When people say “Carribean”, the first things that come to mind are sunny skies, blue seas, beach huts, Marvin Gaye, voodoo and cruises. Haiti may share those blue sunny skies with their Carribean neighbors, but situation on the land surface is not at all picture-perfect.
I couldn’t pinpoint where Haiti exactly was until the January 12 earthquake caught us all in shock. Haiti went back to spotlight no longer carrying bad news of ousted or exiled presidents, but photos of a country in ruins. International support came pouring in, but we just don’t know how long it will sustain the lives of 3 million Haitians badly hit by this calamity.
Perhaps, for most Haitians, life has not been better for the past 200 years. Their history was marked by colonial rule, slave revolts, dictatorship, military juntas and economic sabotage. Haiti was considered as one of the richest colonies of France in the 19th century, but that was a reputation made on the backs of African slaves. Then there was their first taste of independence, a couple of years ahead than the United States. But the glory was short-lived. France asked Haiti to pay back 90 million francs as reparations for the damages on properties and loss of slaves the uprising caused them. It forced the young republic to take on high-interest loans to pay off that debt, eating up a huge chunk on their yearly national budget that should have been allocated to social and economic programs. Having two unpopular voodoo doctors turned presidents-for-life didn’t help either. Haiti sank in deeper as most of its people thrived under fear and poverty.
It was Voodoo that allows them to escape their harsh reality. So don’t wonder if it shares the same altar with Catholicism. For an average Haitian, lines to heaven are busy he might just need an alternative. A back up just in case the white man’s god has been sleeping.
We do all face the same music of suffering inspired by wars, greedy governments, debts, Outer banks foreclosures, family strife, loss of lives, battles with nature, etc. But life isn’t all magic. People need to get their acts together.
