Two years of misery

Legates help Haiti to overcome the devastating 2010 earthquake, problems remain . . .

Haiti never had a fully functioning electrical system – even before a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated the Caribbean island nation two years ago. At night, when Haiti is enveloped in darkness, the only light for most people still comes from small charcoal fires.

Haitians’ healing and recovery over the past two years has come at an equally slow pace. Hundreds of organizations have provided some relief to this long-suffering people. But no group has a blanket solution to a myriad of problems at the national level. All they can do is provide some light in a terrifying darkness.

Hope and discouragement

When Reid Carpenter flies back to Haiti, he notices a few differences since the quake. There seems to be a little bit less garbage. Some structures have been cleaned up. The tent cities are not as plentiful as before.

“There seems to be some change, but I say that very reluctantly,” said Carpenter, a member of Legatus’ Naples Chapter. “I don’t think any corner has been turned. From the standpoint of roads and infrastructure, it is all still rather pathetic.”

With the two-year anniversary of the Jan. 12 quake behind them, Haitians live with a mix of hope and discouragement. Though $9 billion was promised by the international community, only half has been doled out due to political instability and a lack of credible institutions. Recently elected President Michel Martelly has yet to prove himself on the world stage, Carpenter said.

Reid Carpenter and Haitian friends

The Florida Legate has been traveling to Haiti for years as a part of his work with the Leadership Foundation, a nonprofit that seeks cities’ social and spiritual renewal. Their partner in Haiti, the Haitian Leadership Foundation, works to teach civic responsibility and good governance.

Carpenter says the last time he was in Haiti, his heart was wrenched by the overwhelming need — especially among the young.

“My most overwhelming experience was going to an orphanage in Port-au-Prince,” he explained. “This was a building which had been mangled in the quake. It was now a little bit rearranged: 122 kids were living in this structure without running water, toilets, food or adult supervision. They were basically living on their own. It was a grave.”

Carpenter’s Haitian friends begged him not to dwell on fixing what he had just seen because it was just one of hundreds of similar tragedies left by the quake. “You see scenes like this all over the place,” he said. “You can only continue to up the ante for people who are connected to this holocaust for the long haul.”

Sacré Coeur

Haiti’s brightest success story is Sacré Coeur Hospital in Milot —75 miles from the epicenter in Port-au-Prince. The hospital wasn’t damaged during the earthquake and is considered to be the nation’s top medical facility.

Paul and Sherry Durnan

Paul and Sherry Durnan, co-presidents of Legatus’ Long Island Chapter, have been to Haiti several times over the past few years. They’re board members for the Crudem Foundation, which raises money for Sacré Coeur. The Durnans were heartbroken by the devastation and flew to Haiti a month after the quake.

“I couldn’t believe how well the hospital was responding,” Paul Durnan said. “Volunteers came from all over the world.”

Prior to the quake, there had been 85 beds for patients. After the quake, the Crudem Foundation built it up to 475 beds.

“We set up six tent buildings. The tents were given by the Order of Malta. They have floors and are very upscale, with operating rooms. We also set up a prosthetics lab,” Durnan said.

Sacré Coeur is the only hospital in the country run by Haitians. They work side-by-side with volunteer doctors and nurses from around the world. The Crudem Foundation’s board members regularly fund medical teams’ flights out of their own pockets.

Over the past two years, Sacré Coeur has expanded to provide accommodations and food for patients’ families. The hospital has a new maternity ward, residence for doctors, pharmaceutical building and warehouse. It’s also starting a nursing school.

“The whole foundation runs on $340,000 a year,” Durnan said. “We have the best medical lab in all of Haiti.”

Infrastructure

Dr. Richard Toussaint

Dr. Richard Toussaint, a member of Legatus’ Dallas Chapter and winner of Legatus’ 2010 Ambassador of the Year Award, has been bringing medical teams to Haiti since the quake. He was one of the first doctors to fly into the country after the quake with a team from Forest Park Medical Center, a Dallas hospital he co-founded. They, too, worked at Sacré Coeur.

Toussaint’s biggest concern moving forward, however, goes beyond medical missionary work.

“What is needed is not just medical work, but work to solve the infrastructure problem,” he said. “The country needs infrastructure. It needs schools, church reconstruction, hospitals, clinics. We need to invest in the future, which is the children. This is why we need schools. With infrastructure, you provide jobs. When you reconstruct churches, you can bring Church leadership back in. You can bring priests and nuns back in.”

As managing partner of a real estate development company called the Neal Richards Group, Toussaint would like to build a school in Haiti. He has the professional background and company to do it.

“This requires the importing of equipment. It requires permits. It requires endowing institutions with operating finances going forward and identifying investments,” Toussaint explained.

Building in Haiti, however, is fraught with difficulties. Permits are very complicated to obtain — and expensive. Most of the roads are in disrepair, so moving equipment is a nightmare.

Corruption and bribery are also problems, according to Cristian Ossa, a United Nations economist who led the U.N.’s mission in Haiti from 1995 to 1997. Municipal officials regularly ask for payment in exchange for contracts, and gun-wielding locals will stop shipments of goods, he said. Most organizations forbid paying bribes, thus halting a myriad of donations and services.

“When you fly over Haiti, you see these hills which are denuded. Then just across the border is the Dominican Republic, which is a jungle,” said Toussaint. “If you think about it too much, you throw up your arms in despair.”

In Haiti, success seems to be measured in painfully small steps. Outsiders are often shocked by the vibrancy of Haiti’s faith communities and the joy exhibited by small children.

“When you look into the eyes of Haitian children, you see Christ,” Durnan said. “It gets to you. For weeks and months afterwards, I couldn’t forget those eyes.”

Carpenter concurs. “Generally speaking, these people live in the midst of nothingness, yet they are singing at the top of their lungs in church, praising God with lots of joy. The kids seem to have been given extra gifts of love and gratitude.”

Perhaps the Caribbean nation’s brightest lights are these faith-filled Haitians who continue to survive and appreciate the smallest things — something that Westerners often forget.

Sabrina Arena Ferrisi is Legatus magazine’s senior staff writer.

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Haiti fact box

Sacré Coeur Hospital estimates that the 2010 quake killed 230,000 people; 300,000 were injured; and 1.6 million were left homeless. A U.S. government report in May 2011 said there were 375,000 displaced persons in Haiti with 66,000 still living in camps.

The quake killed Archbishop Joseph Miot of Port-au-Prince. About one-third of priests died (unofficially). Catholic Relief Services raised $198 million for Haiti, and has spent $130 million. CRS fed 1 million people, performed 1,000 emergency operations, built 10,600 transitional shelters, and registered 1,055 unaccompanied children (430 of whom were reunited with families).

CRS and the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops will host a national conference on Haiti in June at Catholic University of America. The event explores best practices in small-scale development work and will share information on earthquake response and rebuilding.