We should be discussing the Restavek situation in Haiti. It is neither new or a simple issue. A restavek (comes from the phrase 'to stay with') is a child who is sent from one family to live with another family. Considering Haiti's history as the only people to lead a successful slave rebellion for independence, discussing restaveks can be a sensitive issue. However, I believe that we must.
In an announcement on November 19th, the Peace Corps stated that it would bolster the already existing Crisis Corps and rename it "Peace Corps Response" to reflect its increased breadth and depth. Most are familiar with Peace Corps, but less have heard of the Crisis Corps. The Crisis Corps was a mechanism through which returned volunteers could serve abroad for a period of several months to a year.
When we write about China, it usually involves whether the government will protest renewal of MINUSTAH's mandate as a result of Haiti's pro Taiwan stance. But let us give credit where credit is due. China has provided well trained, and much needed, peacekeepers for the Haiti Mission. In fact, soon China will deploy its sixth team of 125 specially trained riot police.
Auctions can be an excellent way for small organizations to raise seed money with which to start pilot programs. Sometimes these new programs will work, and can be expanded. Other times, the decision will be made to discontinue but it will still have been an important learning experience for the organization.
MINUSTAH got off to a bad start. Initially, the force was content to sit back and guard government buildings while Port au Prince became increasingly unstable. The rationale was that they were there to keep the peace, not to be the national police.
A few months ago, perhaps in August, I received an email in my inbox that was interesting enough not to delete but not enticing to read immediately. So it sat in my inbox until about a week ago. It was a link to an online game called Haiti The Cost of Life hosted on UNICEF’s website.
Is a Constitution a living document? If it cannot be changed, does this make it more relevant or does it become less relevant as a people, country, and its government changes? There is a tradition in Latin America of scrapping and re-drafting Constitutions entirely. Some countries have had more than fifteen in their existance.
Breath, Eyes, Memory; Krik? Krak!, and The Dew Breaker among other books by Edwidge Danticat include her characteristic folktale prose woven into her larger themes. And with each book's evolution and the perfection of such prose more and more is revealed about the author, realizing it or not in what seems to develop as a series of memoirs.
If you have not already viewed Haiti Innovation's Flickr site, then we encourage you to do so. There are a number of excellent pictures taken by HII Board Members during work and travel throughout Haiti. These photos are available to you, but we ask that you request permission first before using them on your site or any other materials.
At Haiti Innovation, we frequently discuss issues relating to health, community mobilization, and development. From time to time, we also like to focus on a particular province to illustrate that positive changes that are being made. In this way, when people ask you if there is hope for Haiti, we hope you will reply with a resounding yes.
