Haiti Earthquake Updates

By Jim Hodgson, South America/Caribbean program coordinator at The United Church of Canada

As cholera, fear, and anger spread throughout Haiti in the weeks leading to the first round of Haiti’s November 28 election, the global media trickled back. My own return to Haiti on November 2 coincided with that of the reporters, but I sometimes think we look at the same reality with different eyes.

The Methodist Church of Haiti's printing press, rebuilt with funds from partners including the United Church.

Despite the collective trauma of great loss—300,000 lives in the January 12 earthquake, more than one million people living in tents, a cholera outbreak that has killed at least 1,500 and threatens tens of thousands more—I see vast numbers of strong and hopeful people who are working hard to rebuild their communities.

I visited the United Church’s bilateral partners—the Methodist Church of Haiti and the Karl Lévêque Cultural Institute (ICKL)—and, with Hurricane Tomas about to arrive, made short visits to some of the ecumenical groups that the United Church works with in the emergency response: ACT Alliance, Church World Service, and Service Chrétien d’Haïti. These groups, together with the Dominican Churches’ Social Services agency (known as SSID), have worked hard to keep channels open for aid delivery from across the Dominican border and at the seaport.

Aid organizations (including the churches that work together in the ACT Alliance) are delivering health care amidst a major cholera outbreak. They distributed emergency supplies in the wake of Hurricane Tomas, and they support education, housing, and rural development.

With United Church support in the months ahead, both the Methodist Church and ICKL will focus attention on education, including bursaries to support students and school reconstruction.

Beyond that, both will get back on track with community development, particularly small economic projects in rural areas to ensure longer-term sustainability. United Church supporters should know that funds sent from this church are being used prudently in reconstruction. We also work to strengthen the capacity of partner organizations so that their voices can be heard where decisions are made.

What Has Happened to Money Pledges?

Aid commitments by foreign governments have been slow to arrive. The Globe and Mail reported on November 27 that only $1 billion of $6 billion promised has arrived.

Canada’s federal government has disbursed only 35 per cent of the funds it said it would match from Canadians' donations; the Montreal Gazette reported November 5 that only $65.15 of $220 million had been paid out so far.

It may be that foreign donors simply moved their pledges on to the next catastrophe that grabbed world headlines, or it may be that they are waiting to see what kind of government will emerge from the election.

The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) says Canada's total commitment to Haiti amounts to more than $1 billion since 2006, including $150 million for humanitarian assistance and $400 million over two years for earthquake recovery and reconstruction. In October, CIDA’s new Partnerships with Canadians Branch (PWCB) launched a $30 million call to Canadian NGOs to propose one-year Haiti recovery and reconstruction projects.

Some countries take a more direct approach: Cuba, with Venezuelan financial support, maintains a brigade of 965 doctors and paramedics in Haiti, and announced November 27 that another 300 will be sent shortly.

Reconstruction: What Kind of Community?

Haitians are “doubters” like the disciple Thomas who needed physical proof of the resurrection of Jesus in order to believe, said the Rev. Gesner Paul, the president of Haiti’s Methodist Church, in April. Past experience of the international community’s extravagant broken promises provokes skepticism. Aid is welcome and needed, he added, but Haitians know that they have to lead their own rebuilding effort.

Whether the money ever arrives is one question, but there is also suspicion that funds will be used to remake Haiti’s economy and society into something that better fits the demands of the global economy. Think of the Dominican Republic or El Salvador: a mix of assembly plants, package tourism, and export-oriented large-scale agriculture. United Church partners call instead for a focus on the rural economy: strengthening the capacity of small farmers to sustain the land and their families through training and use of small loans.

I found myself remembering my first visit to Concepción, Chile—the same city that was badly damaged by an earthquake on February 27, 2010, just six weeks after the one in Haiti. In 2001, I went to an impoverished community on the outskirts of the city called Población Emergencia (“Emergency”), created after an earthquake in 1960. Tents eventually gave way to wood and cinder-block houses. Methodist and Lutheran churches working in the area say that in the decade since I was there, the community has seen advances: roads paved, street lights added, illegal garbage dumps controlled, and new parks established. Recovery in Chile may not take 40 years this time.

But there are no quick fixes to Haiti’s tragedy: one-year timelines (like that proposed by CIDA for NGO projects) do not reflect the real challenges facing Haitians. The long-term work that needs to happen is centred in having strong communities with strong voices: churches are ideally suited to long-term accompaniment of partners in need precisely because they value this community.