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HAITI: An Open Wound

The scope of catastrophe has widened dramaticallyLatest casualty reportEstimated deaths: 200,000Estimated bodies recovered and trucked off to mass graves: 70,000Estimated injured: 250,000 Estimated homeless: 1.5 millionPORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Associated Press ) Tuesday 19th, 2010

Why HAITI again?

(CNN) We are all sick at heart to witness the suffering in Haiti. Why do bad things happen to innocent people? Why Haiti, again? How we make meaning of this suffering will be crucial to how we respond, in the long term, as a global community.

For them, the meaning of their suffering is clear. How else to interpret the collapse of their entire world, earthquake, famine, death, disease and drought? They are God's children living out the last chapter of the Bible.

The spirit of the land had become sick with abuse. Her children -- the eldest ones, the ones in charge, the Haitian government -- had no policies, no laws to protect the land or use it wisely. The spirit-mother exploded with fever. "We know this has a scientific cause," said the spirit-priest. "But look how the government buildings caved in. This tells us something."In the last several years there has been a saying among Haitians that "the country is finished." "Peyi-a fini," they say in Creole. It has been called a dying land, a failed state, a product of irreversible environmental degradation.

For social scientists, there is nothing metaphysical about the question "Why Haiti?"

Beginning as a French slave society, the nation was founded at a severe disadvantage. France demanded enormous payment for abandoned property after the revolution, starting a cycle of debt that was never broken.Deep and unending racism prevented the U.S. and Europe from recognizing Haiti for 60 years. Trade was never established on even terms. The military ruled the state, culminating in the brutal Duvalier dictatorship, which the U.S. supported.

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No robust civil society developed. Farmers abandoned their lands, flocked to the capital, and built the shanty towns that have now collapsed into rubble, burying the innocent and vulnerable, strong and powerful alike.What the suffering Haitians are enduring is a natural disaster worsened by human-made conditions. It is a spiritual crucible. But it is also a crisis of meaning. For Christians it is to have faith, hope, and charity. For fundamentalist Protestants, it is to convert all souls, give aid, and wait for Jesus' return. For Vodouists, it is to regain balance with the land and the unseen spiritual world.

For many social scientists, it is to strengthen Haitians' capacity for self-government, to relieve the debt Haiti owes, to reforest the land, and to figure out how to divorce aid from dependence.

How we interpret the suffering of the good people of Haiti will lay the groundwork for how we walk forward.Extract from an article written by Elizabeth McAlister, professor of religion at Wesleyan University.(Edited by Paulina Rodrguez)

HAITI: As seen by tourists beforeJanuary 12th, 2010

HAITI: As seen by Haitians beforeJanuary 12th, 2010

HAITI after January 12th, 2010

Presentacin: Paulina RodrguezValparaso - 2010