The rebuilding of Haiti. What they must not do Pt 1
the Haitian Mentality -
As a fellow Haitian, a patriot, I’ve thought about this long and hard. First off let me start by saying I love my country. Like so many out there, I asked myself why can’t this beautiful island of ours ever catch a break?
With every unfortunate circumstance, is an opportunity. We don’t have to look to far back to see how time and time again Haiti has wasted opportunities that could have arose out of a crisis. Think of the floods that ravaged Gonaieve a few years back. The government should of taken time back then to fix canals, roads, setup damns to minimize the impacts of future hurricanes and floods to come. They did no such thing. While that area is still considered a disaster zone, not much has been done to protect that area.
Moving forward to the present.
So now, there are talks of reconstruction, rebuilding Haiti – once again.
While at present there is a mass exodus of Haitians leaving the capital to seek refuge in more stable grounds, I believe the Haitian government is faced with a tremendous opportunity to do several things correctly:
1 – Level the city. Yes, I said it, level the city. Install proper sewer system, proper water pipes, burry the elctrical wires underground similar to New York City. Start from scratch. Redesign the city, do it right. Modernize it.
2 – Buildings. I believe they should build communal homes where shacks once stood. Build modern apartment style buildings, 3 /4 rooms a piece with living room, full kitchen with electric stove and a complete indoor bathroom with proper plumbing. Having an electric stove unit will reduce the dependency on coal or the need to cut trees to fuel fire for cooking. Having a proper standard bathroom will minimize the chance of getting various diseases that are associated with lack of proper hygiene. In 2010, there is no reason why anybody on this planet still has to go to the bathroom in an outhouse.
For all those that are concerned about property rights and ownership, you can have a system setup where those that had a building on a particular spot, can still maintain the deed to it, but it would be more in the form of a condo/co-op situation.
3- Come of the mountain tops! We’ve all seen them, we Haitians love to build anywhere and everywhere. it’s about time public safety comes first. Those clay houses build on the side of mountains are prone for destruction. We should not wait for another natural disaster to strike before we take action. They eventually will crumble and fall, or slide with the next flood or earthquake. Move those folks also into public housing and clear the mountain tops.
4- Codes. Of course none of this will mean anything if we Haitians allow future constructions to be built like before. It’s about time we have standard enforceable building codes. We can no longer slap couple of cinder blocks and cement together and consider it safe. We have to really have universal building standards, use of re-bar’s etc. A governmental agency needs to be established to over see every house being constructed in Haiti. It may be a pain to oversee such tasks, but it can also be considered a part of a overall public works project. Employing thousands.
I can hear the cries of this costing to much, folks give me a break. The Haitian government collect tons of fees from inbound and outbound passengers flying into Haiti on a daily basis. Imagine had they installed a toll system to collect revenue for road repair? The money is there. Don’t fool yourself.
None of this will be easy. My people are enduring people. We will overcome this. However, this is a second chance at a new beginning to do it right the second time around.
I left Haiti when I was 7, I’ve gone back almost every year since then in the past 28 years. Only thing I’ve seen changed is the use of cellphone. Now everyone has one. Haiti still don’t have any functioning infrastructure, but we all got cellphones. What is wrong with this picture?
Stay tuned for pt. 2. (De-centralizing Port-au-Prince)
Dumary Louis
http://www.HaitianNewsNetwork.org
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Hello Dumary,
Thank you for part. 1 of Rebuilding Haiti – I enjoyed it very much.
I too am an Haitian and have lived in Europe since childhood. But of course – love my country. Regarding the subject of your article I fear most that although the money and manpower will be there to start the reconstruction properly, the endless tangle of Haitian bureaucracy might make it difficult to put into practice the best layed out projects. From expereinces past, we know that good will and monetary backing easily clash head to head with \"internal legal\" obstacles. I wonder how open to foreign expertise the Haitian authorities will be when the time comes to start the building works. I for one, would welcome the opportunity to take a team of professionals from Portugal and help rebuild the city: architects, engineers, technicians, building professionals, urban planners, we can get ready to go in a matter of 4-6 months and we\’re prepared to be there for the long run, but to be honest the questions regarding a possible monopoly of decision makers making it extremely difficult to take the project through, are starting to arise.
Re-build from scratch: yes. Implement planning and building codes: yes. Involve the communities and the proper authorities: yes. But in reality, when it comes to the Haitian mentality, how doable can it be?
Marcelle,
I agree whole heartedly with what you wrote. I think its telling that we have little to no faith in our elected official. Like always, at some point once the cameras are turned off, some in power will be trying to align their pockets. The cycle continues.
Excellent ideas on rebuilding Haiti! The government seems to need an overhaul also. Human beings deserve to be treated better by government. Haitians are the strongest people on earth! We must help them and care for them. If mankind on earth were ever to be destroyed, I believe the Haitian people would be the ones to survive and repopulate the earth. My heart goes out to the people of Haiti. Keep on singing and praying! You are beautiful!