Nation-building in Haiti

The clock continues to tick. The headlines are slowly changing. The “sexiness” of “helping” Haiti is waining. There are a number of Americans who have found a way to Haiti and are helping where its needed most. Alpha Brother Leyde St. Leger (Haitian) is on the ground. You can catch some of his notes via his twitter tag – Haitian Truth. There’s nothing more real than distributing food you’ve brought and having someone pull a gun. Nothing more real and telling than his account of the overwhelming since of need that there’s natural unrest for the sake of feeding one’s family.

While I’ve not read all of Leyde’s tweets from Port Au Prince, I’ve not yet seen one mention of a Red Cross or UNICEF vehicle. Now that doesn’t mean they’re not on the ground, just that in his travels he’s not seen them…but its still curious.

Then there’s the 12 member delegation from Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, on the ground, as well. Bro. Gianni Celestin (Haitian) is a part of the delegation and has been providing an account at The Watering Hole. He too has been providing a riveting account of what’s happening on the ground. His detail has brought back television images and photos from the first few days after the quake.

Bro. Celestin writes:

“As humanitarian efforts are slowly taking place in some parts of Haiti, the immediate needs of the millions of people left homeless and injured by the January 14th earthquake are not close to being met. There is still a greater need than there is help and while the greater public’s sense of humanity is being fulfilled by sound bites and heroic images seen in the American media, the truth is suffering and despair is growing amongst Haitian survivors and the problem seems to be worsening before it will get better…” [read more…]

With all we’ve heard, we’re now hearing more and more rumblings of aid not reaching some parts of the earthquake-striken country. Bro. Celestin also brings up an interesting point, something “lightly” touched on by the mass media; why are there more military patrols than aid workers? Now there’s most certainly a reason for it occurring this way, its just that it hasn’t been shared with the public. Think about it, what else can one expect when the military’s in charge, eh?

In the end, its up to us all…all the donors (individuals and companies) to ensure the money we’ve given gets to where we intended. The Haitian people. That is, the frightened, hungry, tired, homeless people of Haiti.