21118: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald-Bringing hope to Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Mon, Apr. 05, 2004




Bringing hope to Haiti

BY RICHARD T. HALVORSON

Miami Herald


PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Angel Aloma crosses the threshold at the exit at
Mais Gaté Airport and wastes no time getting to work.

Within minutes, he is on the dusty ground of a walled compound housing a
school and AIDS clinic in Cité Soleil, the 25-square-mile slum that houses
Haiti's poorest of the poor. Aloma warms the hand of each of the 30
patients. He soothes their groans, swats away flies, comforts them in
stifled French and Creole (he speaks only a few words of each).

''Real, physical human contact is the most important part of being here,''
says Aloma, executive vice president of Deerfield Beach-based Food for the
Poor. ``It's a gift to me just as it is to them.''

In a fast-paced four-day trip, Aloma embraces the sick, dances with ''golden
girls'' at a home for the elderly, meets with government officials and hugs
little children -- always telling them they are trés belle.

Aloma landed in Haiti two weeks after a monthlong rebellion claimed more
than 300 lives and forced President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from office.
Several international aid agencies complained that their food warehouses
were looted during the uprising.

Because of the crisis, Aloma sought to assess new humanitarian needs and
comfort aid workers. Food for the Poor is the largest charity working to
meet the needs of Haiti's four million poor who lack food, medicine,
education, housing and jobs. The organization provides millions of pounds of
rice, beans and powdered milk through schools, churches and feeding centers
each year and plans to spend more than $60 million assistingHaiti this year.

''The only way to really understand Haiti's destitution is by seeing,
smelling and touching it,'' says Aloma, who joined Food for the Poor three
years ago.

Aloma spends less than an hour at the AIDS clinic before moving on to a
hospital on the other side of Cité Soleil. Dr. Jerry Bitar, who runs the
hospital, shows Aloma lobbies and storage closets converted into patient
rooms.

''Since the violence shut down three other hospitals, we are the only
hospital serving Cité Soleil,'' said Bitar, one of just two doctors at the
hospital. ``Only 35 beds and thousands in need of care.''

Bitar says that the hospital turns away about 40 patients every day and
''many others cannot afford the bus fare to arrive at our door.'' He points
out an area where the hospital hopes to build a new wing -- then asks Aloma
for $20,000 to fund it.

Aloma leaves the hospital without making any commitment. It's difficult to
find the money for every project, he says.

A COUNTRY IN NEED

Even before the political crisis, the United Nations listed Haiti among the
hungriest nations in the world, with 50 percent of the population
chronically undernourished. The U.N. also reported that Haiti suffers a
growing AIDS crisis, with 15 percent of the urban population testing
positive for HIV/AIDS and more than 200,000 AIDS orphans.

At sunrise the next morning, Aloma boards a creaky prop plane bound for the
northern port of Cap Haitien. He's met by the Rev. Augustin Dukin, who gives
him a tour of several urgent aid projects.

Just outside the city, dozens of homes are built on vast trash heaps. Aloma
is pleased that a new feeding program has restored the healthy dark roots of
many children's hair.

''Malnutrition caused their hair to be orange,'' he said.

Food for the Poor hopes to fund 110 new houses to relocate the families from
the garbage dump. The group built 500 houses nationally in 2003 and hopes to
build as many as 1,500 this year, Aloma said.

''Our strategy is to serve the poorest families first,'' Aloma said.

Each stop on Aloma's tour proves similar -- volunteers accomplishing
Herculean feats, but with needs far outpacing resources.

''In terms of resources, many Haitians lack everything -- except the vigor
of the human spirit,'' says Aloma.

Back in Port-au-Prince, Aloma visits interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue
to brief him on Food for the Poor's budget and projects. Latortue, a former
Boca Raton resident, assumed office just before the visit.

''Haiti's fundamental and basic financial resources are truly so limited,''
Latortue said. ``We welcome the help of other nations and [charities] to
promote positive steps forward in Haiti. Especially in terms of food aid and
basic human needs, we need transitional help to move out of this emergency
situation.''

Before leaving Haiti, Aloma makes one more stop. It's a familiar place.

''My wife always gets jealous when I visit here,'' he says of the home for
the elderly, built by Food for the Poor.

Residents strike up rhythmic bongos to greet Aloma. He's quickly roped into
dancing; several of the silver-haired women nudge one another out of the way
for a turn.

After Aloma is worn out on the dance floor, he thanks the group.

''I don't speak French or Creole,'' he says, ``but we all speak the language
of the heart.''

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