Work of NGOs in Haiti

mountainannie

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?THE LAST THINGS TO LOSE ARE YOUR DIGNITY AND HOPE?:

HAITIAN REFUGEE CAMPS MODEL FUTURE SOCIETY (PART II)

By Beverly Bell

September 9, 2010


If one positive thing has come from the earthquake of January 12, it is the
greater inclusion of Haiti in the human family. True, the catastrophe has
brought out of the woodwork many scoundrels ? individuals, corporations,
agencies, and governments ? looking to gain wealth and power off of poverty
and disaster. But it has also cracked open many hearts and brought
solidarity from people everywhere who view themselves as citizens of the
world.

One group of women and men who already viewed themselves that way is the
Movement of Dominican-Haitian Women (MUDHA by its Spanish acronym). These
Dominicans of Haitian ancestry, together with allies who have joined the
group, have long been engaged for rights of Haitians in the Dominican
Republic by battling mistreatment of cane cutters and others. Today they are
hard at work outside the town of L?og?ne, close to the earthquake?s
epicenter. There they support three orphanages, some peasant groups, and
three women-run internally displaced people?s camps (including the Petite
Rivi?re Shelter Camp described in our August 25 article, ?Part of the Dream
for National Reconstruction: Haitian Refugee Camps Model Future Society?.)

MUDHA is helping create a dignified, education-filled, participatory, and
even joyous experience for earthquake survivors. MUDHA provides staff,
shelter, medical care, food, and other resources. In the camps, they conduct
trainings in first aid, health care, natural disaster, environment,
manufacturing of jewelry and household products for sale, and small
business. They facilitate sessions where the displaced people plan
priorities for their camp, and others where they articulate their dreams and
goals for their and their country?s future.

Their work in the community integrates singing, dancing, and a spirit of
celebration. It is based on respect, emphasis on women?s participation and
power, and lots of affirmation of the community and its members.

One reason MUDHA?s work is so effective is that the team supports local
leadership, instead of leading. It also fortifies the strength and power of
women.

It is our hope that the women and men of MUDHA may soon be able to leave
their tents and go back home, like the displaced people they are supporting.
Would that the Haitian and U.S. governments, U.N., and other international
agencies be moved by the same spirit of care and compassion ? not to mention
respect for the right to housing guaranteed by the Haitian constitution and
the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights ? as MUDHA, and begin meeting the needs
of the vast homeless population for permanent housing.

Marisol Baez, a 23-year member of MUDHA who has been in Haiti since the week
of the earthquake, tells of the work.

We at MUDHA [the Movement of Dominican-Haitian Women] came from the
Dominican Republic to work in Haiti on January 16th, four days after the
earthquake. We spent a week carrying victims to the hospitals, helping
rescue people under the rubble, whatever we could do. Then we went back to
the Dominican Republic and put out a call on the radio that anyone willing
could join the ranks to help Haiti. In about a week, we came back with 115
people and 20 vehicles. We came with doctors, orthopedists, gynecologists,
all kinds of doctors so we could help Haiti, because Haiti is our country,
too. We came from the womb of Haitian families. It?s true that we were born
in Dominican Republic, but we?re part of Haiti.

The reason we chose to stay and work in L?og?ne is that when our director
Sonia Pierre was walking around the town, two people came up to her and told
her that there was an orphanage here and the children were in bad shape.
Also, we saw that all the international organizations were concentrated in
Port-au-Prince; L?og?ne had nothing.

The orphanage was in rubble. It collapsed in the earthquake and the children
were in peril. They were hungry, they needed clothes, they were abandoned.
So we stayed with them. We?re working with the children to do everything
that needs doing. We also have doctors who provide care to the community,
and each week we bring them in to take care of the kids.

We?re working with three orphanages now, including an all-girls? orphanage.
We also work with some peasant councils helping them with seeds and
equipment to clear off the rubble. We?re also supporting the women in three
camps.

These camps are mixed-gender, but they?re all run by women. We think that
women are the pillar of the home and society. All the load is on their
shoulders: the load of the children, the load of marketing. They?re
hard-working. People have to take off their hats off to them. Men are always
there to help, but the women are the ones with the most responsibility. I
think God reserves something for the Haitian people, but especially for
women. I think God will deliver Haitian women someday because of what they
do.

There aren?t any camps in Haiti that are all women, but there are other
camps that are run by women. I think that?s the reason the three camps you
see here are different. We don?t need male-dominated [camp management]
councils. They have one or two women on them and things don?t get where
they are supposed to go, like food rations. Women are better at managing.

We?re working with women in the camps on health, micro-enterprise,
education, and a lot of other things. We do classes on protecting the
environment. We do preventative health care trainings with the women and
children because health care isn?t only when you?re sick and go to the
hospital. We?re giving training on women?s personal hygiene. We?re also
bringing in doctors to treat the women, and they?re especially finding a lot
of cases of vaginal infections because of the [contaminated] water. We?re
also training on first aid and on natural disasters so that if something
else happens in Haiti, people can know how to help others like the elders
and the children.

We?re doing courses with the women so that they can start their own small
business, start bringing income into the household so they aren?t dependent
on men. The women are eager to learn. They want to find the means to start
businesses so they can sell. They can trade, they can do everything.

We always tell the people: because you?re poor, the last things to lose in
your life are your dignity and hope. We tell them to be brave, because they
can?t let foreigners come and do everything for them. If they don?t have
tents yet, we tell them to do their best to find a tarp or something so they
can have a shelter. We tell them they?re not obliged to beg or to sell their
bodies as women. They can do some marketing so they can survive.

Dignity is a beautiful thing. When you have dignity, you can talk loud and
you can walk tall and no one can touch you. You don?t need to let people
mess with you because you?re a woman. You have to be strong. You need to
respect yourself first so others can respect you, because if you don?t
respect yourself, no one will. We always do workshops on this topic with
them. I?m so happy with the women in the camp because they take their
dignity very seriously.

For Mother?s Day, we got 150 tents for all the families that only had
makeshift housing before. So things are getting better. Not all at once,
because the tents are not houses where people should be living. When it?s
too hot, the people almost pass out in the tents. But in any case, things
are getting better.

We?re using alternative strategies on security because things are getting
out of hands on the question of violence against women [in other camps].
There are so many rapes in those places, including a 12-year-old girl who
was raped by four men until she passed out and was hospitalized. When all
the dust settles, we won?t be able to imagine how many girls and women there
will be with diseases and other problems. Men are putting guns to women?s
heads and knives to their bodies. If someone can do that, it?s because they
are either crazy or sick. The Haitian authorities need to start addressing
this issue.

Where we work, there are men?s councils who do vigilance to protect the
women because these camps are made up mostly of families. Not just anyone
can come in. They always ask you who you are and what you need. They keep a
careful eye out. Now we?re giving women whistles, so that if they?re being
attacked they can start blowing and everyone will know that there?s violence
going on so they?ll come to the rescue and identify the person doing it.

I do this work as a woman because I was born and grew up in a neighborhood
in the Dominican Republic where Haitians were sugarcane cutters. I?m part
Haitian because my grandfather and my grandmother were Haitians. I feel like
Haiti and the Dominican Republic are like an animal with two wings; it?s one
animal separated in two parts.

When I was growing up, I saw my grandmother frying dough to sell so she
could send her children to school. My grandmother was a respected woman, a
hard-working woman. So was my mother. Since I was little, I was always
helping people, especially the old Haitian cane cutters who were stuck away
and forgotten in little rooms.

I joined MUDHA when I was 19 because they were working with Haitian cane
cutters. Now I?m 42. If you?re part of MUDHA in the Dominican Republic, you
have to be careful because they can easily kill you. MUDHA is always
defending Haitians against bad treatment so they view us as devils.

I feel like I can help Haiti, so that?s why I?m here. I have courage and I
can help.

As for the future of this country? We have to keep on struggling. Awhile ago
I said that the last things someone should lose are hope and dignity. The
Haitian people are a strong people; they?re courageous. This is what I wish
for the Haitian people: to start being united, to start tearing down the
walls in front of us. One thing I believe is that Haiti will be a new,
beautiful country because Haitian women are strong and they?ll put all their
strength into working for Haiti. If we put our hands together, we can
overcome any obstacle.


Many thanks to James Eliscar for translating this interview.

*Beverly Bell has worked with Haitian social movements for over 30 years.
She is also author of the book Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of
Survival and Resistance. She coordinates Other Worlds, **
www.otherworldsarepossible.org* <http://www.otherworldsarepossible.org/>*,
which promotes social and economic alternatives. She is also associate
fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies.*
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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I think I've met this Marisol (if she is 42 and not 23 as first quoted) - she's from a very poor barrio where she still lives, and is a lawyer and an amazing person.

Link to the original article:
Beverly Bell: "The Last Thing to Lose are Your Dignity and Hope": Haitian Refugee Camps Model Future Society (Part II)
I'd like to send it to the Diario Libre columnist who wrote that nasty piece about "Where is Sonia Pierre" in the aftermath of the earthquake.
De buena tinta - ¿Dónde está Sonia Pierre? - DiarioLibre.com
 

mountainannie

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Dec 11, 2003
16,350
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113
elizabetheames.blogspot.com
I think I've met this Marisol (if she is 42 and not 23 as first quoted) - she's from a very poor barrio where she still lives, and is a lawyer and an amazing person.

Link to the original article:
Beverly Bell: "The Last Thing to Lose are Your Dignity and Hope": Haitian Refugee Camps Model Future Society (Part II)
I'd like to send it to the Diario Libre columnist who wrote that nasty piece about "Where is Sonia Pierre" in the aftermath of the earthquake.
De buena tinta - ?D?nde est? Sonia Pierre? - DiarioLibre.com

I wish you would!

But I can understand why Dominicans have gotten so upset with her - since she has helped to promote this idea that ALL Haitians here are treated "like slaves" - which those of us who live here understand is not the truth.

I know that all activists can have a rigid point of view (been there- done that) but the issue of the stateless people in the DR is a very real one and needs to be addressed.