ARTICLE - MICHAELLE JEAN

REVERSING HAITI'S SPIRAL OF VULNERABILITY
(Toronto Star)

The following is excerpted from a speech delivered this week in Ottawa by Governor General Michaëlle Jean to an international symposium on Haiti:

Although we are still in a state of shock, and showing the same degree of solidarity we did in the first days after the disaster, the time has now come – as I am sure you will agree – to help an entire country rise from its destruction and, as Haiti's Action Plan for National Recovery and Development states, to "reverse the spiral of vulnerability."

I would like to share with you three observations I made based on what the people of Haiti told me and on what I saw with my own eyes when I visited disaster areas, standing amid the rubble and makeshift shelters, where people are trying to organize their lives in the midst of chaos.

The first observation is that education can be a development tool.

A little girl standing in front of me, surrounded by dust and debris, wanted to know where and when her classes would resume. The thirst for knowledge shined in that child's eye like an oasis in the desert of the ruins at her feet. Haiti's self-sufficiency will rise from this oasis. ...

My second observation is that the regions must be included in the national reconstruction plan.

It is mostly a question of decentralization, deconcentration of resources and powers, and relieving congestion in the capital, which is dangerously overpopulated because of rural exodus.

It is a question of urgently relocating people from Port-au-Prince and the communities hardest hit by the earthquake. This awareness has restored the vital role that Haiti's regions and rural areas have in the national recovery plan – areas that, frankly, have been ignored by the capital for a long time.

Haiti's regions must play a full part in finding solutions for and developing the country as a whole. Only a decentralized approach will be productive in the short, medium and long term. ...

My third observation is how committed young people are.

The danger of seeing a generation of young people falling victim to organized crime and those who prey on human suffering is very real. It is our responsibility to get this large and daring generation of young people involved in reconstruction efforts and to engage them by developing their ability to act and supporting their willingness to work. Over half the Haitian population is under the age of 20!

A number of people I met at the conference in New York – people who have also been to Haiti since the earthquake – told me they have the same concerns, and that it is essential we respond to the disaster with an approach that both respects the priorities and expertise of the Haitian people, and could be used as a model for development.