Mennonite Weekly Review

Haiti owns the unfortunate label of “poorest nation in the western hemisphere.” That may be true financially, but money is not the sole measure of wealth. Haitians are rich in courage, generosity and resilience. These qualities, evident in the days after the Jan. 12 earthquake, hold the key to Haiti’s recovery.

Hope for a better future in Haiti rests on a combination of local initiative and foreign aid. The specific kind of help that Mennonite Central Committee provides makes it an ideal channel for our contributions to ease Haitians’ suffering.

MCC’s ministries are church-connected, people-centered and long-term. MCC does not throw money at a problem for a few months. Its response in Haiti grows from a commitment of many years, beginning in 1958. MCC works closely with local churches. Its efforts depend on experienced workers who build relationships and learn locally appropriate ways to improve people’s lives.

Haiti has suffered a natural disaster, but poverty is to blame for the misery’s epic scale. To measure the impact of poverty, consider the contrast between Haiti’s disaster and California’s Bay Area earthquake of Oct. 17, 1989. In the Bay Area and Haitian quakes, the earth shook with about the same force, 7.1 and 7.0 on the Richter scale. In California 62 people died and 12,000 were left homeless. In Haiti an estimated 200,000 are dead and 2 million homeless.

With buildings poorly constructed and infrastructure far below standard, what could have been a largely survivable disaster was instead a historic catastrophe. Haiti must get the resources to rebuild stronger than before.

This opportunity to turn a tragedy into the starting point for a brighter future will depend on Haitians seizing the reins of their own recovery. Government officials must end the corruption that has misdirected public funds for personal gain. The international community must not abandon Haiti when the media’s attention turns to the next big story. People around the world must generously fund aid agencies to empower the Haitian people to help themselves.

MCC workers testify that Haitians demonstrate the self-reliance and determination to do just that. After the earthquake, the workers saw that resilient spirit in action. “Most of the rescues that have happened have been by Haitians pulling their neighbors out of the rubble,” said Ben Depp, an MCC worker from Waxhaw, N.C.

Haiti’s troubled history has proud moments. In 1804 Haitians threw off the chains of French colonialism and slavery and founded the first free black modern nation. Now the people of Haiti hope and pray for another new beginning. They have pulled their neighbors to safety. We can help them pull a whole nation out of the ruins.