tells of a harrowing tale of returning himself to the Canadian Embassy, only to find the gates locked to him and the throng of people clamouring to get inside.

Rodney was one of the first targets of the Operation Ayiti project. Between he and SOPUDEP school, they were the “missing” who required rescuing in my personal entourage. Those first two days after the earthquake, were harrowing ones where everyone I know wanted to know what had happened to everyone they knew in Haiti. Having become rather prolific at twitter, it seemed the most natural thing to use Twitter as my digging for information tool. Rodney, in his own right used the text messaging ability of his phone.

Between the tweeting and the text messaging and the phone calls, a very excited phone call was finally put through to the Canadian Embassy; Rodney was outside the gates and could they please let him in.

It was in a beautiful second story walk-up here in Montreal, where I was introduced to Rodney St Eloi, he looked into my eyes, took both my hands and said, you’re the little English girl who helped rescue me. Then he kissed me on both cheeks and embraced me with the hug of a well-loved old friend.

I knew then that all of the tweeting and phone calls I had felt were being done in the dark, without effect, were worthwhile and had purpose.

I am so proud to be part of this project. I am so proud to know that every little bit I do is having a profound impact on the lives of real people. If I never meet any more of them in person, Rodney’s embrace of gratitude was so fulfilling that he may as well have hugged me on behalf of every one who is ultimately rescued by our actions.

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84 YEAR OLD BURIED FOR 10 DAYS!

January 22nd, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti: Doctors in Haiti were trying to save the life of 84-year-old Marie Carida Romain, whose relatives said they freed her Friday from the ruins of her house 10 days after an earthquake flattened the capital.

Yves Romain, a 58-year-old telephone technician, said he and his family were sleeping in front of the collapsed home when they heard moaning from inside and called neighbors for help. After 20 hours of digging with bare hands, he said, they freed his Mother.

The woman, looking skeletal and unconscious, was being treated at the capital’s General Hospital. “She is very thin. She is in a state of shock and severely dehydrated,” said Dr. Louis Auguste, who works at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York.

He said that while she had been buried for a long time, “there were always people who defy the norm.”

It had been more than a day since the last person was rescued live from the rubble.
Report coutesy of NYPost.com

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Real Hope for Haiti

January 21st, 2010

When I got up on Tuesday morning, I had no idea what sort of a day I was in for. It’s been a rough week, what with going through what I have been through. Finding my friends, finding my friends’ friends. Not finding anyone and then being sadly disappointed when we found someone too late. I have cried more tears in the past week, than in any other week in my memory. The week started with a profound sadness and feeling of loss greater than anything I would ever wish on anyone. Today, as the healing begins, the tears come less and less often and my voice catches a little less. I know that many people are so crushed by their grief, that they may be unable to function. Which makes what I am trying to do all that much more important.

I went looking for my friends in the hope that they would be well and fine, and so they were, for the most part. Difficult to say what “fine” means anymore, so many people know someone, if not several someones who fared not so well. Yet, many people outside of the epicenter of the disaster, remain comparatively unharmed, so, a little clean up and Haiti at least the lesser damaged parts of it, is back in business. Isn’t it? um, well, no, it’s not. A country suddenly in desperate need of its limited economy, sadly, since the earthquake, has been all but shut down. But NOT by the earthquake, by several someone else’s governments.

In a conversation with Patrick Lucien principal of Bel Soley, one of the vegetable cooperatives we are connected with, I learned that because they would not be allowed to ship them out of the country, that he’d lost the income of 1200 pounds of chilli peppers. We didn’t discuss the details of the shipment, but 1200 pounds of anything is a lot of money in a nation where the average income is less than 85 cents a day. Worse, it’s harvest season and Bel Soley stands to lose an additional 3000 lbs a week if they cannot export because exports are closed to the Haitian people. So my company Peppermaster were the ones buying Bel Soley’s peppers, we couldn’t if we wanted to!

The reason that we do business with Haiti is because their economy needs as much business as they can get. After education, business is Haiti’s best future, Haitians know this, that is why the Diaspora concentrates their investments and donations on these two factors.

I had a cup of really good Haitian-grown coffee yesterday morning with JC Stephanovitch the head of Cafe Noula. Noula Coffee Cooperative has spent the last year setting up their business and is just about to bring in their first container next month. We discussed what we’ve both been working on since the quake and discussed the fact that any business we might have been about to do is now up in the air; creating problems for not only the previously very delicate Haitian economy, but to our very own personal economies as well! It was then that I realized that something had to be said about it.

Now maybe I’m crazy here, but American, Canadian and French governments have essentially been allowed to completely shut Haiti off from all business, by taking over their airports and ports. Nobody gets in or out unless this Governmentary Triad says so. Bill Clinton, yes, Doctors without Borders, no. WTF?

The UN has decided that they are going to create “jobs” for 50,000 Haitians for six months. Well, that’s all good and well, but what I’d like to know is, if Haitians aren’t allowed to do business, how many existing jobs are being lost?

What good is it, to whose benefit is it, to give Haiti succour and financial aid, when what business they are able to do, is not allowed to be done?

Seriously, people, is it so inconceivable that an independent Nation state, struggling to stand on its own two feet, might have business to do that relied upon being allowed to do it, not even though, but rather, especially BECAUSE there had been a major earthquake in the population center of the country?

As I’m editing this document I have received an update from my contact at the SOPUDEP school and Ryan tells me that Petion-Ville still has no doctors or supplies coming in. The road is clear from the airport to less than a quarter of a mile before the school. He is suitably annoyed. The school is still standing, has been converted into a community shelter and hospital and is actively organizing rescue operations and settling people down — In other words; actively rescuing people. Yet, Rea Dol and SOPUDEP’s pleas for movement have fallen on deaf ears. Here is an organization, in the heart of one of the most heavily damaged areas of the country, fully able to provide for the needs of people, yet unable to supply their camp because of bureaucracy, WTF?

A rescue should not only support the weak, it needs to also encourage the strong. It’s time for Haitians to stand up and take control of their future. Maybe start by hand delivering their medical supplies, and taking charge of picking up their own exports.

Does anyone have a small ship and a captain we can borrow?

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