Port-au-Prince -- It is an image of apocalypse. The National Palace and the ministries that were the heart of Haiti's government are in ruins. The beautiful court of justice collapsed. Building after building, street after street.
Two weeks after the earthquake, the residents of Port-au-Prince make their way through heaps of rubble. There are still corpses in piles of debris. Survivors who still have homes sleep in the streets scared by the aftershocks. The lucky have mattresses. If they have food, they cook outside.
On these streets I hear people praying and singing. And I see solidarity.
People are not angry. They are upset because they are totally left to their own devices. The government, which suffered losses, is also traumatized. Its offices totally destroyed, it is unable to provide leadership.
An immense international aid effort is underway, but it has yet to touch most people.
Somehow I see a sense of pride emerging in Port-au-Prince. Pride in our self-reliance. People say we must dig ourselves out. Literally. Community leaders have been playing an important role trying to help get citizens organized and keep them safe.
The reports of unrest are exaggerated. In Haiti, it is as if people want to prove that we can take care of ourselves -- at least partly. Because of course we do need help. That help consists of emergency aid and a plan for moving our ravaged country forward.
The plan for Haiti should unfold in three phases: rescue, recovery and reconstruction. We are now at the end of the first. With international support, we still need to get help to the neediest: food, water and medical care.
The second stage needs should get underway urgently. We need to restore a system of public information to tell people what to do and what not to do. For example, what water is safe to drink and what street needs to be closed off because buildings are in danger of collapse.
Bodies need to be cleared away to ward off disease. We need to restore basic services and remove debris and unsound structures.
At the same time, we must tackle the problem of shelter. We need to get people into tents before the rains come. We have identified places outside the capital that can be used to house camps.
If people are relocated, they must have a basic way to earn some semblance of a living. We should press forward with cash-for-work programs, to pay people to pick up garbage. Instead of shipping in big rock cutters, we can use international aid to pay Haitians to break up debris with sledge hammers.
The third phase is reconstruction and development. That is our opportunity to start afresh with a view to mistakes we have made in the past.
The outpouring of generosity from all corners of the world even from those who can ill afford it is staggering. Without combined leadership from abroad and from Haiti itself however this help will amount to little.
Before the earthquake, our capital had mushroomed to a teeming city of three million people unable to support its residents.
Haiti with the donor community should consider a long-term plan of rebuilding with an eye towards developing the country more evenly so that citizens can prosper. A critical role for donors together with local communities, is to provide employment so people will have an incentive to relocate; Basic infrastructure needs to be built throughout but to thrive, Haiti needs other ports not just in the capital. It needs to build manufacturing centers to capitalize on the country's proximity to the United States.
As I sift through the ruins of my home, I have hope. I am more convinced than ever that we should put the country back together not as it was but as it should be.
While many among the political elite has little choice but to stick around, it seems like the rest has already left the country after the quake and those who remained are doing very little to help. This story : "Haiti earthquake makes gap between rich and poor bigger" is not encouraging
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/82900.html
Nor is this story in the ny times about tent being stolen by the police and sold to poor desperate folks at exorbitant prices.
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/01/25/world/americas/1247466711815/haiti-stolen-tents.html?src=tp
I have also seen reports of police killing desperate hungry folks over a bag of rice, pictures etc. while desperate hungry masses are sharing among themselves
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/world/americas/26hunger.html?src=tp
In addition to the suggestions proposed by others on this board, I hope those in charge have planned to retrain the police force to protect the citizenry not just the interest of the economic elite and to purge the corrupt ones among them.
Of primary importance is the Restavek/Slavery situation in Haiti. That, must end. Haiti, the country that prides itself the "first Black Republic" must emancipate Haitian slaves/Restavek if the country truly wants to reconstruct. It is inhumane and it is one of the reasons why Haiti continues to have such severe social economic problems. Problems must be acknowledged before they can be resolved.
As unfortunate as the earthquake was, it is an opportunity for Haiti to regroup and change course to bring needed progress. Watching the devastation in Haiti is heart breaking and it will be a shame for Haiti to return to what it used to be.
All eyes are on Haiti and I hope Haitians don't let Haiti down this time around.
The wealthy few, including the wannabe bourgeoisie traditionally look down on the majority class Haitian and consider them at best, children, at worst, subhuman. This is the main reason Haiti fails. Build up the middle class by giving opportunities to all, not just the few. Those who work hard should be rewarded, this would be a new thing! Foreigners (Americans especially) are often mistaken about Haiti and talk to the wealthy and elite wannabes to decide what to do with Haiti. I suggest they talk to the poor and see how intelligent and generous they are. Unlike the upper classes, they do not hate those who have. They are better than I.
I hope the world can see one day again the Haitian beauty that we know exist within the country and its people. Bonne chance a Haiti.
We must each ask ourselves what we can do and then do it as well and as often as we possibly can. We must collectively ask ourselves how quickly can we build the needed structures properly and sufficiently stable to resist future earthquakes of equal or greater magnitude. How long will it take us to provide a modern infrastructure that will allow Haitians to sustain themselves.
It is merely time, that we must transcend. What we start today we can teach our children to continue tomorrow. It is the union of our combined on-going selfless efforts that will provide the fertile soil in Haiti in which the seed of our compassion may be planted. Thus may our children and their children' reap the full promise of their own humanity.
I pray that what we do collectively is blessed by the hand of God: and that one day in the future some blessed soul will witness the sprouting of this seed that we must jointly sow and yet another smell the fragrance of its' bloom.
I am donating part of my Etsy sales this week to Doctors Without Borders - you can see what I have and the details here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/EclecticaByJan
My ocmpany, Trunity has launched an Internet project in which we are giving away build you own portals to anyone involved in Haiti relief...school, churches and anyone can build a website to organize local efforts here. http://www.trunity.net/haitirelief/