Haiti's devastation

It has been six months since the earthquake. Now we’re in the recovery phase. Meaning we will be focusing more on long-term goals. But what is most important to the people right now is not included in these “long-term goals”; for instance, people need housing. And before they even get housing, they need to get rid of all the rubble so people can leave the field and go back to their appropriate place.

But how will they ever go back if they have no place prepared for them?

When will they ever leave the field if they have nowhere else to go?

The longer they stay, the more they’re in harms way. For instance, I was driving down to Chandre Mars one day, a public place in downtown, where thousands of homeless people now live. While we were driving, a little toddler ran right in the middle of the street! My heart instantly jumped as the car abruptly stopped in front of this tiny, little person. She was so small, I almost didn’t see her; neither did the driver. If we were distracted for one second she could’ve gotten hurt or worse.

My point is, the road is not for hundreds or thousands of people to live in; it’s for cars to roll in. We hear of millions being poured into this country to improve this situation, but after six months, we have yet to see what the money is being used for. (People will start revolting soon if they don’t see any real results from the money being received.)

Hurricane season is coming soon, and we know Haiti is prone to floods. We get it every year and people always die even when their homes seem solid.

What are we waiting for? More people to die? Was 300,000 people not enough? Are we waiting for another urgency to come so we can beg for more money?

We have millions of people staying in plastic sheeting and tents, people who are hardly protected when it rains. Almost every week, we hear a case on the news about some camp that got swept away by a flood. Then they lose all their belongings, and sometimes even their “shelter”. Now what about when hurricanes come? How much more damage will it cause? I don’t want to know.

All I know is, if you happen to see, on your TV screen, more dead people lying on the ground, people who drowned and are floating on water, know that it was not a natural disaster that caused it. Nothing is natural about a government leaving its people dying in such an undignified manner. If  this ever happens, I strongly believe that another government needs to suspend this government for not taking responsibility, and take over until everything is stable.

People in the outside world always think negative about Haiti.

They think of us as rebels, vagabonds, and much worse. But what they don’t know is our people are tired. Tired of being treated like dirt from their leaders. We have people starving for food, widows with children without jobs, orphans begging on the streets. They sell the outside world with all these negative images, never showing them our beautiful side, so that they can keep sending us more money. But the money never goes to the people.

The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting weaker. How much longer?

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