Haiti Five Months After the Quake

"We Are Motivated"

By ROBERT ROTH 

http://www.counterpunch.org/roth06182010.html

Weekend Edition
June 18 - 20, 2010

 “We have all suffered. But we are motivated right now to help our people.  That makes us strong. That allows us to go on. ”

- Teacher at a mobile school/ Aristide Foundation for Democracy

It is now more than five months since the January 12th earthquake devastated Haiti. Over 200,000 people have died, and1.5 million are still living under sheets, tarps and plastic in internal refugee camps. An Interim Reconstruction Commission headed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton has promised that at least $5.3 billion is in the “pipeline” destined for relief.  Even though the rainy season is here and hurricanes are on the way, the UN’s World Food Program announced in April that it was “winding down” its initial emergency food distribution program in Haiti.

Haitian Culture Versus Non-governmental Organizations Culture

By Wadner Pierre

Haiti, so called the poorest country in the American hemisphere, sometimes developing country, and even the capital of NGOs. It is amazing to see how Haitian people have been helping each other with the limited means, and sharing the Haitian values with their brothers

and sisters in their own way after the earthquake.
However, it is amazingly sad to see the way that the NGOs with unlimited means have been helping the earthquake survivors in Haiti. This situation may be seen as an ironic situation in the eyes of some people, and it may be seen as normal situation in the eyes of others. To understand the ongoing situation in Haiti right after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit this country in January 12 this year, it is to understand the Haitian culture, and the imperialism culture, or the NGOs or the dominant culture.

Haiti Post-Earthquake: Discrimination and Prejudice

By Wadner Pierre

The January 12 remains and will remain the darkness day in the history Haitian people. Many reasons make this date important and unforgettable for Haitian people. Even before the earthquake the masses in Haiti had barely received the attention from most of the people saying that they are there to help this desperate population.  However, after the quake it seems to become clearer than before that the working-class and poor people in Haiti will continue to live in their extreme poverty, though the millions of dollars and the tons of humanitarian aid that have been pouring to this country since and before the earthquake hit and destroyed the country’s most important part, western department, the capital and its surroundings.

Haitian Farmers Leery of Monsanto's Largesse - IPS ipsnews.net

Haitian Farmers Leery of Monsanto's Largesse - IPS ipsnews.net

In Memory of Father Gerard Jean-Juste

By Wadner Pierre

One year ago, Father Gerard Jean-Juste, who was like an adoptive father to me for many years, passed away after a courageous fight with leukemia. I'm happy anytime I can write down some  wise words he used to say to me and other boys who lived in the Sainte  Claire’s parish atop a hill in the community of Ti Plas Kazo  (Petite Place Cazeau). I am honoured to have been part of this great  man’s life, one of the icons of Haiti’s struggle. I lived with him since1997  as his right-hand altar boy until his lovely father, the Almighty God, called  him on May 27th, 2009 at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida.