HAITI, I'M SORRY

Before karaoke started last night giving me an opportunity to belt out my depression in song, I was absolutely despondent and devastated. This is because I had been watching reports of the situation in Haiti. One small barefooted boy of about 8 years old had a heart wrenching effect on me. There was the young man looking absolutely forlorn, shocked and lost, sitting on the pavement. What hope did he ever have in life having been born in Haiti I wondered? Then I went into a bout of philosophical questioning, of course, starting with whether there is really a god.

I mean, why have the majority of the over nine million people in Haiti seemed to have been condemned to a life of misery from the cradle to the grave?

I remember the first time I set foot in that miserable country. I had been on the way to Santo Domingo with my late cousin Polly and since it cost no more to make a stop in Haiti, we decided to spend a few days there.

The first shock was seeing kids playing in the dirty drainage water with the pigs. This was in the drains that you see running beside the road from the airport to Port A Prince. Then our walks downtown were frequently interrupted by hopeless mothers carrying emaciated babies, begging for anything you could give. A visit to the famous iron market where the most beautiful paintings and craft items done by the Haitian people are to be found, was depressing and annoying as every step you took you were surrounded by a number of people either begging alms or telling you a long, sad tale about their miserable life, pleading with you to buy their craft items and ease their misery.

On the other hand, the absolute affluence in Petionville was in stark contrast. The palace where baby Doc lived was of course exotic and really palatial and when we tried to get close on the sidewalk to take pictures, we were told by a fierce guard that no one was allowed to walk on the sidewalk beside the palace!

Years later, work took me to Haiti on a number of occasions and each trip was more the depressing than the last. I remember on one trip taking a regular bus to Gonaives as I wanted to see the rural countryside. It was really horrific as you really got a close look at the arid countryside and deforested hills crowded with shacks, most of which were made from nothing but cardboard. Yes, cardboard. Everywhere, the poverty and hopelessness assaulted your senses.

I was therefore not overly surprised on reading some years ago that a number of Haitians were surviving on nothing but grass and mud pies. I was a bit difficult to see how they could even digest such things, but that's what the report said and based on the about 80% unemployment and the absolute nothingness that you see everywhere in that country, it seemed plausible.

Now the Haitians' lot in life has not come about because they are lazy or don’t really care how their governments operate, as we do in Jamaica. For from 1804 when the Haitian slaves led by Toussant Lovertuere rebelled against Napoleon’s occupational army and routed it thus winning their independence, the people there have been fighting for a better way of life.

Each time they get a despotic dictator, they are not afraid to shed their blood to get rid of him, but unfortunately, every pretender that succeeds the last one, does nothing but exploit then people, stealing even aid sent to help the poor. Even Aristide who had been a priest and had taken a vow of poverty, was said to be worth US$9 million when he was forced into exile. My goodness, suppose he had taken a vow of wealth?

To add insult to injury, the oppression by man had been compounded by the oppression by nature. For last year alone poor Haiti was hit three times by hurricanes and it is said that the flood waters still remain in parts of Gonaives.

Now this major earthquake has totally devastated Port A Prince. When you see pictures of what it has done to the well built century old palace, there can be no question as to what has happened to the rest of the buildings in that unfortunate country. Look at the multi-storey United Nations building there. Nothing but rubble.We are told that hospitals and schools have been destroyed and because of the lack of equipment, rescue operations are either minimal or ineffective.

So it is difficult to dismiss the President’s estimate that up to a hundred thousand persons could have been killed in this disaster. He also went on to say that about 3 million people are either homeless or have lost everything. My god, why such punishment for the poor Haitian people?

Can you imagine the absolute loss of hope that prevails in that country at this time? And coming at a time when there was a small ray of hope brought on by the Bill Clinton's initiative which had brought some investment and low paying jobs to the country. The Haitians, unlike us, recognize that low pay is better than no pay hence they had embraced these initiatives and were working assiduously to convince the rest of the world that they would work their way out of their misery.

Now this.

You know, in January every year in Jamaica we have earthquake awareness month and during that period, frequent tips are given to tell us what to do in case there is a major tremor. This is because our last really major earthquake which destroyed Kingston was in January, the 13th January 1907, to be specific. That being over a century ago, we keep hearing that we are overdue for another major rumble. On Tuesday when I heard the breaking news that there had been a major earthquake, 7 on the Richter Scale and it had had hit Haiti and a tsunami warning had been sent out for the western Caribbean, my heart skipped a beat, for I really thought this was it. While the tremor was felt by some persons in St. Thomas, Portland, St. Mary and Kingston, because the epicenter was just outside Port A Prince, no damage was done in these parishes, thank God.

You know they always tell us that good comes out of evil and I am really trying hard to see the good that is in this for those miserable, destitute and even hopeless Haitians who survive this latest disaster. Thank goodness, the world's response has been immediate and generous. Even Jamaica with its own terrible economic problems was quick to send aid and manpower from the army and the disaster preparedness organization to assist the rescue which is being hampered by a lack of equipment. It is also so heartening to hear the average, struggling Jamaican pledging to help their sisters and brothers in that neighboring country in any way they can.

So could the good that comes out of this latest evil be that now that that country is nothing but one big rumble, it will give them an opportunity to really rebuild it properly? Raymond Wilson said "To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing."
I cannot but hope for the Haitian people.