Haiti: Will we stay for the long haul?

Canadians have been generous with their donations to assist with Haiti's recovery following the devastating earthquake on January 12th.

Canada has its own recession yet the charity of people even when their own situations might be precarious is impressive. Of course the situation Canadians find themselves in is nothing compared to Haitians, yet those who give to others while facing hardships of their own can relate to the suffering of others even as they try to cope with less serious situations of their own. In our materialistic and egocentric society one would think that the prevailing opinion when asked for donations would be that: "I'm not able to give because I have enough problems of my own". Instead the value we have seen expressed is one of compassion and to give what one can. The massive outpouring of good will and charity in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti is exceptional. Canadians as individuals, organizations and governments have been very generous by raising over $80 million in directing their wealth to Haiti relief efforts. On January 14, the Canadian government announced the creation of the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund which will match the donations dollar for dollar of registered Canadian charitable organizations in support of humanitarian and recovery efforts in response to the earthquake in Haiti. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) will allocate these funds to Canadian and international humanitarian and development organizations. When added to the generosity of other nations, this humanitarian effort will go down in history as one of the largest ever made to one small country hit by a terrible disaster.

As we observe our response and the response of the international community, there is no doubt that the values of sharing and compassion are universal. The outpouring of concern trumps other news witnessed daily of armed conflict, lawlessness and cruelty which seems to attract constant media attention. In the Haiti situation, this outpouring of compassion is refreshing in a world where we read in the media everyday of inhuman acts and suffering of innocent people by a few who wish only to satisfy their own selfish desires. The hope is that our attention to Haiti and other disasters will not be short lived.

The fact is that Haiti is only the latest disaster to hit innocent people. There have been other notable disasters recently such as the tsunami in the Philippines, the flooding in Bangladesh, the Sichuan earthquake in China, wild fires in Australia, famine in Africa and armed conflict in various parts of the world forcing people to be dislocated, exposed to violence with little hope of ever being able to sustain themselves and their families.

However, Haiti is unique because the world needs to ask itself: "How did Haiti get in to this sad condition in the first place". The world has known about Haiti's situation for decades. It has become known as the "basket case" in the western hemisphere. That is not to say that it has been totally ignored. The disaster has brought to the world's attention the vast number of government and other relief organizations as well as the United Nations that have been working in Haiti for many years. Unfortunately, it appears as if the assistance was uncoordinated, each organization working independently in hospitals, orphanages, schools law enforcement and others. Often emergencies create opportunity and under Canada's leadership key ministers were brought together last week in Ottawa to rally the international community towards a strategic and coordinated effort to rebuild Haiti over the long term. Prime Minister Harper's call came during an address to delegates of the Ministerial Preparatory Conference on Haiti where Haiti's Prime Minister, Jean-Max Bellerive was in attendance. He stated: “It is Canada’s hope that this meeting will set the stage for broad international action on reconstruction that will mobilize the will and resources of all of Haiti’s partners”.

As the work of emergency aid continues, the international community is now mobilizing for the long term reconstruction of Haiti, a task that is considered to take at least a decade and more. The mobilization, if it is sustained, perhaps will be a positive outcome of the earthquake although it should not have taken such a traumatic event effecting masses of innocent people to look at the long term development of this country. Any redevelopment of Haiti needs to include Haitians and their government. They need support for governance and their institutions, maintenance of security, a program for preserving the land, so that the land is able to eventually support and sustain the Haitian people.

Lets hope that after the initial response to Haiti subsides, we will not forget their long term needs.