Help Haiti NOW

I write this column with a broken heart.  The evening of January 12th, I received a message from a friend that read, “Earthquake. Very bad. Many deaths.”  That statement remains true and will remain true for weeks and months to come.

It didn’t have to be this way.  Haiti has been the victim of bad U.S. policies, indifference and outright hostility for centuries.  Purchasing Louisiana for 3 cents an acre following the Haitian revolution of 1804, the U.S. still joined the Europeans in an economic blockade. This embargo lasted until Haiti agreed to compensate France for its loss of land and slave labor.  In essence paying for their freedom, it took Haiti over 100 years to pay the French.  This little known historical fact set the stage for Haiti’s continued impoverishment and victimization by internal and external elites.

I began my legal career in Haiti. Working at the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, a human rights organization based in Port au Prince, was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.  Like so many familiar with Port au Prince, I have been shocked to see what has happened to this blighted yet proud city.  Strong structures like the National Palace or the posh Hotel Montana have been turned into rubble. 

Mourning structures is a negligible concern given the loss of life.  Fatality estimates will waiver for awhile.  If much needed aid does not reach the people who need it, the numbers will undoubtedly increase exponentially.  As I write this column, my husband continues searching for missing family members.  I am checking my email every five minutes for word on friends and colleagues. Sometimes the news is good; sometimes it is not.  The enormity of what has happened in Haiti cannot fully be realized.  It didn’t have to be this way.

Haiti as already vulnerable.  Natural disasters, especially hurricanes, have ravaged the countryside for several years.  Each time, relief and recovery efforts have been woefully inadequate. 

The people of Haiti are only just beginning to recover from a decade of economic, environmental, and political shocks.  The global recession, increases in international food prices, and natural disasters, including four hurricanes in 2008, have undermined the country’s already weak infrastructure and increased poverty. Ruin built upon ruin; each disaster’s cumulative impact has meant the edge was closer than we could have imagined.

Right now, my colleagues on the ground are racing against time to save lives.  In Delmas, a suburb of Port au Prince, they are forced to amputate limbs without anesthesia or painkillers.  While antibiotics are running low and with no fuel to run generators, they continue working until relief arrives.  Three organizations are doing amazing work this minute in Haiti and are in a position to respond quickly, efficiently and effectively.

Partners in Health, www.pih.org, (Zamni Lasante in Haiti), is an international organization providing healthcare in Haiti for over 25 years. On Tuesday when the earthquake hit, they sent doctors, nurses, and equipment immediately into Port au Prince and have been working on the ground since. 

Doctors without Borders, www.doctorswithoutborders, continues to provide relief on the ground in Port au Prince, working closely with Partners in Health.

Haiti Konpay, www.haitikonpay.org, is an organization based south of Port au Prince in Jacmel, hard hit by the earthquake but receiving little attention.  Haiti Konpay is getting much needed food, medicine, supplies and doctors to the ground.

We need to give consciously and generously to the relief efforts underway.  Then we need to restore Haiti through a robust Marshall Plan-style relief program.

Haiti has served as the world’s wake up call its entire history.  It exposed the evils of slavery and strength and perseverance of the enslaved.  It continues to expose the perplexities and inadequacies in our world economic and political systems.  In short, Haiti has always called upon our world to be better than we are.  Today, we must help Haiti. Today, we are all Haitians.

Nicole C. Lee is the President of TransAfrica Forum