More than a year after the devastating earthquake, one question still occupies my mind “where is the money?” I am still baffled by what we call progress, thousands still live in inhuman condition. I ask myself repeatedly if I am dreaming. Unfortunately it is not a dream; it is the reality of more than a million of men, women, and children that still live in makeshift tents. After the earthquake UN provided an estimation of the aid requirement:
After seeing these numbers I was skeptical however, I was convinced we Haitians, the people of pride, would join hands to make Haiti the first priority. Needless to say that was a naïve thought, look at
Haiti now, too many deep pockets to fill, too many see this tragedy as a way to lavish into money. That greed we have that causes the suffering of so many and hangs like a dark cloud over our nation will take us straight to the path of our own destruction. Today I am inviting you to be the voice of
Haiti, the voices of those ones that cannot speak. How can we stand to look at this dreadful picture that is painted with the vivid color of agony and sorrow of so many Haitians? We can no longer afford to be Haitian by circumstance. We should not let this moment define us,
Haiti still needs our help. Although Haiti is no longer on the news flash on CNN, FOX new, and the tragedy does not make the afternoon news, death for many of our brothers and sisters is still around the corner, and hope is nothing but a fantasy. Their situations do not change as quickly as the headline news. This has never been more evident to me, sadly, as it is right now “out of sight out of mind”. We quickly forgot it, like it was only a nightmare. We always said “l’union fait la force
” where is that sense of fraternity? If I may ask. I want to remind you that if during and after the earthquake thousands of Haitians die, it is our fault.
and their everyday hardship. My loyalty and my love toward Haiti will be questioned undoubtedly; the question that will be posed is why I am doing this, why not giving up? Poets, and musicians have tried they have begged for a better tomorrow with no avail. We all have heard and seen these words before; they brought back memories that empoisoned our soul with sadness, sometimes it takes the length of the reading to forget everything, sometimes it might only take a day or maybe longer. One thing is for sure we always forget too soon.
Haiti did not become the poorest nation in the western hemisphere after the quake, this only worsen the situation. This tragedy exposed the weakness of this small nation, and the greed of our politicians; this is by far our darkest era. We have faced tragedy before; our politicians have failed us many times before, we have put our soul and heart into their hands they crushed them. Our children, our brothers and sisters have been killed by them in numbers, oh we know, our students have been beaten to death in the streets for dreaming of a better tomorrow, we know they have killed our journalists for telling the truth, they have forced into exile our brightest. What they are doing now is beyond my understanding.
It is time to say enough is enough – bourik la pran trop kout baton li bouke
.I have one rather simple and complicated desire it is to see corruption no longer be the everyday norm in Haiti. A UN report confirmed billions being pledged for the relief efforts and to help with this effort the IHRC was created which was co-chaired by the former president William J. Clinton and the Former Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive. Again in this report it is said that at the end of the year 2010 over 74 developments projects worth a whopping 3 billion US dollars were approved by the commission. Out of this $3 billion only $1.6 billion were funded. What left me speechless is that during an interview Mr. Bellerive declared “The problem is I don’t know who is receiving aids, what they are doing with it, and where it goes” this is ironic given he is a member of IHRC. If the government claimed they never received the money, who is then? Who is coordinating this effort in
Haiti? Many of the pledges to
Haiti failed to see any daylight due to the economic downturn around the world however many other countries fulfilled their commitment to this dying nation.
This was a humanitarian crisis, and still is, thanks to the nations that responded to the call of my anguished people. Countless individuals responded by giving their times and their hard earned money. The question that is burning inside me and many other Haitians is “where is this money?” Why is nothing being done …
Pi bel pase ou nan pwen
these were the words our folkloric songs attribute to
Haiti. And if today you are feeling discomfited by what is happening in Haiti now and discomfited by what I’m writing then I accomplished my task, however if today what I’m saying does not take you aback or does not interest you I just want you to know that I really am sorry for you.
