A Fool In Haiti

One year today since the earthquake in Haiti that triggered my journey out there. I haven’t got time to write up all my thoughts and feelings on this, so instead I point you to a post over at The Wild Hunt who have the latest news and sum things up succinctly.

I would love all people who care about what is happening in Haiti to read this article in yesterday’s Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/dec/17/haiti-wikileaks

Excerpt:

“One area of US foreign policy that the WikiLeaks cables help illuminate, which the major media has predictably ignored, is the occupation of Haiti. In 2004, the country’s democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was overthrown for the second time, through an effort led by the United States government. Officials of the constitutional government were jailed and thousands of its supporters were killed.”

One of the many vids I took of some of the children who will live at the Danthor Foundation orphanage once it is ready… The kids loved the cameras! This is filmed in a small village called Oban, about 5 miles from Jacmel in Southern Haiti. Filmed in March 2010 about 6 weeks after the earthquake that killed up to 300,000 people… Myself and Manbo Paula were there and with our $US20/day each we were able to feed about 25 people…

I was interviewed on local station Radio Reverb about my journey over to Haiti. I previously posted the link to the station’s blog entry about the show, but here is the audio – It’s unedited so a little “oo errr ummm” but hopefully still worth listening to.

http://reverber8.podomatic.com/entry/2010-03-03T06_22_54-08_00

Last week I was interviewed on Brighton radio station, Radio Reverb about what is happening in Haiti and my reasons for going over… The interview went for about an hour and we covered a wide range of topics… The interviewer, Liz Elen has written up the interview, along with her own research…

See the write-up of that interview here.

My good friend Steve Ash is going to be in constant contact with me whilst I’m in Haiti (well, as much as possible). He will be transcribing posts from my blog here straight on to facebook and there is now a Facebook Page set up allowing you to follow my blog from there. If you don’t use Facebook, that’s okay – stuff will still appear here first.

If you are a Facebook user, you’ll find the page here: A Fool In Haiti on Facebook

I have said before that the main drive to go to Haiti at this time was to bear witness to, and hopefully in some small way discourage the forced conversions of Haitians to various Christian cults.

Forced conversion for food is simply outrageous!

My good friend Doug asks:

Hey Seani – excellent blog. I’ll advertise it soon. My immediate question was how will you feed and water yourself given that both seem to be in extreme shortage? I’d also be interested to hear something about where you will be going. Do you have contacts there?

This is a good question – as far as I’m being told by my contacts on the ground in Haiti, and through the blog network, there is food and water there – but the people who need it most are not getting it… In particular, a large number of Vodouisants are being denied food and being forced to convert to Christianity… (see previous article). This outrages me and is the reason that first compelled me to go… What I’m being told is food distribution is the biggest issue now and it scares me that some are being forced to convert in order to be fed. See another article about that situation here.

I have several contacts there, but the plan is to be working with Gro’ Manbo Paula Wédo a founder of The Danthor Foundation. The Foundation was set up over a year before the earthquakes (January 2009). Read towards the bottom of that page to see what was needed a year ago. I quote:

And so, The Danto Foundation was born in Haiti on New Year’s Day- Haitian Independance Day, January 2009

In this spirit D’Jhonny and I set out, spending time looking at various organizations and how we could assist.

Eventually we decided upon a school in Auban, on the south-east coast. Fifty children attended here, but hurricanes and floods June through September 2008, destroyed the school, leaving only the walls standing.

The school needs a new roof and to be refurbished for the children and the requirements are really very modest.

When I first met Msr.Loucite and Msr.Alerte, they didn’t have a blackboard or chalk left, everything is gone.

…. [ visit her site to see details of school enrolment ]

The budget to rebuild and refurbish the school is $6,272.37….Not really a huge amount to aid 45 or so families and 50 kids.

Once the school is up and running, it can be registered with the Haitian Government. This in turn means that our school will be able to apply to PAM, the French World Food Organization that distributes food in the Carribbean, for a food allocation. PAM will supply our school with food & the children will get fed everyday.

If this school needed so much a year ago, then it needs it so much more now… And really, it is so easy for me to give it: collect it here, take it over, make sure it gets there as best as I can. I feel a certain kinship with Vodou anyway (which I’ll write about shortly) and feel ready to step into this world.

Manbo Paula’s contacts in Jacmel know I’m coming and I think there’s no reason to not go now… Funding is a slight issue. I have taken a small loan to get there and am asking for sponsors to help out if it is possible and I’ll take whatever I can.

Having said all that, if it appears that my being there is in any way creating a burden on an already over-burdened country then I shall leave immediately…

Haiti: The Thinking Behind the Hard Choices a new article out now on the Medicins San Frontieres website…

[MSF surgeon Angeleke] Saridakis was reminded of injuries she’d seen in war zones on previous missions, except this was “on a larger scale.” Even in the worst conflict areas, there is an ebb and flow to emergency medical needs. In Haiti, however, everyone had been wounded at the same time.

… read more…

This article fills me with a sense of urgency – I know I have to get over there as quickly as possible and with as much resource as I can manage. What’s that? 230,000 people dead??? That number is no massively unimaginable… I can’t for the life of me think I can make much of a dent in helping people – but maybe, just maybe I can make a few lives better. With the hope I can do that, I am on my way….

BBC News – Voodoo religion’s role in helping Haiti’s quake victims.

Haitian musician Theodore “Lolo” Beaubrun is quoted in this article as saying, “Some Christian communities do not want to give food to voodoo followers. As soon as they see people wearing peasant clothes or voodoo handkerchiefs, they put them aside and deny them food. This is something I’ve seen.”

I find this such a horrifying thought – that people are being denied basic food and shelter based on their religious beliefs and traditions… More so with Haitian Vodou as it has been horribly vilified for several hundred years. But from my perspective, it is one of the world’s most beautiful and natural religions… I shall write more about Vodou as time permits. Knowing there is such prejudice out there is one of the main reasons I feel I’m compelled to go!

Now in no way do I feel all Christians would be this malicious, and the article states that it isn’t all. But the fact that it goes on certainly needs more attention drawn to it, especially in an earthquake zone where 230,000 people have just been killed….