Voices of Hope for Haiti’s Future

As this Sunday’s anniversary of the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti drew closer, I was annoyed to see reporting that focused exclusively on how bad things still are ten years later. And while the list of entrenched problems the country faces is both long and daunting, a first-time foreign visitor would not recognize Haiti if their only guidebook was this one-dimensional international media coverage. In order to strike some sort of balance, I approached several of my friends with the same question, “What is one thing you and your organization or business have initiated since the 2010 earthquake that you feel will continue to have a positive impact and which gives you hope for Haiti’s future?”. I expected a few thoughtful responses, but was soon overwhelmed by 46 replies. This was more than I could ever include in a newsletter, and so I have compiled them in a document for you to read by clicking the image above.

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Christmas Truce in Haiti

Haitian Christmas trees and paper decorations for sale on the streets of Port-au-Prince.

An uneasy calm has descended over most of Haiti for the past few weeks. The underlying issues that led to months of protests and a national lockdown, known here as peyi lòk, remain unresolved. But all sides have suspended operations for the moment. This is not the result of any formal negotiation between the fractured government and opposition camps. Instead, it seems as if everyone involved in the conflict just needed a break for the holiday season and decided at the same time to back down. The result has the eerie quality of a Christmas truce, with the streets suddenly bustling with festive preparations. People are once again complaining about traffic jams in the capital, secretly pleased to be doing so after being locked in their homes since September. The mood is tempered, however, by the unquestioned knowing that massive anti-government protests are almost certain to resume early in the new year. 

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Planting Trees and Growing Communities in Haiti

They say money doesn't grow on trees, but did you know a whole community can? Haiti is in the midst of an unprecedented political, economic and social crisis, but there are around one million smallholder farmers throughout the country (with husbands and wives farming together on approximately a half million farms) ready to be part of the solution. What's missing? Trees.

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Famine Comes to Haiti - Let the Response be an Agricultural Revolution

Smallholder farmers like this once fed Haiti, but the country now imports up to 60 percent of its food.

The following is not easy reading, but I am trying to balance an honest and unvarnished assessment of the current crisis in Haiti with specific suggestions to immediately address the situation.

While the popular uprisings now sweeping through Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador are national in scope, the uprising in Haiti is quickly becoming a full scale international humanitarian crisis as the country runs out of food and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, are suffering severe hunger and don't know when they will eat again. The UN's World Food Program has warned that one third of the 11 million people in Haiti are in need of immediate food assistance, with 1 million of those now "on the brink of famine."

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Food As Both Cause and Response to Haiti's Crisis

US Rice Exports in 2017. Source: Statista 2019, from US Department of Agriculture.

There was welcome news yesterday that the US Agency for International Development will distribute 2,000 metric tons of emergency food in Haiti in the form of rice, green peas and cooking oil. This is in response to a food crisis that, along with fuel shortages, rampant inflation and public outrage at corruption, has galvanized two months of anti-government protests. The irony is that this emergency food is needed, at least in part, because of US food being sold to Haiti. I know that does not make sense at first reading, but it has to do with trade imbalance.

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Haitian Farmers Speak Out

With coverage of the current national lockdown in Haiti focused mainly on cities, I wanted to share the viewpoint of three farmers and two agronomy students regarding the current crisis and what they think about the future. Four of the five were interviewed within the last few days by agronomists from the Smallholder Farmers Alliance (SFA), while the fifth draws on a previous interview because her cellphone has not been answering (and may well not be charged because of the lack of regular power throughout the country). All five of those interviewed are affiliated with the SFA and our partners.

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NGOs Partnering and Preparing for a Haiti Reboot

There is a tidal wave of righteous anger pulsing through the social fabric of Haiti. For months the population has borne the increasing burden of corruption, rising inflation, shortages of fuel and a scarcity of food. Now citizens from all persuasions and walks of life, in major cities throughout the land, have responded by bringing the entire country to a standstill. Removal of President Jovenel Moïse by any means is their rallying call, and a fundamental change in the governance of the country is their goal.

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Turmoil in Haiti: A Tale of Corruption and Hope

The citizens of Haiti have taken to the streets en masse to demand the resignation of President Jovenel Moïse, and the regular functioning of life throughout the country has come to a near standstill. There are literally hundreds of roadblocks on most days in and around cities and towns, all mounted in an effort to put pressure on the president to resign. 

Huge protests have become the norm, with radical elements using these otherwise boisterous but peaceful gatherings as cover to destroy property. Businesses and schools are closed. Government offices are not able to function. And there is a tension so thick and pervasive it seems like a dark otherworldly shadow at the periphery of your vision. Ever present and almost visible, but never quite in focus.

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