February 2004
Will a solution ever be found for
Haiti, a
land of shock and continuing stress?
February 7, 1986;
exactly 18 years ago the Haitian population made Jean-Claude Duvalier, a
President For Life, leave the country for France, where he has been enjoying his
money since then. Haitians' memory or brain, I am sorry to say, seems to be too
short or too forgetful. For exactly 18 years later, almost two decades after,
hundreds of thousands of Haitians are in the streets almost every day and in
every corner of the country protesting against dictatorship, crimes, unfairness
and for democracy and that children can not only live like normal people but be
considered to be somebody.
Hundreds of human beings have lost their lives since
September
21, 2003.
One of our former students, Daniel Charles, got shot and died. Williams Sainfort,
whose brother and son are in our school got burned alive. Belfond Aristide, a
school principal for whom I taught English for 6 years, got shot and has been
taken to the
USA for
operations. Those are what my eyes saw and we were very close to each other.
Those have made me feel very much vulnerable. For the past several days, Haiti
has known what we would call a genocide. Police officers as well as civilians
have been dead. Over 50 in a week. Over 15 police-stations have been controlled
by civilians since February 5. Civilians have declared to be armed by the
government to destroy the opposition, but are asking the regime to step down
now. Since the seventh of February, there has been no communication between
cities and neither internationally. Today is the 14th of February, but there has
been no communication from North to West. No way. Gonaives, the central, has
blocked everything. No gas for cities such as Gonaives, Plasance, Limbe,
Cap-Haitian, Fort-Libert, St-Michel, Port-de-Paix and many others. The civilians
and protestors are doing all of these to see if at least the Bush Administration
could say something for them. Not too long ago, the Bush Administration said
they had 50,000 seats reserved for 50,000 Haitians in Guantanamo.
Now, students and children can't go to school. The common people are getting
poorer and poorer. Innocents keep dying. Politicians and the wealthy people have
their children in foreign countries to get educated and to come back later on to
oppress the poor. Most teachers in my State - Artibonite - have not been paid
since September, which is different from our case in Bayonnais. So far, we have
missed 3 weeks of work in Bayonnais.
In the midst of these hardships and thick darkness, we are trying to keep a good
attitude for it is said that our attitude determines our altitude. Lucner
Saint-Louis married to Mrs. Alourdes Charles on the 24th of January. Interesting
experience- lots of gun shootings nearby the church. I would love for someone of
you to see the video.
The best thing, which is preaching the news and teaching to change lives, is
being done. Church members and school children's parents are gathering together
to think of Business. They need to know that the borrower is a slave to the
lender. You are a slave when you have chosen (for lack of character) not to
reimburse money you have borrowed. We are a slave when our attitude toward loans
is not different from those that are in power in Haiti.
We are working on having a health care program at the school with Mrs. Alourdes
Charles Saint-Louis, newly married, who is a first aid nurse.
We have discovered that politics in Haiti is corrupt and makes you have no sense
of sensibility for those that are in distress and crying out for help and safety
during a crisis like this one. Who could ever think we could have been back to
situations similar to 1986? I lift up my eyes to the hills-where does my help
come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of Heaven and earth.
In His Name,
Actionnel Fleurisma
In his name,
Actionnel Fleurisma