Room to Grow - by Wyclef Jean
by Wyclef Jean 08/02/2010
We recently marked the six-month anniversary of the Jan. 12 earthquake in my home country of Haiti, and it’s now even more crucial for us to think of the future—short-term and long-term—of this devastated nation. There’s the near future: We need to keep sending as much support and aid as possible to the people living on the streets, in tents (at last count, about 1.2 million) and in destroyed homes that they’re refusing to leave—because they are all without adequate water, without enough food, without a sense of safety. When I was there at the end of June and again for the anniversary, I saw them and saw how powerless they feel. Haiti’s already weak economic conditions, compounded by property damage and loss of life suffered in the quake, have left the nation without an infrastructure, let alone given them any chance to consider the future.
How can we plan for the long-term recovery of this island nation? First, you need to know these things: Less than half the teachers in Haiti have even a sixth-grade education, and the majority of students older than first grade (more than 90 percent) have to pay for school. Obviously, sweeping changes need to be made. How can a country progress when its children lack the basic right of access to education? The answer is simple: It can’t. Yéle Haiti, the nongovernmental organization (NGO) I co-founded more than five years ago, supports educational programs, among others.
We help fund the Jean et Marie orphanage, which educates (and feeds and clothes) the 57 kids who live there. On our most recent visit, we gave care bags to all of them. Yéle also sponsors L’Athlétique d’Haïti, an after-school sports program for 650 kids, and gives them a safe place to go so they don’t get into trouble—or, worse, become victims of the violence that occurs frequently in Haiti now. On Yéle’s June visit, we presented the program with $10,000 and gave the kids sports equipment.
As happy as that made them, you should have seen their faces when they saw our guest—French soccer star Florent Malouda, who played a game of futbol with them. It was truly inspirational for the kids, many of who dream of becoming pro soccer players. We were so thrilled to bring them some real happiness, but their joy reminded us we’re still not doing enough. For Haiti’s long-term recovery and regrowth, everyone who can—businesses, NGOs, government agencies in Haiti and other countries—must make overhauling the education system a top priority, so that Haiti’s children can be happy, healthy, productive members of their country’s society, so that they can start moving Haiti out from under its dependency on foreign aid.
What might not seem as apparent for long-term improvement as an education system overhaul, but is absolutely integral, is to revive the environment. In Haiti, there aren’t enough crops to feed even one-third of the country, and the island’s tree cover is practically nonexistent—less than 2 percent. I’m telling you, you probably can’t envision what that means. We need adequate tree coverage to help shield the island from the worst storm damage and block soil erosion, which the rainy season (we’re in the midst of it right now) makes much worse. Excessive soil erosion further degrades farming conditions, making it a factor in the country’s inability to grow enough food to feed the population. On another stop on our recent trip, my wife, Claudinette, gave a $10,000 check to an agricultural community center. Those community farmers harvest most of the vegetables bought and sold in Haiti, and we want to help make sure they can keep doing that. We also kicked off Yéle Vert, the forestation program that clothing company Timberland is co-sponsoring with us, with a tree-planting ceremony.
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: The things we’re trying to accomplish in Haiti might all come down to growth. We want more than anything to make sure Haiti’s children are given what they need to grow up strong, healthy and hopeful, and we’re trying to make sure everyone of all ages has what they need to literally grow what the country needs.
I have faith that this vision of growth can become a reality, but we know there’s still so much to do. It’s a good time to remind everyone what Haiti needs, six months since the earthquake, but, more than that, this is the time to commit ourselves to acting, before it’s too late.