15252: Karshan: St. Philip mission to help Haiti going to Congress (Lewisville Leader) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: MKarshan@aol.com

Lewisville Leader

St. Philip mission to help Haiti going to Congress

By Brent Flynn , Staff writer  03/19/2003

It is the first independent African nation in the Western Hemisphere. It was
supposed to be a vision of racial justice and human rights.

So why is Haiti in such dire straits today? And more importantly, what can be
done about it.

These are questions to which a group of parishioners of the Lewisville-based
St. Philip of the Apostle Church are trying to find the answers.

The group has committed itself to help starving Haitians in the city of
Boileau help themselves. These parishioners have already donated their time
and money to build a children's clinic, a school and to provide five wells
for clean water. They have raised $120,000, and the money is being used to
pay the salary of a community doctor, fund a lunch program for students
attending the school and purchase $40,000 worth of medical supplies and
equipment. The second phase of their relief effort is to help the people of
Boileau grow crops that they can process and sell on the open market.

But the rest of Haiti also is in serious need of outside help. St. Philip
parishioner Donna Millay began looking at the overall political situation in
Haiti after her first visit there last month. Now she is looking to
Washington to alleviate the suffering she witnessed.

"While we were there, we saw the most unbelievable devastation from
starvation," she said. "People are literally lying in the street dying.
Things have really declined in the past year."

But things were looking up for the Caribbean nation of 8 million in 1991. It
was the first election in the country's history, and it came on the heels of
the brutal regimes of Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier and Jean-Claude "Baby Doc"
Duvalier, which together lasted 34 years. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former
Catholic priest, was elected overwhelmingly to the presidency.

However, he was deposed in a military coup months later. It is the U.S.
embargo associated with the coup and the controversy surrounding Aristide's
re-election in 2000 that have brought the country to its knees. A dispute
over the legitimacy of the 2000 parliamentary elections has resulted in the
withholding of $500 million of international aid.

Millay has her sites on a bipartisan group of lawmakers headed by Sen. Mike
DeWine, R-Ohio, that has visited Haiti and know first-hand the unimaginable
suffering the Haitian people are enduring.

DeWine and the other lawmakers introduced the Haitian Economic Recovery
Opportunity act last year that is designed to bring trade relief to Haiti.

Millay said she wants to see aid money already earmarked for Haiti to be
released to non-governmental agencies able to distribute the money to the
people.

She is in the process of writing a request letter to DeWine in which she will
seek an invitation to speak with him in Washington about doing more for the
people of Haiti.

"More needs to be done and more people need to be made aware of the
conditions there," she said.

Millay and others from St. Philip are tentatively scheduled to meet Rep.
Michael Burgess, R-Lewisville, on Friday, and efforts are being made to
contact Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, both of Texas.

But Millay said she is worried that all the talk of war with Iraq will drown
out their calls for help on behalf of Haitians.

"Haiti cannot be ignored anymore," she said. "Their crisis is real and can't
be ignored whether or not we go to war."

Mike Frost, who has been coordinating trips of parishioners to Haiti, said
because of past action and inaction of the United States government toward
Haiti, Americans are partially responsible for their plight.

"In some ways we owe them a debt," he said. "With the best of intentions we
imposed an embargo on Haiti. If we give it a historical perspective we have
an obligation there that needs to be honored."

Anyone interested in becoming involved in the Haiti relief effort can contact
Millay at 972-567-4357.

Contact staff writer Brent Flynn at 972-538-2115 or at flynnb@dfwcn.com.

İLewisville Leader 2003