Message to Haiti of Love and Friendship

I grew up in the English-speaking Caribbean twin island state of Trinidad and Tobago. I learnt more about Haiti outside of the Caribbean than I ever did in it.

My First Haitians

The first Haitians I met were my colleagues in New York at the United Nations Development Programme. Those encounters opened my mind and spirit and made me want to know more about them.

They seemed so foreign and mysterious and it wasn't the language because I grew up speaking French and Spanish. It was something else.

I realised that I knew nothing about them at all. They were always very correct - Marie-Claude was so stylish and classy! - and friendly, yet I felt a distance between us.

It took me a long while to understand what it was and by then I had moved to Switzerland. They expected more from me as a Caribbean sister and I was unable to give it.

A Little Caribbean History

The Americans

To me, Haitians were just as foreign as the Americans with whom we have a strong and distrusting relationship.

I should add that when we Caribbean people criticise Americans we really mean the American government. However, the average Joe tends to get painted with the same brush.

The thing is we never know what shit they're going to pull next so we tend to be wary. Their lying arrogance well before George W. Bush's era has not made them any friends.

There's too much sordid history between us, the truth of which never makes it into the American news cycle.

Mixed Up Relationships in the Caribbean - A Bird's Eye View

The English-speaking Caribbean knows more about Martinique, Guadeloupe etc. from their Zouk music, Latin America in general and Venezuela and Cuba in particular.

Yet French and Spanish are mandatory in schools in Trinidad and Tobago (well, it was when I was of school age).

We know very little of our proud Haitian brothers and sisters except for the bigoted, ignorant "they say" nonsense about the native Haitian religion, Vaudou when in fact the official religion is Roman Catholic. And the island's undeniable poverty.

Most, if not all Caribbean states maintain a hands-off approach to Haiti as if they don't want to be contaminated by... the poverty, government sponsored murders, and the systematic degradation of its people.

All supported by the American government over the past umpteen decades right up to George W. Bush's administration, and its powerful World Bank and IMF arms which finished off the country completely.

Because they have always wanted a foothold in the Caribbean to fight the so-called Cuban menace after they lost their 99-year lease in Trinidad and Tobago in the seventies, if my memory serves me right.

A Little Haitian History

The Demand for Freedom

Haitians are descendants of the first African slaves in history - anyone's version - who liberated themselves from slavery with no outside help.

And in simplistic terms - since their fascinating history is not the subject of this post - that was the beginning of the end of the Pearl of the Antilles as it was called back then.

France demanded that Haiti pay reparations for all 'the cattle they had lost', humans and otherwise in order to be recognised as a legitimate country. The Haitians agreed.

And it took them 125 years to pay the false debt which equalled seventy percent (70%) of their GDP. That money today by general estimates is approximately 21 billion US dollars. Those payments which ended in the 1920s completely destroyed Haiti.

The French were ably supported by the Americans, and all other European countries. It was a sick and twisted affair. In return for assisting the French in destroying The Pearl of the Antilles, the French sold Louisiana and New Orleans to the Americans.

All because these 500,000 black Africans had the audacity to throw off the shackles of slavery by killing the mighty white soldiers and slave owners.

Sir Hillary Beckles, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the Cave Hill Campus, University of the West Indies in Barbados recounts this ever so eloquently in his article The Hate and Quake.

Caribbean Ignorance and Western Disinformation

And you know what's awful in all of this, most of this information is not part of schools history classes in Trinidad and Tobago.

Like me, the average Trinbagonian and other citizens of the Caribbean Commonwealth (Caricom) learns about Haiti and it's peoples after they complete their formal education, and unfortunately much of it is misinformation.

If you wish to learn more about Haiti, read Reginal Dumas' well-written,  An Encounter with Haiti. He is an extremely sharp ex-diplomat and Special Adviser on Haiti to Koffi Annan.

His words are succinct and his view piercing and hit the mark every time which is why the so-called leaders in Caricom keep him at arms length when in truth and in fact, they need his input. They are more comfortable with the western disinformation.

My Rising Pain Body

It wasn't my intention to write this article. I didn't even have a draft or an outline. My intention was to write the poem that was on my mind about Haiti this morning, but it is what it is.

I am very upset (as we say here) about this latest disaster and that anger has raised my hackles about the past injustices perpetrated on Haiti, and on the Caribbean region in general.

I know however that it's my emotional pain body which is always waiting for negative emotions to "play with my head". So it's time to talk about love instead.

Eckhart Tolle coined the term pain body in A New Earth. Even if you read this book five times as I have, you would still find something new the sixth time! It's wonderful...

Basically, the pain body is an accumulation of painful experiences developed from childhood onward which raises it's ugly head when you start thinking angry or painful thoughts. They are always triggered by something which takes you back to the original event.

Message to Haiti of love and friendship

Haiti

My heart goes out to you

Despite appearances

We are all here for you

Although the Caribbean is your home

You were all alone

Never truly at home

History made you lonesome

Your culture

Your vibrancy

The heart-aching poverty

And daily misery

Most rise above so beautifully

And spiritually

This destruction

Will lead this time

To your proper reconstruction

So long in coming

Your children

So young

Our children

So strong

We stand as one

Now is the time

To care

To share

To cherish all we hold dear

Our hearts as one

Haiti

Our child, our mother

Our sister and brother

Our forgotten one

Now you're coming home

Where you belong

Accepted with open arms

No longer forgotten

Now it's our turn

To make our peace

We are all one

And this quake has shown

We cannot let you down

This is the time

The turning point

To set things right

You have already done your part

Against the odds

Now it's up to us

To show compassion

And share your passion

Your love and vibrancy

So very special to we

Haiti we love you

And this time

We are here for you

Take this hand

Of love and friendship

We will never let it slip.

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