Rebuilding Haiti

Rebuilding Haiti

My knowledge on the ethics of government has barely surpassed the “Lord of the Flies”, and so I hesitate sharing opinion on the economics of foreign aid. And as I continue to eat cake, I can’t rightfully consider myself humanitarian. I am intrigued by people and I desire to connect with others. I seek opportunity to give, because I want. I have never chosen to starve for the sake of the public and when it comes to ensuring the success of my family, I am extremely selfish.  Admittedly, I am an overindulgent privileged American whose suffering is limited solely to the manifestation of thoughts around unmet desires. These sufferings, as magnificent as I make them to be, are comparatively detestable. I feel shame as I write.

The absence of inalienable human rights a year following the tragedy is heartbreaking. Thousands of Haitians are living helpless in the grip of a cholera epidemic. The grotesquely unsanitary living conditions are breeding disease and the healthcare institutions are insufficient. Victims of the earthquake are experiencing a life of malnutrition, hunger, and physically disabling injuries. The lack of government leadership is preventing competent delegation and distribution of support funding and charitable services. Currently there is no strategic plan in place to end the consequences of a crumbled city of concrete rubble. The island is in dark chaos.

Following the earthquake the United States joined countries worldwide in relief efforts to the island county ruined by a natural disaster. A tragedy that science reveals is highly likely to happen again and again. The likelihood of continual reoccurring quakes is concern enough for some people to deem money better spent. The island country is destitute. Haiti has no immediately foreseeable resources like oil, uranium or highly advanced science engineers and the return of investment is estimated decades away.

I believe this thinking is short sighted. I like to imagine a cooperative global support project. The immediate return investment would be the international relationships established in the work efforts.  Being of service to those in need creates a positive energy that would influence the development of friendships and global business relations. A shared commitment to being of service to Haiti could result in a self sufficient island country that becomes a productive member of the global economy.

Our world is becoming increasingly interconnected. Is it possible to join together and organize an international leadership team with one relief budget? What can we imagine, contemplate and do that supports a vision of hope for those suffering?

Some selected text from an article written by Nathanial Gronewold, Greenwire 1-13-2011…

About 690,000 people have been moved off the streets to new temporary or permanent housing, and authorities say earthquake-hit populations have adequate access to food and medical care and most students have returned to school.

Five percent of the earthquake rubble has been cleared from Port-au-Prince.

Aid agencies and organizations working in the "shelter cluster," led by the International Organization for Migration, estimate that they had built 31,656 transitional homes by the end of last year, beating their goal of 30,000.

An effort to restore degraded land along Haiti's southern coast has relaunched, led by teams bia University and an assortment of nongovermental organizations and made possible by a $15 million grant from Norway and Catholic Relief Services [ http://crs.org/ ]. More than 300 square miles of land and about 200 square miles of a marine zone should be restored under the program.

That "Côte Sud Initiative" is part of a larger 20-year plan to reforest Haiti's bald mountainsides, establish more natural protected areas and restore the nation's natural resources.

A San Diego-based group, Plant with Purpose, [ http://www.plantwithpurpose.org/ ], estimates that it alone has planted around 240,000 trees and built more than 360 miles of "soil conservation barriers" in rural Haiti since the quake, spending $1 million to hire Haitians to do

the work.

               Copyright 2011 Environment & Energy Publishing. All Rights Reserved. www.greenwire.com

What do you think?

But wait...didn't so many rush to the rescue?

Haiti: The Shattered Year- A NYtimes Powerpoint video journal 

I thought I would begin with an informal posting prior to lecture and discussion reflection. I have read a couple of articles on the former dictator, Jean-Claude Duvalier's return to the island country and of course his decision to return seems a bit strange. But I wonder... isn't history filled with redemption and changes of heart?

The imagery in the above link is a powerful story. I am curious if discussion will lead toward the importance of developing meaningful relationships with people worldwide. When people come together to support each other in crisis, hopefully the work will foster relationships that positively effect other global issues, challenges and opportunities.