14833: EchodHaiti: A Different Look at Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: EchodHaiti@aol.com

A Look atHAITI - 2003Ginau Mathurin
After more than twenty years of absence, Haiti was a rediscovery for me. The current deplorable conditions of today's Haiti shattered the childhood perceptions that I still held in my mind. The withholding of millions of dollars of aid has brought my home to her knees and her government on the verge of collapse. The international community, especially the United States and France, have benefited a great deal from Haiti over the years, and they have an obligation to help rebuild, instead of destroy, the country. Being a very young democracy, and virtually a young 200-year-old country, Haiti will need the support of the international community to stand up on her own.
In my childhood memories, I lived up the hill in Caridad, just outside of Port-au-Prince, went to school everyday to Ecole Jean XXIII, vole kap chak jou, flew colorful kites on the roof, when my father was at work, and played "football" in the streets across the market place. Jodya, In today's Haiti, Caridad is a ghetto neighborhood too dangerous to visit alone, most parents cannot afford to send their children to school, few people are employed, and the streets of Port-au-Prince are over crowded with pedestrians and overflowing tap-taps. Thanks to a delegation sponsored by Haiti Reborn, I witnessed some facts that opened my eyes to Haiti's recent history and the current living conditions of Haitians, frè’m ak sè’m yo.
The decline of Haiti started not with the budding democracy today, but with the American invasion in 1915. As Economist professor Georges Werleigh explained, the United States forced Haiti into a capitalist system after the invasion. Before the occupation, each 9 departments consisted of a flourishing city and its suburb. The main city provided health, education, and security for that region, but the Americans abolished that system and centralized Port-au-Prince as the center of health, finance, education, and security for the whole country. That forced a mass movement of people from the provinces to the capital city. Port-au-Prince came from a city of about 500,000 people to an overcrowded state of more than 2 million people.
America also changed the Toussaint Louverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines constitution that forbid foreigners from owning land in Haiti. With that change, many fertile lands were given or sold to American, or "Haitian-American" companies, such as HASCO (Haitian American Sugar Company) and SHADA (Haitian American Society for Agricultural Development). "Before the occupation, the North was the political center of the country, but after, it moved from Cap-Haitien to Port-au-Prince," said professor Werleigh. America also created the Haitian army, which gave way to the "tonton macouts" during the Duvalier era.
Today, more than 70% of schools in Haiti are privatized, making it more difficult for unemployed parents to afford school for their children. Education is still a major source of pride for the people. I was pleased to see school children, elèv lekòl, in colorful uniforms throughout Port-au-Prince and the provinces. No matter what the economic situation, school uniforms are always immaculate. There are still young men in clean Burgendy pants with cream-colored shirts, avek epolèt. However, although progress is being made, the illiteracy rate is still above 50%.
There are many Haitians fighting to change the situation of their land, people like Mario Joseph, an attorney with the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI). BAI (Office of International Attorneys) prosecutes human rights violations that occurred during, before, and after the 1991-94 Coup d'Etat. Mario has successfully brought to trials and convicted many of those responsible for the human tragedy at Raboteau, a slum city in Gonaive, where the Haitian army killed hundreds of people and burned hundreds of homes in the early 1990s. They work also on tragedies that happened at Cite Soleil. According to Mario Joseph, "the philosophy of the office comes from the fact that if you look at the situation of justice in Haiti, you will see it is not for the poor. Our perspective is to work for the poorest of the poor."
I was also impressed by the work of SOFA (Solidarite Oganizasyon Fanm Ayisyen), especially Lise Marie Dejean, Head of Health Commission for SOFA. Lise reminded me of so many strong Haitian women, Fanm Ayisyèn, that I’ve known growing up. As Lise put it, SOFA health clinics do two important things, "education and health." The clinics deal with everything from STDs, to HIV/AIDS, rape, personal hygiene, as well as work with midwives in the countryside. Many of the women working at the clinic do so at the risk of their lives to help other women. "On April 5, 1998 the police broke into this clinic and destroyed it. They completely destroyed the materials and equipment we had gotten from MADRE under the false accusation that we had arms in the clinic. Our first reaction was to leave Martissant, but the people here stood up with us. We marched to the Ministry of Health and the Palace. They negotiated with us and rebuilt the clinic. They didn't restore everything, but we were able to get them to pay for the doctor's salary," said Lise.
In the struggle for a new Haiti, people, like Yannick Etienne, dedicate their lives to fight huge battles against the establishment. Yannick heads Batay Ouvriye, a workers' movement which began with the factory women in the assembly plants in 1995. They fight to bring dignity to factory workers, as well as better working conditions, and most importantly a decent living wage. The current minimum wage is 36 gourdes, or about one US dollar, for a day's work. With increasing inflation and the current embargo, it cost more than the minimum wage to go to work alone. Many will never know the importance of the battle that Yannick Etienne is fighting. Many more men and women, too many to mention, struggle quietly, outside the international spotlight, to change the conditions of Haiti. They fight to bring the "la perle des Antilles" back to its glorious form.
One of the most impressive places in Haiti, and maybe in the Caribbean, is located beyond the mountains, beyond mòn kabrit, "goat mountain," a dangerous winding road up the mountains, in the Central Plateau in Cange. Zanmi Lasante Complexe Sociomédical de Cange headed by Dr. Paul Farmer, "a medical anthropologist and infectious disease physician whose clinical responsibilities span three continents. He co-founded the international health organization Partners in Health along with its research and education arm, the Institute for Health and Social Justice." There are many great things that could be said about this modern center located "in the middle of the most horrible place in Haiti, in the midst of 700 squatters." Kanj is a squatter's settlement created by a hydroelectric dam project that began in 1956 and created hydroelectric current in 1971. Ironically, this village isn't electrified, but the Aristide government is starting put it in.
Zanmi Lasante Complex is an oasis of modern buildings with state of the art equipment, in a landscaped and reforested environment. The complex provides everything from mass vaccinations, eye clinic, to TB and HIV clinic. In 1995, the HIV clinic started an aggressive prevention program as AZT was introduced in the prenatal clinic. "More people became interested in being tested because the babies could be helped," said Dr. Farmer.
What makes Zanmi Lasante exceptional is the fact that it is run by Haitian doctors, Haitian nurses, Haitian administrators, Haitian directors, Haitian cooks, Haitian peasant volunteers, etc. Dr. Farmer and the rest of the foreign staff work as volunteers, while the Haitian staff is compensated. Among the staff is director Loune Viaud, recent winner of the 2002 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Laureate. Malcolm X once said, "don’t create an organization for me and be the head it, but create an organization and teach me to be the head of it." Dr. Farmer has done a tremendous job in putting Haitians in positions to excel, without creating or continuing the belief of the superiority of the doktè blan yo, or the foreigner doctors.
While Zanmi Lasante proved the kindness of the Haitian people, a visit with the members of Fondasyon 30 Septanm, the September 30th Foundation proved that evil still walks among the population. September 30th Foundation, coordinated by Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, was created after the 1991 coup in order to advocate for Haitian victims of political violence to fight for justice, put an end to impunity and secure reparations for victims from 1991 coup, prior victims, and post coup victims. The stories brought tears to everyone's eyes, especially those of us who had to translate the emotionally colorful Kreyol language into English. The members of the foundation, part of a victims support group, recounted stories of rape, pregnancy due to rape, beatings, torture, fear, and burnings. These accounts of days, months, and years after a democratically elected government was forcefully removed from power, while the "leader of the free world" watched, touched more than just my soul. Growing up under the Duvalier dictatorship as a child, I overheard many similar stories whispered behind close doors.
To presume, that after 20 years of absence from Haiti, that I have the answers, to all the ills that plague the country, would be very arrogant. Haiti's tribulations started long ago and cannot be fixed by a barely ten year old democratic tradition. From the time that president Jean-Pierre Boyer agreed to pay France a huge compensation for our freedom, Haiti has been paying the price for daring to become an Independent Black nation in the "new world." From the time that the United States refused to acknowledge Haiti as an independent nation, after we helped fight in their revolution and became one of their primary traders, we’ve been paying the price for daring to be free.
Freedom comes at a price, and Haiti has paid more than her fair share. The embargo has crushed a country that was starting to rise from under decades of crushing internationally supported dictatorship. Many of these countries supporting the embargo have benefited from unfair trades and slave labor that Haiti has been forced to accept. France should repay the money they forced out of president Boyer. Haiti's debt should be eliminated.
As members of the 10th department, the foreign Haitians, dyaspora yo, it is our obligation to return to Haiti and rebuild. It is important that we return and let the people know that they are not alone in their struggle. We, in the diasporas, nou menm diaspora yo, are part of America, the largest ethnic group in Canada, part of France, Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic. We must pressure these foreign governments and let them know that Haiti is part of them and a crucial part of us. We must go back after how ever many years or whether for the first time, and we must rediscover ourselves.
© www.EchodHaiti.com, 02/2003