We’ve Been Forgotten

Today I received a text message from a dear friend in Haiti. “Please message me and tell me how you are doing. When I have minutes at the Internet café, I will respond. I hope you haven’t forgotten about me. I am still writing my stories, I hope one day you will read them. I will translate them for you. I am writing a book about Haiti. We hope for a better Haiti. My family is ok. We are tired and I would like to find work. It is difficult to have no one to count on. We miss you. We love you. When will you return?”

I stared at my phone from my desk at work, and my only concern was to respond to him immediately. We message almost daily and I slowly feel him losing hope. It is not characteristic of him, or of the Haitian people to relinquish that hope, a driving force for survival and strength when circumstances are dire. As a Carrefour native, with very little before the earthquake, he now lives like 1.3 million others in Haiti – in a tent city – with his mother and two siblings. Because of the economic struggles of his family in Haiti and abroad in the US, he no longer receives any relief, and worries for his family and his country, still buried in rubble.

He says, ” I want to study to become a doctor so I can help my country. I want to write so I can share my stories with the world. I know I have talent, but will I ever see my dreams realized?”

I have to believe he will. He can certainly count on himself if no one else, but he wants to trust someone will help, something will change, that promises made to his country are not empty.  As an educated youth in Haiti, he is not the norm, but the exception, and he knows Haiti’s people and their youth deserve better. He is amongst the many that take nothing for granted and if provided the proper tools will build a future for themselves that now seems so far from reach. He feels forgotten, and I sense through his words, it is not about him alone, it is about his country  – he feels they have been forgotten. He wants to be counted on to do great things; he wants the chance to do great things.

Something happened when the earthquake hit Haiti – the world woke up, remembered that Haiti exists, and reacted in a combined effort of humanitarian relief and compassion. Amongst the devastation lingered hope that the response from the world would not cease, that that pre-existing need in Haiti would be recognized and the urgent need to rebuild would be the fuel to power a new and better Haiti. Eight months later, not much has changed, and in a tent, only 26, he writes a fictional story about a young man near his age in Haiti who through finding love and opportunity manages to fulfill his dreams. I can only imagine where his inspiration comes from in this fictional story, riddled with the realities of his life, his hope bleeds onto the page in a haunting tale fueled by his passion to succeed in life, and be of service to his people. He is telling his story, and he is holding on to that happy ending.

He is a representation of the struggle of so many; millions with the capacity and will to rebuild a better Haiti if afforded the opportunity, millions who feel they have been once again been forgotten by the international community.

Sitting at my desk at work I e-mailed him to let him know I have not forgotten about him. I tell him if he keeps working he will succeed, to not lose hope, and that I will do everything in my power to help him. Words I hope will comfort him and continue to motivate me to continue my work in Haiti and maintain the life changing relationships that I have created with the people and organizations that work everyday for a better Haiti.

The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) has released a report of a human rights investigation into displacement camp conditions, titled “We’ve Been For­got­ten”: Con­di­tions in Haiti’s Dis­place­ment Camps Eight Months After the Earth­quake, which outlines the desperation in Haiti’s camps and promotes a rights-based approach to relief and reconstruction.

The hope is that this report will give a voice to the people of Haiti, Victims of not only the earth quake, but of a history of instability who are facing grave conditions.  Discussing the lack of basic necessities and human rights, such as food, water, sanitation, housing, medical care, education,  and  employment, while providing an approach that maintains the ever-present spirit and integrity of the Haitian people  and their desire to assist in rebuilding their nation.

Presented by the University of San Francisco, the Institute for Justice and Democracy (IJDH), Bureau Avocats Internationaux (BAI) and Lamp  for Haiti , this document can be  read and downloaded at the link below.

http://ijdh.org/archives/14678