Haiti and Vermont

February 2010 1

Robin's Nest

Ayiti in Anguish

BY Robin Lloyd

I lit a candle in solidarity that first night. From then on I phoned and surfed the net and watched TV obsessively. I learned that the old rickety Olaffson Hotel in central Port-au-Prince where I used to stay was still standing, and the more modern concrete Montana Hotel had collapsed. Gerdes and Florienne Fleurant, the couple who invited me to join them on a family trip to the sacred waterfall at Saut D'eau from which I made the documentary Haitian Pilgrimage, were OK. But Danila Dinan, who lived at my home when she first came to Burlington from Haiti 22 years ago, called to tell me that her brother's only child was killed in Jacmel.

␣ Why? Looking to God (or the devil) for an explanation of this catastro- phe is not limited to Pat Robertson.

Some Haitian commentators have said the devastation of key symbols of power in the capital was punishment for corrupt leaders who have allowed the mostly light-skinned elite to enrich themselves while the black majority suffers.

"If all of a sudden, in 15 seconds, 20 seconds, all the physical representations of corruption are destroyed, it gives you pause for thought," said Richard Morse, the owner of the Olaffson and a musician whose mother was a singer and revered Voodoo priestess. "The Justice Ministry: down. The National Palace: down. The United Nations headquarters: down." Plus every major Catholic church in the capital.

Unharmed by the quake was the famous bronze statue, "Le Maron Inconnu" – "the Unknown Escaped Slave," Morse pointed out.

Yet the rich in their fancy houses on the hillside above Port- au-Prince have somehow escaped the 'punishment'. Surviving unscathed, they are likely now scrambling to make sure that the lion's share of US humanitarian aid ends up in their pockets.

␣Two Small Vermont/Haiti Projects I spoke with June Levinsohn, a nurse from southern Vermont who has worked in Haiti off and on since the eighties. Over the years, she has put together a small Haitian organization named AyitiKonseVet (Haiti + Conservation+ Green) which offers agricultural and training programs to 6 communities in rural Haiti. Out of this work has come the school garden pairing project. Students from five schools in the Brattleboro area that have garden projects are paired with students from rural schools in Haiti. Presently, the US schools are raising money to buy seeds and hand tools for their sister schools in Haiti. In addition, the history and culture of Haiti is part of the curriculum in these elementary schools.

In 2006 June organized a tour of Vermont organic farms and schools by 8 Haitian farmers and agronomists. She has been working with John Hayden, farmer and agronomy prof at UVM – and currently in Haiti – on a larger plan – an agricul- tural college in northern Haiti. The goal is to help Haiti increase its productive capacity, become food self-sufficient and extricate itself from its nearly total dependence on foreign handouts.

Tom Luce, formerly of Vermont – now Califor- nia – has committed his retirement to working for Human Rights in Haiti. Over the past 5 years, his organization HURAH, with many Vermont board

members, has been supporting human rights activists in four zones of Port-au-Prince. Tom has confirmed that the president of their Haitian organization AUMOHD, Attorney Evel Fanfan, and his family are safe. Even the office is standing. Tom is heading to Haiti on Feb. 7 to try to ascertain the best way donations can be used to help the organization. "These are people who have partnered with us in working to establish practices of justice in poor communities, residents themselves of these grassroots neighborhoods. We would like to bring them some personal relief in recognition of their work." For more info, or to contribute go to www.hurah-inc.org,

In the last few days, Tom is promoting a solution to the crisis similar to that of Haiti's favorite (and richest) son, the rap musician Wyclef Jean. "Port-au-Prince is a morgue," Jean said at a Manhattan press conference. "Residents should be evacuated to tent cities outside Port-au-Prince to allow aid to reach them and so cleanup can begin in earnest," Jean said, asking for help from around the world in building encampments. "We need to migrate at least 2 million people."

Hurah's proposal is more modest: to evacuate – voluntarily - the most destitute, most damaged victims (estimated at 400,000) from the city of Port-Au-Prince to adequate, temporary camps that will provide basic health care, food, shelter, and mandatory education programs for all children.

Tim Reiser, Senator Leahy's foreign policy aide, agrees that tent cities need to be constructed, but that finding space to put the tents up is a daunting task. In addition, he said, "lots of people don't want to leave". Katrina all over again, but worse. The exodus is happening, now, as I write, but with little or no planning.

I asked Reiser what he thought of Amy Goodman's observa- tion that the Haitian people might gain more hope and inspiration from seeing former president Jean Bertrand Aristide return to Haiti and stand arm in arm with President Preval than seeing the American line up of Obama, Clinton and Bush. He demurred, saying, "Aristide is perceived as divisive. It could well be chaotic. But its up to the Haitian government to make the decision."

However, with thousands of American military feet on the ground right now, there is not much space for the Preval govern- ment to think outside the box of American priorities.

A person tenderly ties a dead women's feet together as she is attended to on the side of a road the day after the earthquake struck. AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo

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Bob Belenky
80 Lyme Road, apt 105
Hanover, NH 03755-1229
603 678-4155 or 802 428-4141
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http://haitirenaissiance.blogspot.com/

http://robertbelenky.com