Questions and Hope for the Rebuilders of Haiti

On the day of the earthquake in Haiti, I had returned to high school after winter break and had just finished sending out a slew of college applications. I heard about the disaster through a friend’s text message, and learned that the devastating earthquake, as it is constantly described today, had killed thousands upon thousands of people and had wrought indescribable damage in Port-au-Prince and other affected areas. Men, women, children, fathers, mothers, siblings, friends, Haitians, Americans, UN volunteers, doctors, laborers, teachers, students, and entrepreneurs were lost in less than a minute. We do not even know the true number of deaths, with numbers changing between the Haitian government, the UN, and various development agencies. The emotional shock felt around the globe was then followed with an enormous response, with countries around the world pledging millions of dollars in aid, non-profits and NGOs donating tons of food and medical supplies, schools hosting fundraisers, and celebrities taking part in televised phone-a-thons. Haitians living abroad, including my father, sent money to the Red Cross or Partners in Health while desperately trying to get a hold of loved ones. What I remember most about this time was feeling enormous distress for the Haitian people, yet even more so I was overwhelmed with a novel desire to better understand this island nation to which half my heritage belongs.

One year passed, then two. I began studying at Columbia University where I chose to pursue a degree in Sustainable Development, a new field that satisfied my desires to learn the environmental and economic issues plaguing countries like Haiti. I took French courses when I could, fighting to maintain my sometimes-awkward French skills. I got involved with cultural clubs like the Haitian and Caribbean Students Associations. I even uploaded an app on my iPhone to help me learn basic Creole phrases. In the spring of my sophomore year I learned about BrandHaiti through my activities. I subsequently began to assist CEO/Founder Marie-Gabrielle Isidore with the BrandHaiti social media efforts and outreach, causing me to meet people at the Columbia Earth Institute and become familiar with their initiatives in Haiti. It became my overarching goal to help Haiti, even though it is a country I have never seen, filled with a people with whom I cannot truly communicate in a beautiful culture with which I am vaguely familiar.

Yet my lofty dreams became jaded in this two-year period due to my coursework and disappointing news from the Haitian development world. There were the many complaints asking why there was still so much post-earthquake damage and so many people still living in tents when international donations had totaled more than a billion U.S. dollars. A cholera outbreak—likely accidentally brought in by those trying to “help”—further undermined the slow improvements. Wyclef Jean was found to have misused donated funds meant for charity work through his Yéle Haiti organization. Through my own coursework, I became more aware about how the vast occupation of non-profits and NGOs in Haiti proved to be both helpful and restricting to Haitian development. While they provide many services that are definitely needed on the ground in hard-hit areas, they often do not collaborate with Haitian organizations nor other non-profits based in Haiti in their reconstruction plans and end up missing their targets and wasting money. Occasional news articles or media stories on Haiti often focused on foreign non-profit projects, Haitian governmental corruption, or summarized the damage and lack of progress in the Poorest Country in the Western Hemisphere. Minimal coverage highlighted the recent improvements and positive sides of Haitian culture and people. Fellow Sustainable Development majors told me of their internships with the UN and other organizations and how they quickly realized methods of development learned at school could not be as easily implemented in real life.

As a mere 20-year-old junior in college, I learned that there is no perfect solution to any country’s distinct obstacles, just questions that could push development organizations to attain the best possible results more efficiently. How can we make sure the money we donate is not misused and squandered on useless projects and unnecessary expenses? How can we be sure that every development project consists of sustainable, responsible methods that push Haiti to be self-dependent? How can we create real change when major organizations are slowed by their own bureaucracy and red tape? It is an unfortunate reality that non-profits have turned Haiti and other poor nations into testing grounds for various development strategies. Only now, three years later, are they realizing that they need to seriously rethink their operations in Haiti and begin to “listen”, as one Christian Science Monitor article put it, to Haiti and its unique needs.

Of course there are many organizations and businesses that are doing valuable and needed work in Haiti. Working with BrandHaiti has shown that hope is not lost in this beautiful country. In fact there is good news every day, which I post on BrandHaiti’s Facebook. New hotels are being constructed, gold has been discovered, an industrial park recently opened, fashion shows are being held, and innovative technology is being implemented. I feel BrandHaiti and other organizations like us are doing the right thing by refusing to allow Haiti’s disadvantages to weigh down its advantages, specifically in its tourism industry. The more people hear good reviews of Haiti, the more they will realize that Haiti has so much to offer the world and has offered so much already. Just think about W.E.B Du Bois, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable (founder of Chicago), Edwidge Danticat (literary author), Jean-Michel Basquiat (artist), Alexandre Dumas (author of The Three Musketeers), and so many others. As global citizens we must work to help preserve and rebuild this small nation that is symbolically priceless despite its poverty.

I do not think I know enough to say what is the right way to improve Haiti, and I do not think other more experienced individuals know either. I do think, however, that asking questions like those I posed above will help guide us into stumbling upon novel methods of development that will maximize beneficial results as much as possible in the future. In this constantly changing world, collaboration, honesty, and flexibility are required from all parties involved in order to bring about significant results. I hope that people in America and around the world will not forget Haiti even though it is not always in the news as it was in 2010. Haitians and those with Haitian backgrounds abroad should be proud of their heritage and try to see if they can become a part of the Haiti reconstruction efforts if they haven’t already. Helping BrandHaiti by sharing our posts on Facebook and Twitter and showing your friends a positive side of Haiti is a major project that will work only if everyone gets involved. For myself, I look forward to working more with BrandHaiti in helping to create and implement programs that will promote sustainable and responsible development in the country that I love! 

~Natalie Paret