Ayiti, The right to dream again

Presentation by Mr. Hans Tippenhauer from World Movement for Democracy on Vimeo.

Before the Earthquake

On January 12th 2010, at 4:54 pm, the Capital of Haiti, Port-au-prince, and the nearby cities of Carrefour, Léogane, Jacmel, Delmas and Pétion-ville were struck by one of the most devastating earthquakes in the modern history of the World.

Haiti, Maman libèté, the Mother of Liberty, the nation that brought freedom to the world by becoming the first Free Black Republic, and by abolishing slavery on January 1, 1804, an original of that declaration having just been discovered in London.

A country whose existence had barely been acknowledged by the International Community for 60 years, and who had been condemned to pay something unheard of “a debt of independence”, thus being imposed a literal price for Freedom.

Haiti, a country that has also been ill-served by its numerous dictators, populist leaders, and corrupted politicians. A country that had survived so many catastrophes, among them the appellation of “poorest country of the western hemisphere,” was not prepared for such a catastrophe.

After the Earthquake

I want to ask everyone to please stand up and respectfully bow to the memory of the more than 400,000 victims of the earthquake.

Thank you. I bow to their memory because for many their death could have been prevented, however, they accepted to become the new martyrs of bad governance, excessive centralization of powers, the non respect of norms and inadequate planning.

While most people in the world were watching the events live through TV and social media, who have played a big role in saving lives and propagating the news, most people in Haiti were completely in the dark for weeks, cut off from most news and radio stations, and received no message of encouragement from any authority for more than 3 days. The state of emergency was declared 5 days later and the President officially addressed the population only 4 weeks after the catastrophe.

Solidarity in Action

The one thing that the earthquake has done for Haiti, is that it has allowed most people in the world to finally discover Haiti and the true story of its valiant people. It has given the world an opportunity to be touched by its amazing resilience, its willingness to hope and its unbelievable faith.

It has also raised the level of consciousness everywhere, and given Haitians the opportunity to see real solidarity in action. We have seen extraordinary examples of courage, of abnegation, of sincere willingness to help, from people of all walks of life and all nationalities.

I want to name people like the team from the National Youth Federation for Development FNJD  that rescued 613 people from under the rubble of broken buildings and drove 1478 people to the hospital. They later established 6 clinics, 2 hospitals, and are nowadays running 50 refugee camps with more than 147,000 people. Which also means that thanks to our long-lasting partnership, Fondation Espoir is helping displaced people survive the catastrophe.

The solidarity came from people like my lovely Nadège here, who for several days was at the Hotel Montana looking for the same people she was supposed to meet on that same afternoon at 4:30 pm.

The solidarity also came from all the wonderful doctors, particularly Cubans and Haitians who were on the scene immediately, not sleeping for days until rescue teams from around the world arrived to support them. It came from the firefighters, and the journalists, and the neighborhood youth associations, from a friend, and from anyone who felt compelled.

The world immediately responded with zeal and the media did its part by keeping Haiti’s plight newsworthy, giving Haiti so much airtime that I think by now most of you know much more about Haiti than before January 12th.

I want to thank the support of the Latin American Democracy network, particularly Rosa Quintana, acknowledge the wonderful gesture of the NED people, and want to thank all the 140 countries who manifested their support and generosity in New York, a few days ago. Please applaud them.

The paradox

Often those who came to Haiti to help after the earthquake felt frustrated, more so when understanding how bad things really were, feeling helpless. Until they would really look and talk to the Haitians on the streets, the ones that had really lost everything and that still were full of faith in the power of the Almighty.

This is the paradox of Haiti:

• you come because you are hopeless for the Haitian people and it is that same people that give you more hope for humanity to bring back home,
• you come feeling that you just want to help and do a good duty as a world citizen, and you depart not being able to forget the smile of that one child or the look of serenity in the eyes of that beautiful amputee girl.
• You came to help, but you realized you can not do it if you do not truly love the people, for it is not help Haitians need, it is true support, compassion and understanding that despite everything they are a dignified people.

The truth is Haiti is a country that has been given too much assistance, too much humanitarian aid over the last quarter of a century.

When you want to help someone, it is ok if the first time he asks you for some food, you give him a fish. But the second time, consider really teaching him how to fish, and maybe even how to swim.

You can’t really help anyone in Haiti today if you do not facilitate their empowerment, and build the necessary capacity for them to get back on their own feet.

But for that, Trust has to be nurtured. Trust that they can be guaranteed that their children will have a better future in their country than the present they have now.

Trust that their elected officials will be able to rally the masses that are poor, as well as the few that are rich for the betterment of the whole nation, and create the conditions for the prosperity of most and not just the enrichment of a few friends and cronies.

What can civil society do?

It is amazing to see the decapitation of all powers in Haiti after the earthquake.

Besides the majority of the government institutions to be rebuilt, Civil society is confronted with the Challenge of building 250,000 houses and 2000 schools.  But rebuilding Haiti today is not only a physical task, it is not only a question of money, it is also a moral reconstruction, a mental makeover. Hundreds of thousands of families and orphans need to be reunited and entire communities need to be rebuilt.

Our foundation, fondation espoir and its network of partners, is promoting a reconstruction charter, simple points that should ensure that never again do we have a country with so many inequalities, with so little progressive direction. Our goal is to make a strong Citizen coalition around an agreed upon collective vision.

One thing that we need now in Haiti is vision. We need people that can come to Haiti to dream with us, to dream of what we can do with such a beautiful mountainous island. But we also need doers that can facilitate the way to economic freedom.

 Thinking out of the box involves giving a voice to structures of democratic participation. It is not Port-au-Prince that has to be rebuilt, but all the country’s systems that have to be completely overhauled, to finally serve the Citizen of Haiti.

Ayiti, The former Spanish and later wealthiest French colony of Saint-Domingue, later to be put on the bench of nations for being to precautious, today is being promised Billions.

But what it truly needs are the intangible investments from its Diaspora, from its elites, and from all foreign friends that can teach the Haitian youth a few tricks or trades.

Ayiti today is still a country where 75% of the population is younger than 30 years old, and they need enormous support to rise to the world again.

Those are the ones that were able to show true Leadership in helping people after the earthquake and who will decide upon the future of their country.

However it is not acceptable that today out of a hundred children that go into primary schools, only 15 graduate from secondary. One can easily understand why we have an unemployment rate of more than 70% and why we are lacking qualified Entrepreneurs and Leaders.

The good thing when you are dealt such a blow that you are precipitated to the floor, is that you know there is only one way out, and it is to get back on your feet, and to begin evaluating everything from a new perspective, to begin from scratch.

Today, Haiti has an opportunity to go back to the drawing board and create a more inclusive, transparent and connected society, one that could become an example.

To quote President Clinton: ”Let us help Haiti help the world”.

I can assure you that this time, if we act with compassion and understanding, if we teach instead of giving, if we no longer make the Haitian people pay for their freedom, but rather recognized their capacity to dream and create economic freedom, the world will be proud to see the results of the new Ayiti, the Mother of Liberty.