Is it enough? The things we’re doing?

We usually hear about Haiti in connection with disasters – floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, or civil unrest – forgetting that even in the best of times the Haitian people suffer more than their human share of pain, hunger, disease, and death. Unemployment has always been high, and jobs pay poorly. It’s hard feeding a family on $2 a day. Many children don’t or can’t go to school. Medicine and medical services are inadequate and never reach many of the people. The list goes on.

It’s easy to blame the Haitian government, which has always been inefficient, usually corrupt, and often violent and oppressive. Some would blame the Haitian people themselves for being superstitious and lazy.

But that won’t do; the government and people are a product of their history and subsequent conditions, not the other way around. Overcoming the burden of history and conditions requires help, especially now, after the catastrophic 7.0 earthquake.

I’m sure we feel we have given much during the three weeks since the earthquake. But is it enough? What usually happens several months after a disaster is that world attention moves on and pre-disaster life gradually re-emerges, under even poorer conditions. When the Haitian people struggle back onto their hands and knees – if not their feet – will we leave them there to continue a life of squalor and deprivation? I hope we can do better this time.

What can we do? Besides continuing to give generously to existing charities and supporting the efforts of REBUILD HAITI locally, we need to exercise our political influence. We must tell our own leaders to support Haitian reconstruction, providing favorable trading conditions, debt relief, and perhaps a microloan program to encourage grass roots entrepreneurship. We need to maintain our personal involvement in organizations dedicated to bringing education and better medical care to more of the Haitian people.

But we must not simply take over Haiti, giving them what we think they need, or ordering them to act the way we think they should. Aid, encouragement, compassion, and prayers are necessary; imposing our control, culture, and values will not, in the long-term, cure Haiti’s problems.

Stan Rodriguez
REBUILD HAITI