Haiti: Still Re-BUILDING

It’s been two years since the earthquake and Haiti is still rebuilding. I went back and forth on what and how I wanted to write a piece for the 2nd anniversary devastating January 12^th   earthquake,  finally I settled on writing something that would help to shed some light as to why Haiti is still rebuilding.  

Fact: The quake left countless evidence of its wrath behind. More than ¼ of a million people died, just as many injured and over 1 million people were left without a place to call home.  80% of Leogane was destroyed, big parts Port-au-Prince, Jacmel, and Petit-Goave were cleared out, and those are 4 of the biggest cities in Haiti. Countless infrastructure, schools, churches, hospitals, as well as administrative, residential and commercial buildings collapsed causing more damage to an already fragile and beaten country.

Let me be clear, there is plenty of blame to go around as to why Haiti is still in the state it’s in, but none, absolutely none of it falls on the shoulders of the over half a million people, who remain homeless and still live in tents. During all the efforts to rebuild they still have not be asked or been included in any rebuilding plans.

The whole world responded with pledges to help begin to rebuild. Ordinary people donated over $1.5 billion to the Red Cross and NGOs most of which were matched by governments. Close to $4 billion was pledged by international governments. But still 2 years later the country has not rebuilt any significant infrastructure, employment has not budged and basic needs such as food and shelter have not improved. The question in everyone’s mind remains, why? I’m not an expert nor do I have intimate knowledge of what goes on behind closed doors, but there are some basic truths that seem evident. If Haiti is going to rebuild, it is going to have be because of fundamental changes. The first one being, the Haitian people must be allowed to be part of their rebuilding. If construction is going to happen, then the major of the contracts and labor should be from the country itself and not outsources so that the economy can be stimulated and sustained. Proper allocation of funds must be given to social programs, such a schooling, healthcare and infrastructure being built. But I think the most important thing that needs to happen, foreign military presence especially that of UN peacekeeping forces needs to be drastically reduced.

Fact: According to an August 2010 report by the US Congressional Research Office of the overall $1.6 billion allocated for relief, $655 million was reimbursed to the Department of Defense; $220 million to Department of Health and Human Services to provide grants to individual US states to cover services for Haitian evacuees; $350 million to USAID disaster assistance; $150 million to the US Department of Agriculture for emergency food assistance; $15 million to the Department of Homeland Security for immigration fees, and so on. So you can see that most of the actually money never stayed or even got to Haiti.

Fact: According to a report by the UN Special Envoy for Haiti of the $2.4 billion in humanitarian funding, 34 percent was provided back to the donor’s own civil and military entities for disaster response, 28 percent was given to UN agencies and non-governmental agencies (NGOs) for specific UN projects, 26 percent was given to private contractors and other NGOs, 6 percent was provided as in-kind services to recipients, 5 percent to the international and national Red Cross societies, 1 percent was provided to the government of Haiti, four tenths of one percent of the funds went to Haitian NGOs. Again most the Haitian people didn’t see or feel the money, only 1% was allocated directly to the Haitian people.

The numbers are the same for almost all of the programs that were spear headed by foreign heads. I’m not blaming anyone, just shedding light that the people that need it most are still not getting the help the desperately need. How do we fix this, much like anything dealing with money, we need transparency and accountability. Once that is accomplished there needs to be swift action and enactment of a long term plan.

The earthquake destroyed homes, streets, communities, and lives and threatened to destroy the country, but like many times throughout our history Haiti would not succumb. Haiti maybe broken but it will never be destroyed. Does Haiti still need help? Absolutely, but the kind of help it needs is definitely not more military presence. The budget for UN peacekeeping in Haiti of $1 billion a year alone could go towards more worthy causes. I for one, think that you can’t maintain peace in a country, when you don’t speak the language of the people, let alone when you have a fully automatic weapon. That money could be used towards building schools, roads, sewer systems and other basic necessities. If the Haitian people that have been living in tents for the past two years were asked what they needed most, I’m sure the answer would not be more foreign people planning and talking about how to rebuild Haiti. Until the people that are actually affected by the earthquake are allowed to be part of the rebuilding, Haiti will remain in a state of ruin.

 None of this is easy, but it is necessary, it needs to be collaboration. For two years external consultants have been brought in to examine and figure out how to fix Haiti, well on the anniversary of the earthquake I have a radical idea, it’s time to listen. Time to listen to the people that have lived it and continue to live it, they will help steer the funding in the right direction. Two years later, Haiti still stands much in the same state it was the day following the earthquake. There has been much talk about rebuilding, yet there still has been very few actual “building” of anything. I do not consider the building of luxury homes an actual solution, when 80% of the population can't afford to live in them. Now it’s time to stop with the temporary band-aid solutions, it’s time for a permanent solution, true re-BUILDING. True re-BUILDING can only be achieved by involving the Haitian people, not discounting them as if they are ignorant of their own needs.