HAITI, CHOLERA AND THE U.N.

This is the news about making the U.N. responsible to Haitians for the cholera epidemic.

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October 8, 2013

Rights Advocates Suing U.N. Over the Spread of Cholera in Haiti

By RICK GLADSTONE

Advocates for Haitian victims of the deadly cholera epidemic that first afflicted their country three years ago said they were taking the extraordinary step on Wednesday of suing the United Nations, asserting that the organization’s peacekeeping force in Haiti was responsible for introducing the disease through sewage contamination from its barracks.

The lawsuit, which the advocates said they would file in Federal District Court in Manhattan on Wednesday morning, will be the strongest action they have taken in pressing the United Nations to acknowledge at least some culpability for the outbreak of cholera, a highly contagious scourge spread through human feces that had been largely absent from Haiti for 100 years.

Cholera has killed more than 8,300 Haitians and sickened more than 650,000 in the earthquake-ravaged country, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, since it first reappeared in October 2010. While the worst of the epidemic has eased, it still kills about 1,000 Haitians a year.

United Nations officials have said they are committed to eradicating the cholera, but they have not conceded that the organization was inadvertently responsible for causing it. They also have asserted diplomatic immunity from any negligence claims, a position that has deeply angered many Haitians who consider it a betrayal of United Nations principles.

Haitian leaders, while dependent on the United Nations to help maintain stability and provide other important services, have also expressed unhappiness over the cholera issue. In an address last Thursday at the annual United Nations General Assembly opening session, Haiti’s prime minister, Laurent Lamothe, spoke of what he called the “moral responsibility” of the United Nations in the outbreak, and said the efforts to combat it had been far from sufficient.

Forensic studies, including one ordered by the United Nations, have identified the culprit bacteria as an Asian strain imported to Haiti by Nepalese members of the United Nations peacekeeping force, known as the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, which was first authorized in 2004 and maintains about 8,700 soldiers and police officers there, drawn from more than three dozen member states. The forensic studies have also linked the spread of the cholera to a flawed sanitation system at the Nepalese peacekeeper base, which contaminated a tributary that feeds Haiti’s largest river, used by Haitians for drinking and bathing.

Beatrice Lindstrom, a spokeswoman for the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, the Boston-based rights group that prepared the lawsuit, said in a telephone interview that the listed plaintiffs were five cholera victims, who were seeking redress for themselves and all afflicted Haitians and their families. Ms. Lindstrom said the institute had decided to file the suit in New York because it is the site of United Nations headquarters and has an enormous Haitian expatriate population.

“We are asking for the judge to find the United Nations liable,” she said. “It has violated its legal obligations through reckless actions that brought cholera to Haiti.” The lawsuit did not specify the amount of compensation sought, which Ms. Lindstrom said would be “determined at trial.”

It was far from clear that the lawsuit would be accepted by the court, which affords broad latitude to diplomatic protections for the United Nations against such litigation. These protections are partly rooted in the formal legal conventions created with the inception of the United Nations after World War II. “The majority view is that the U.N. and U.N. entities are immune from domestic lawsuits,” said Jordan J. Paust, a professor of international law at the Law Center of the University of Houston.

Eight months ago, Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the United Nations, informed Haitian leaders that it would not accept claims for compensation made by victims of the outbreak, citing a provision of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.

Ms. Lindstrom said the United Nations had also rebuffed her group’s attempts to address the issue. “They’ve refused to sit down for a conversation with the victims, or with us,” she said.

Navi Pillay, the top human rights official at the United Nations, suggested on Tuesday from her headquarters in Geneva that Haiti’s cholera victims were entitled to some compensation, although she did not specify who should provide it.

Farhan Haq, a spokesman for Mr. Ban, declined to comment on the lawsuit but asserted that the United Nations remained dedicated to helping Haiti overcome the epidemic.

“The United Nations is working on the ground with the government and people of Haiti both to provide immediate and practical assistance to those affected,” Mr. Haq said in a statement, “and to put in place better infrastructure and services for all.”

HAITI'S GOVERNMENT

Haiti has a governmental structure of institutions with familiar names to us.  But in the political news out of Haiti the personalities of office holders and their actions often overshadow the governmental institutions.  Actions of outside institutions -- the U.S., the U.N. and a large array of foreign and domestic non-governmental organizations (NGOs) -- often overshadow Haiti's government.  The first step in respect for the government of Haiti is recognizing its institutional structure.

The Constitution:  Haiti has 23 constitutions since 1801.  Its present constitution was adopted in 1987 following the end of the Duvalier regime.  In 2011 there were amendments enacted.  The constitution provides for a democratically elected national government structured in three branches -- executive, legislative and judicial.

Office of President:  Michael Martelly, the 44th President of Haiti, was elected in 2010 to a five-year term in a controversial election.  Martelly, known as Sweet Mickey, is a pop singer famous among Haitians for his music, often described as raunchy.  He is affiliated with the Repons Peyizan (Farmers Response) political party.  As President, he is the head of state while the Prime Minister heads the government. Together they lead executive branch of government.

Office of Prime Minister: Laurent Lamothe is the Prime Minister and has held the office since May, 2012.  Prime Ministers are selected by the President and confirmed separately by the Senate and the House of Deputies, Haiti's two legislative bodies.  Before he became Prime Minister Lamothe was briefly Haiti's Foreign Minister under Martelly.  He was head of a global telecommunication business before entering public office.

The Cabinet:   Besides the Prime Minister, there are 13 other Cabinet Ministers in Haiti's government who oversee specific administrative functions.

Legislature:  There are two branches of the National Assembly.  The Senate consists of thirty members, one-third of which are elected every two years.  The Chamber of Deputies consists of ninety-nine members elected for four-year terms.

Judiciary: Haiti's legal system is based on the Napoleonic Code.  There are four levels of courts: the Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation) which deals with matters of constitutionality and procedure; the courts of appeal, civil courts and magistrates courts.  Judicial officials are appointed by the national government and serve at its pleasure.  The justice system has been subject to severe abuse and is not regarded as independent and reliable in the administration of justice.

Regional and Local Government:  Haiti is divided into ten departments.  Our travel will be to the Central Department.  It has a population of 565,000.  Each department is divided into districts called arrondissements which are named for principal cities.  There is a total of 42 arrondissements. In the Central Department the City of Hinche is the seat of one of four arrondissements in the Department.  Arrondissements are further divided into communes, of which there is a total of 140 in the country.

The provision of governmental services at the regional and local levels in Haiti is hampered by a lack of capacity.  Government is highly concentrated in the capitol city, Port au Prince.  The ability to deliver governmental services and keep order in accord with law is one of the capacities needing development in Haiti.  Advances in health, safety, education and security require capacity and community building at the local level.  That is a long term commitment we who care for the people in Haiti need to keep in mind.

--kjl

THE AGRONOMIST: DON'T MISS IT!

Last year before our exploration to Haiti's Central Plateau region, our team watched a movie called The Agronomist.  It tells the true story of, Jean Dominique, a Haitian agronomist converted to passionate journalist and crusader for democracy against dictatorship during the Duvalier years.   The movie is going to be shown twice this month before the next FHC Haiti trip.

When:           7:00 p.m. Wednesday, October 16
                      7:00 p.m. Sunday, October 20

Where:          Forest Hill Church, Fellowship Hall, South

Admission:    All are welcome.  It is free.

Rating:           PG-13 (Some violence and brief nudity)

See the trailer here.

Jean Dominique and his wife owned and operated Haiti’s oldest free radio station.  They broadcast news that exposed the injustice, oppression, corruption and poverty in a country under the control of ruthless dictatorship.  They broadcast in Kreyol, the language of ordinary Haitians.  They advocated democratic government and free, fair elections.  

Jean Dominique was in exile in New York for much of the ‘80s and ‘90s.  He was assassinated in 2000 after returning to his country and his radio station.  The murder was a political assassination professionally done.  No one was convicted or arrested for this killing.  There were reports from Haiti suggesting the CIA and the United States were behind it.  At the time, U.S. policy was seeking to influence the timing and outcome of elections in Haiti in a way that would diminish the hopes and demands of Haiti's poor and rural population, the very people who listened fervently to the news and music from Dominique's Radio Haiti.

 One of the film's producers is Edwidge Danticat, a Haitian-born author and MacArthur Genius Award winner, currently recognized as one the most important Haitian writers of all time.  Among her publications is a collection of essays entitled Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist At Work.  Danticat took her title from Albert Camus’ last public lecture, “Create Dangerously,” in which Camus declared, “For the person with creative potential there is no wholeness except in using it.” Danticat's accounts of Haitians who were tortured and killed during the Duvalier regime include the story of Jean Dominique.   She knew and revered the agronomist turned political advocate.  Like Jean Dominique, Danticate fled into exile with part of her family at age 12.  Like Dominque and so many Haitian exiles, she portrays an insistent desire for a homeland in which ordinary people can live free of fear and free from domination by self-interested foreign powers.

If you care about Haiti and its people, it is important to know the story of Jean Dominique and what that story means in Haiti's history.  Come see and discuss the movie on the 16th or the 20th of this month.

--kjl

SE POU NOU MANJE! (LET'S EAT!)

One thing is for sure: When you go to Haiti you want to know what is on the menu.  A food vocabulary is really important, especially if you are one of 20 people trying to figure out what is on the menu.

Learning some Kreyol by reading a menu seems practical and essential.  So, I've made the following menu from a compilation of items on various lists I found.  Take note: Spelling varies in Kreyol. We'll just have to deal with that.

MENU

Appetizers

• Akra (Black-eyed pea fritters)
• Lanbi Pike Nan Ji Sitwon  (Spicy marinated conch)
• Plat Fritay  (Fried platter, okra, conch fritter, sweet potato and plantain w/ ti malice and watercress sauce)

Salads

• Chiquetaille de Morue (Saltcod salad)
• Salad Pomdete (Potato salad)
• Salad Zaboka (Avocado salad
• Salad Tap Tap  (Mango, watercress, carrots and mixed greens)
• Salad Zaboka Ak Tomat  (Avocado and tomato salad with onions, house dressing)
• Salad Chiktay  (Mixed salad and avocado topped with herring

Soups

• Bouyon (Meat and vegetable stew)
• Soup Joumou (Squash soup)
• Legim   ( Stew vegetables)

Poultry

• Poul neg Maron ak Kalalou (Chicken with okra and mushrooms)
• Tassot de Dinde (Dried turkey)
• Poul Nan Sos   (Stewed chicken)
• Poul Boukanen  (Grilled chicken)

Meats

• Bef Salé (Dried and fried beef)
• Boeuf á la Haïtienne (Beef with tomatoes and peppers)
• Bef Kalalou Ak Mayi Moulin  (Stewed beef and okra served with cornmeal)
• Aubergines à l'Haïtienne (Eggplant stewed with beef)
• Boulet (Meatballs)
• Griots (Fried pork cubes)
• Kabrit Boukanen  (Grilled goat) 

Seafood

• Krevet (Creole shrimp)
• Lambi (Boiled conch)
• Mori ak Sos (Saltcod with sauce)
• Kribish Nan Sos Kokoye   (Shrimp in coconut sauce)Pwason Gwosel  (Whole fish in lime sauce)
• Pwason Neg   (Fish in lime sauce or blackened)
• Spageti Kreyol  (Spaghetti with tiny shrimp and mix vegetable in creole sauce)

Vegetables and Beans

• Banan Peze (Fried plantains)
• Diri ak Pwa (Red beans and rice)
• Labouyi Banane (Pureed plantain)
• Banann Peze  (Fried plantains)
• Militon Gratinen (Chayote gratineed with cheese)
• Patat Boukannen (Baked sweet potatoes)
• Sos Pwa Frans (Sweetpeas)
• Zepina Nan Sos Kokoye  (Spinach in coconut sauce)
• Mayi Boukanen   (Grilled corn)
• Mayi Moulen (ak sos pwa ou kole) (corn meal with mix bean or bean sauce) 
• Sos Pwa Rouj (Red beans in sauce)
• Veritab Fri (Fried breadfruit)
• Aubergines à l'Haïtienne (Eggplant stewed with beef)
• Pikliz (Spicy pickled vegetables) 

Breads and Grains

• Diri ak Djon-djon (Rice with dried black mushrooms)
• Diri ak Pwa (Red beans and rice)
• Makaroni Gratinen (Macaroni and cheese)
• Mayi Moulen (Cornmeal mush)
• Pen Mayi (Cornbread)
• Pitimi (Millet pilaf)

Sauces and Condiments

• Confiti Mango (Mango chutney)
• Sauce Ti-Malice (Hot pepper sauce)
• Zepis (Creole spice blend)

Desserts

• Benye (Banana fritters)
• Diri Olé (Rice pudding)
• Kok Graje (Coconut candy)
• Pen Patat (Sweet potato bread)
• Plat Eri Twopical  (Fresh tropical fruit plate)
• Gato Zannanna (Upside down pineapple rhum cake)
• Pudin (Bread pudding)
• Blan Mange  (Traditional coconut dessert)

·       

·       Beverages

• Godrin (Fermented pineapple beverage)
• Ji Chadek (Grapefruit juice)
• Labouyi Bannann (Banana cream)
• Sitronad (Lemonade)
• Te Jenjanm  (Ginger tea)
• Te Kanet Ak Anis  (Cinnamon and star anise tea)
• Kaff Ayisyen  (Coffee)

B  Bon apetite!

----kjl

LET'S HEAR IT! KOMON OU YE! MWEN BIEN. MWEN RELE KERMIT.

The Haiti traveling team is speaking Kreyol.  More importantly, we are hearing the language so that we can listen and understand.  This is for most of us no small thing.  I, for one, need lots of help.  We are blessed with Carline's teaching skills and patience.

At Carline's suggestion, I use Mango Languages to get started. It is free, but you need to access it through a participating library using your library membership number.  I go to the CH-UH Library site here.  At the box labeled "Heights Library Site Search," type in "Mango" and click on search.  That gets you to a Google search result for the CH-UH Library that you click on and get to this page.  Looking down the page you will see . . .

Mango Languages 

Mango Languages is variety of resources to help you learn practical conversation skills for languages spoken all around the world. It is completely self-paced and provides a quick introduction to a language and culture through the acquisition of simple conversational skills. You will need to create a free online profile to use this resource.

That gets you to the Mango site where you register, log in and begin your tutored classes.

Haitihub is another internet source I looked at.  It has a different approach and a larger array of teaching tools designed especially for professionals in short-term service projects.  Some of it is frehttp://www.haitihub.com/youtube-videos/e, most is not.  You can find a YouTube video teaching the Lord's Prayer.  Some of us will also want to learn the Hail Mary.  Extra credit for those who try the Apostles Creed.  I found Gestures and Body Language worth a look.

Here is a link to a list of handy phrases.  At the bottom of the page is a list of web sites with more help.  For those who want to use videos to experience listening and learning, YouTube has an array of videos.

Here is a site advertising children's books in Kreyol.  That could be of interest for those of us preparing to spend time at the orphanage.

For the medical team, there are special language lessons and aids for medical terms in Kreyol.  Apple has an app for health care providers that works with iPhones and iPads.  A booklet of medical terms in English and Kreyol can be downloaded from here.

For those of us expecting to work at gardening or construction I find fewer specific aids.  Here is one site that has some specific information along some language training.

Carline emphasized the importance of learning at least a few phrases of greeting because greeting people in Haiti is culturally important.  We must overcome the fear of making mistakes and convey our sincere desire to be present with those we will meet in Haiti for whom English is a foreign language.  The gesture is more important than precision.

--kjl

PARTNERSHIP WITH THE COMMUNITY OF THE INCARNATION

Our primary destination in Haiti this fall is the Community of the Incarnation based in Pandiassou, a village near the City of Hinche in the Central Plateau.  Plans are being made now for our short visit.  Learning about The Little Brothers and Sisters of the Incarnation is an important part of the preparation for that visit.

Let's start here with their web site and their story told in their own words.  There is an English version for us who are linguistically limited.  Notice especially the large list of projects.  Two recent short articles about Brother Franklin Armand published by The Haiti Observer, a Haitian news blog, can be found here.  It is a convenient source of news about Haiti.

The Little Brothers and Sisters have decades of experience working with North American partners.  While their resources are gathered from many places, their connection to church-based partners is special.  Look, for instance, at their 20-year partnership with the Church of the Incarnation in Richmond VA.

One of the main reason we are attracted to the Little Brothers and Sisters is their approach to the mission of community development.  Notice that it is a holistic approach that includes both material and spiritual sharing.  It is not a one-way delivery of resources from the rich to the poor.  It is about building community and capacity together.  It invites a mutual sharing experience of solidarity in which all those involved can be transformed.  Certainly that is the testimony of those who made our first visit last year.  We have a new vision of Haiti . . . and of ourselves.

May I suggest that going to spend a week in Haiti -- or any place challenged by hunger, thirst, and insecurity -- is not a justified use of resources when measured only by the limited benefit of those in need and peril; more is required of us.  The trip is about being open to the prospect of our own transformation from being remote observers to being engaged partners.  The trip is about getting new, corrected vision. It is about what happens and what we do when we return.

Will we be partners instead of patrons?

--kjl

SEE WHAT RALPH HATH WROUGHT!

Ralph Jean-Mary

This blog site and everything it describes about Forest Hill Church in Haiti is a product of a vision from Ralph Jean-Mary, a Haitian member of the congregation.  I want to share how this all got started.

Ralph and I were part of a small group of people who went through a 26-week course of exploring and developing faith.  The program is called Faith Leaders and in 2011 we were in the 5th annual class.  At the end of the course we were all invited to develop a vision for a personal ministry that would express what faith meant to us at that time.  

Ralph announced his vision of starting a program of medical service in Haiti, a program that would be developed in partnership with Haitian people committed to building the capacity needed to sustain it.  This was at a time when criticism of the relief and redevelopment of Haiti after the earthquake was pointing out that well-meaning efforts from outside Haiti ignored the people and the realities of conditions in Haiti.  (I wrote in an earlier blog about the problem of helping people in ways that hurts and about "toxic charity".)

This vision electrified me and many others who heard Ralph describe it; things began to happen.  Within the year, the initial exploratory trip to Haiti by eight of us was organized.  For obviously practical and logical reasons, we went to L'Ermitage, the home and hotel owned by Ralph's parents in Pandiassou, near the city of Hinche, in the Central Plateau region.  This mountain region is several hours drive from Port Au Prince and the area devastated by the 2010 earthquake.  It was a haven for many refugees from Port Au Prince who has lost their way of life.  It is poor, to be sure, and severely challenged by disease, poor living conditions, poverty, a lack of civic life and organization.  Yet it has potential to grow good food and to provide a good home and be self-sustaining.

Ralph's family were educated and were practicing professionals in the US for a number of years before his parents moved back to Port Au Prince where his father, a physician, practiced and taught medicine and his mother became a successful businesswoman.  They developed inherited family land near Hinche used initially as a camp and retreat from urban life in Port Au Prince to a guest house, a hotel and a nearly completed 24-bed conference facility.  Dr. Kyss and Nicole Jean-Mary, Ralph's parents, are well-known and highly respected people in Haiti.  What they are developing in the country near the third largest city in Haiti is an amazing expression of their faith and resilience.  It embodies a hope for what Haiti can become.

Ralph, Nicole and Dr. Kyss Jean-Mary

With Ralph as a guide, our team visited several places where community health and development institutions near Hinche with track records of success were presented to us.  When we returned at the end of April last year we began a process of discernment about whether and how we might add our support to one of those groups.  That was not easy.  Ultimately, we committed to reaching out to the Little Brothers and Little Sisters of the Incarnation.  We began planning for a "working trip" and a fundraising campaign to offer both a personal presence and financial resources to our Haitian partners.

In June while we were firming up our plans for these two big efforts, Ralph informed us that the Cleveland Clinic, where he is employed as an administrator, had invited him to move to its new hospital in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.  He is leaving with his wife, Michelle, in September.  Panic!  Could we act on this vision without him?

In the end, with some help that is nothing short of miraculous (More about that another time.), we are persevering and the vision lives on.  In fact it thrives!  There are 18 of us headed for Haiti in October and the fundraising campaign proceeds, now amounting to more than $7,000, are still coming in.  

The vision of one man, Ralph, is spreading to many here and in Haiti.  Who can predict how it will turn out!  It is gaining in strength as it is shared with more people.  Those of us who see it consider ourselves blessed and follow it in gratitude.  Yes, we feel we are going to Haiti in a spirit of gratitude! 

Thank God for Ralph Jean-Mary!

--kjl