29310: potemaksonje (NEWS) Haiti's Hope and Future is in the People's Hands (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

potemaksonje@yahoo.com


http://www.amsterdamnews.com/News/article/article.asp?NewsID=10779&sID=3


Haiti's Hope and Future is in the People's Hands
by Maxine Williams Webb
NNPA Staff Correspondent
Originally posted 10/5/2006


WASHINGTON (NNPA) - With 80 percent of its population
living in abject poverty, Haiti is the poorest country
in the Western Hemisphere. About half of the residents
are illiterate and two-thirds of the labor force is
without formal jobs.

But Haiti is rich in history. Led byToussaint
L'Overture, nearly a half million slaves revolted
against French colonists in 1804 and became the first
Black Republic to declare its independence.

Now, more than 200 years later, there is a connection
between Africans who were taken from the Motherland to
Haiti and those who continued on the trip north on
slave ships, settling into what is now the United
States.

Beginning this Thursday, Ron Daniels, a New York-based
human rights activist with the Haiti Support Project
(HSP), is leading a delegation of African Americans to
Haiti on a 5-day mission aimed at encouraging Black
investment in Haiti and promoting tourism.

Daniels planned a similar trip in 2004 to commemorate
the 200th anniversary of independence. But because of
political turmoil, Daniels did not complete his
mission.

?Now that there is a democratically-elected government
in Haiti, we fully expect that conditions will be
conducive for HSP to move forward to honor the pledges
made during the CIH (Cruising Into History)
pilgrimage. We will complete the journey we started in
2004 and officially launch the Model City Initiative
at that time,? he explains.

The plan is to establish a 5-year project working with
the Local Development Committee of Milot (LDCM), which
will be the ?accountability partners? connecting the
group with the pilot project. The key will be to draw
potential investors and supporters, like the ones on
this mission.

?We want engineers to come. We want people who are
doctors to come, dentists, sanitation people who know
how to do different things to come and do brigades in
this place,? Daniels says.

?We believe that in five years you can see a
measurable, quantifiable difference. That's why we say
a model city.?

There's no question that Haiti, a country slightly
smaller than Maryland, with a population more than 8
million, needs plenty of help. While political leaders
come and go, the problems remain constant. And that's
what Daniels wants to address.

This trip will help to bridge some of the gaps left
open from the past governments and dictators who have
kept Haitians severely oppressed - denying them basic
civil and human rights and leaving them to flee the
country as the only refuge for their survival.

Because Aristide was ousted, with the backing of the
U.S., some supporters of Haiti feel that groups such
as the one being lead by Daniels shouldn't be doing
anything until Aristide is allowed to resume his role
as head of the government. Others, however, say that
now that Haiti has a democratically-elected president,
Rene Preval, who won with 51 percent of the vote,
international efforts to help the tiny nation should
be increased.

Daniels says he understands the misgivings around
Aristide?s forced exit, but he must look to the
future.

Says Daniels, ?It will be a Caribbean power once it
gets on its feet.?







__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com