Haiti has been in the news over the last couple of days and you can't help but feel sorry for those that live there. Anytime the word Haiti appears on the wire you know it isn't going to be good news. Unfortunately, I know about as much about Haiti as most of you. I know it is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and I know they have had a lot of political unrest there as long as I have been paying attention.
I've never lived through an earthquake and I don't know what it is like to live in abject poverty. However, I am relatively close to another situation that could provide some parallels to their situation. As many of you know, I am a school counselor in Galveston. While I don't live on the island, I have seen first hand what it has done to many of the residents and students at my school in particular. While they may not be poor like the Haitians are poor, they are poor by American standards. The response to Hurricane Ike was similar in our relative experience to the immediate response in Haiti.
Like many of you, our family donated to the American Red Cross, Clinton Fund, or other multitude of charities available. The response has been remarkable. However, I wanted to take a moment to talk about Galveston because I think it would provide us with some insight into what likely will happen moving forward. I remember one particular episode of Seinfeld where George was trying to move into an exclusive apartment. He had the last spot before a survivor from a famous boat crash was elevated to the top of the waiting list. It was the "it" tragedy.
I hate comparing human tragedy to sitcoms, but it seems like we do that too. Hurricane Katrina victims were fussed over more than Rita victims. Ike victims have gotten the relative shaft in that as well. No, I am not talking about government response because we all know the story there. I am talking about human response. The donation dollars are drying up down here in Galveston and there are people in serious trouble. Yet, the pity train has moved down the tracks to its next deserving destination.
Some of the continuing problems are familiar. Insurance companies and FEMA drag their feet on renovations and reimbursement. Some of them are what I would consider to be procedural. For instance, government groups have decided against rebuilding many of the projects that were destroyed. Those folks have fluttered to the far winds. Last year, the schools and community worked together to get those kids to school. Now, they have to go to school where they are living rather than where they want to go.
Some of are victim of circumstance. Maybe they worked in the tourism industry before the storm. Suddenly, you have a devasted area AND a bad economy to boot. People just don't take vacations anymore. As educators, many of our lives have returned to normal. Those of us that live off the island weren't as effected. So, it is sometimes difficult to give that extra attention when we have nearly twice as many students. Still, some of those kids need that attention. They are struggling academically because they still have needs, but those outside of the community have moved on.
I tell this tale not as a way to get people to give more to Galveston. That isn't the point. The point is that we are at our greatest need not right after human tragedy but a months and a more than a year down the road. Patrons start abandoning us and we start to feel our losses more acutely. So, let's all try to keep that in mind months from now when the next tragedy comes down the tracks. Our attention and dollars might be going elsewhere, but the lives of the Haitians won't be rebuilt in a month, year, or even multiple years.
I believe the references to Hades began with Dante's Inferno, didn't it? That's one book I need to read and just haven't gotten around to.
Scott, it reminds me of all the giving that goes on at Christmas. People drop coins in the Salvation Army buckets. People help out at the big meals downtown. People give money to the Goodfellows drive. People - such as at my church - pick Angel Tree tags and buy gifts. We gave 800 gifts this last year.
These are all good things.
But hunger and poverty last twelve months a year. And we do have such short attention spans.
Mea culpa. I'm as guilty as all the rest.
some rambling thoughts on haiti... pat robertson's madness about haiti being "cursed" made me wonder if the reference to hell as "haitis" stemmed from that type of right wing, extreme dangerous evangelicalism. watching slingblade with my mom recently, i recalled the billy bob character making a biblical reference about following the bible or going to "haitis" aka hell. and my lament about the depths of hate over at the chron commons, in response to a predictable red meat story about homeland security's decision to postpone deportation of haitians. haters there never pass up any opportunity to bash illegal immigrants of any kind, no matter how much tragedy or adversity they face. as for the "shine" i wondered what would happen if the poorest, underprivileged, sick, hungry, hopeless and helpless americans were profiled simultaneously by all american media personalities and outlets, as well as celebrities and people of means for just one day? as i plan a modest family dinner for my mom's birthday celebration, i do so knowing of the existence of an abandoned trailor park behind her house in the barrio. where there are no utilities, including running water or flusing toilets, much less cable tv or the internet. where people live with children, who depend on a mon thru fri morning and noon meal courtesy of the local elementary school. i have no idea what they eat at night or on weekends, except what neighbors give of left overs to the oldest boy over the fence. he speaks english and tells me his dad was deported around thanksgiving, taken off the jobsite and they could not stay in their apartment. the boy is an american in the fourth grade, who mows lawns and cleans with his mom at night to feed the three younger kids. the rent is collected each sunday, to give them the weekend to pay up, and it is $250 per week for the trailor which looks like it was long ago condemned. i wonder if many americans experience children like the ones from this trailor, and i wonder if their mom fears any authority what happens if they get sick or get injured? no sense in trying to ask her to fill out the census, which is a project i'm working on in the hispanic community. finally, i was reminded today that hurricane ike was WIPED off the news when the banks collapsed the day after ike and the news ran with it as the "nation's" disaster. how futile it seemed trying to call for assistance for my parents after their house flooded while they were without power for nearly two weeks. after fighting the insurance we only had the repairs finished last october, while they were displaced with family for over a year. they were turned down by fema like everyone else i know who suffered casualty, obviously to make up for the poor judgement that showered katrina victims with fema debit cards for tatoos and galleria shopping sprees.
As Americans, we tend to lose interest in anything once the "shine" wears off.
We have incredibly short memories.
Maybe that's why we keep re-electing the same a-holes every time who never seem to get anything done, including disaster recovery right here in our own country.
My fear for Haiti is the same as for Galveston and much of the Gulf Coast. Because economic times are so hard right now, the longer we do without, the more we make other arrangements and then never get around to rebuilding. Yet the people left behind continue to suffer.
Whatever happened in Indonesia after the tsunami? What does that area look like now?
Scott I found the following on Haiti to be (a) interesting (b)educational and (c) informative.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/14-13
On the same website is a commentary by Professor Bill Quigley.... who was in New Orleans, during Katrina.
Also -- all of the above.