In recent days the world watched with heightened anguish the painful deaths of many of Haiti’s beautiful people. Children of all ages were orphaned over night and many mothers looked upon their babes in utter despair as they took their last breath on this earthly life. Yes, the start of the new year of the new decade in a new millennium was one of disaster and calamity for the already poverty-stricken Republic of Haiti, situated — with its spectacular mountains and its breath-taking undeveloped coastline — on the Hispaniola Island in the Caribbean basin.
On 12 January 2010, the earth beneath the people of Haiti trembled with a 7-magnitude quake. In the span of only a few days, an estimated 3 million human beings were affected as thousands upon thousands lost their lives under the rubble… thousands of others lost their limbs … and thousands more died of hunger and thirst, or because of lack of medicine. Almost every edifice on the land was crumbled, and nearly all remaining population was bitterly faced with homelessness; yet the material damage would in nowise dare compare to the actual loss of life which is estimated to reach nearly 200,000.
News of this devastation spread to the far corners of the globe in less than a heart-beat in this new age of communication, causing one of the biggest heartaches the world has seen in recent years. Indeed, a limb on the global human body was afflicted and all other limbs were made to suffer with sympathy pain for the calamity that had struck the nation of Haiti.
Within hours newly-developed charity organisations as well as existing ones began actively to collect funds for the region in despair. Doctors, nurses, firemen, eager youth, and many, many, other people of good will travelled to the country to lend a hand in the flesh. Popular artists and stars of Hollywood sang songs and recited poetry in solidarity with the pain felt by the victims of this earthquake, and made heartfelt appeals for immediate assistance.
In brief, millions and millions of dollars were poured into the country as a result of generous donations made by people and governments worldwide, while prayers and good wishes echoed from every corner of the globe for a speedy improvement to the situation.
Today, less than two weeks after Haiti first trembled, I sit in wonder as I meditate on the phrase which has been stamped on the conscience of every soul: “Hope for Haiti”. I hear the words over the radio and see them plastered over every programme on television and flashed repeatedly over my computer screen. But I wonder if it is really hope that we are purchasing with such generous donations or an ointment for the wounds of guilt?! Is the Haiti catastrophe really a natural disaster or the bitter truth of poverty?!
16 years ago, in the same season and not all that far away from Haiti, the San Fernando Valley, a heavily populated area in Los Angeles, and only about 20 miles away from the City’s downtown, wealthy Californians awoke to a trembling of a 6.9 magnitude.
It was a tragedy no doubt; however, the outcome not nearly as tragic as the one almost two decades later in Haiti. The reports of the causalities and damages from the 17 January 1994 San Fernando earthquake vary slightly in figures; however, it seems that with an earthquake of almost exact same magnitude, California lost no more than 60 lives. And amongst the devastating damages reported were the fact that almost 10,000 businesses and homes were left without electricity for days; about 20,000 homes didn’t have gas for a while; and thousands more couldn’t enjoy running water for a few weeks.
Devastating indeed for people accustomed to a life of luxury; but how do these damages both in the loss of precious life and that of property compare to the outcome of a tremor of the same intensity in a poor nation? So, I sit and struggle in my heart as to how one could begin to find the answer deeply buried in layers of adversity! Is it the natural disaster that is taking the lives in Haiti; or the heartbreaking reality of “poverty”?
Did the world not know of the nation’s toils before the tremor? Did the world not care before the earthquake struck? Could some of these lives have been saved if all these millions of dollars and loving attention had been poured into the country before its land was shaken with an underground eruption? With the same magnitude of a quake, could the damages in Haiti have also been nearly the same as in Los Angles if the world had attempted with the same vigour to make a difference beforehand and had shared the wealth before a natural calamity sprinkled the wounds of guilt with the salt of the earth?
So, yes, there is certainly “Hope for Haiti”; but perhaps the world could refresh itself with “hope for humanity”… And, yes, While deeply joyous at the generosity and care demonstrated by so many around the globe, I am prompted by the torrents of emotions brimming in my heart to hope that the world will now rejoice in securing a social and economic equilibrium in order to ensure prosperity for the entire humanity and not only for the selected few nations that are more developed.
The world today is waving its banners in the defence of human rights everywhere, and protesting against the violations thereof. Moderate comfort and economic stability are also “rights” belonging to every human. Poverty is an ailment and not a category of our lives. It is an ailment with a readily available remedy. Humanity needs not meet with a “natural” disaster to realise that wealth is there to be shared. Having shared much of its wealth in the aftermath of the tremor in Haiti, the world can surely see with sober eyes that it is not any poorer for the effort.
The calamity of “poverty” wrought by humanity’s own hand is much graver that the outcome of any given adversity mother nature may bring…
