New York, NY – With estimates placing the death toll in Haiti at more than 200,000 lives, a recent poll by New America Media says that three-fifths of the Haitian community living in the United States have lost someone in the recent earthquake and two-thirds are willing to move back to help with the rebuilding of their country.
More than 400 Haitian Americans living were interviewed 10 days after the disaster for the poll sponsored by New America Media, the largest national collaboration of ethnic news organizations. More than half of those polled resided in Florida and 84 percent reported Haiti as their country of birth.
Sandy Close, Executive Editor and Director, New America Media. Picture by Jonathan Mena
Haitians living in the Unites States have been the financial lifeline for many in Haiti. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere, and a majority of the money that enters the country comes from Haitians living in the United States. The poll found that a majority of Haitians in America were sending money home before the disaster and many plan to increase the amount they send. Research also showed that 62 percent of those polled would consider adopting or fostering Haitian orphans from the earthquake.
Before the earthquakes many Haitians voiced concerns about losing confidence in the government there. Corruption, violence and human rights abuses have plagued Haiti for decades. It took a 2004 revolt that led to the coup d’état of then President Jean-Bertrand Aristide for the United Nations to step in for what was called ca “stabilization mission in Haiti.”
The event was the second of two briefings to announce the poll by NAM and Bendixen &Amandi to gage Haitian American reactions to the January earthquake and recovery efforts. The poll was first released at Sant La Haitian neighborhood Center in Miami, where The Miami Herald ran a front page story on the findings. That provoked a response later that afternoon by Haitian President René Garcia Préval.
Tuesday’s panel in New York featured Garry Pierre Pierre, Editor and Publisher of the Haitian Times in Brooklyn; Carolle Charles, Professor at Baruch College; Ricot Dupuy, General Manager of Radio Soleil D’Haiti; John Alexis, Organizer with New York’s 1199 SEIU Haiti Relief Project; and Pei Desrosiers, Executive Director, Women’s HIV Collaborative of New York.
Also in attendance was Jocelyn McCalla, Senior Advisor for the Bureau of Haiti’s Special Envoy to the U.N. Approximately 35 mainstream and ethnic media reporters attended the event.
Pierre-Pierre, a former New York Times reporter and the publisher and editor of the Haitian Times in Brooklyn, called the UN “the de facto government of Haiti.”. Pierre, like most Haitians, have said that the Haitian government has been practically invisible since the earthquake. A majority of those polled felt that Haiti should be governed by UN officials and the International community.
Fernand Amandi, Vice President of Bendixen & Amandi, the organization that conducted the poll, addressing about 35 journalists from mainstream corporate and ethnic news organization. Picture by Jonathan Mena.
“It’s unfortunate that it took an earthquake for unity to happen in the Haitian community,” said John Alexis, coordinator of 1199/SEIU Haiti Relief Project. 1199/SEIU, which is the largest healthcare workers union in the world, has 95 percent Haitian membership in Florida. 1199/SEIU has donated $1 million towards relief for Haiti but Alexis said that the Haitian community “needs to partner with the Haitian government” to make beneficial improvements to the country.
With millions of dollars being donated, 35 percent of those polled believed that the money would end up in the wrong hands. The FBI even put out a press release three days after the earthquake to warn people of donations scams. Non-governmental organizations or NGO’s had a large presence in Haiti before the disaster and have grown in size since the earthquake.
Ricot Dupuy, general manager of Radio Soleil D’Haiti in Brooklynm was troubled by the “cancerous proliferations of NGO’s” in Haiti. Dupuy, who said there was a lack of oversight of the NGO’s, expressed fear that the abundance of more NGO’s could diminish the role of the Haitians n the decision making process of their own country.
With millions of Haitians homeless and the cost of rebuilding in the billions, Haitians are traveling back to help after the disaster. Pei Desrosiers travelled back home with a group of 130 doctors and other medical professionals days after the first earthquake. Desrosiers, who is social worker and the director of Women’s HIV Collaborative of New York, was in Haiti when the second earthquake struck.
She saw doctors working 24 hours straight “on water and power bars,” she said. Asked about what Haiti needs she replied, “We don’t need soldiers, we need people with pick axes.”