January 12, 2011
By Wilkine Brutus
*Haiti was one of the first countries to assist South Korea in 1950...oh, how times have changed!
Haiti: duality of pain & unwanted year anniversary
January 2010-insignificant celebration: I had a huge going away party on the first week of January, 2010. I was mentally preparing for my long trip to South Korea and obviously wanted to celebrate my departure with my beautiful Haitian family and close friends. The following week struck home deeper than the edge of life—a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, at 4:53pm, killed approximately 200,000 people in the already impoverished country of Haiti. We painfully watched the coverage of the devastation of Port-au-Prince (capital/largest city) on every news channel. The going away party immediately felt insignificant—we had to now embrace my departure and the possibility of death in the family, those relatives who unfortunately didn’t migrate to the USA.
The debris of uncertainty clouded the atmosphere—my mother, originally from Haiti, was stumbling on a cocktail of emotions. She was ultimately preparing for my departure and grappling with the heartrending possibility of family death—it is evidently difficult for a mother to juggle her emotional reactions and remain mentally stable enough to go back to work at 6am. Ironically, she’s a certified CNA at a major hospital in South Florida. Fortunately, most of our relatives live in Jérémie, Haiti, which is 100+ miles away from the earthquake epicenter.
However, a few gut-wrenching days had passed and we were anxiously waiting for our relatives to contact us. Haiti is notoriously bad for their telecommunications structure, so it was no surprise that a natural disaster would create a delay in communication. We finally received a call from my exasperated Uncle just before dinner. The sigh of relief was brief, because it felt weird to comfortably eat dinner knowing that men, women, and children would eventually be stuck under the rubble for days without food or water. We realized that before initial reports and we had to combat that feeling with our reactions toward the negative news, such as the insidious comments by Televangelist, Pat Robertson—his statement about Haitians “making a pact with the Devil” as the cause for the earthquake.
The end of January, 2010: I wanted to continue contributing as much as I can to the charitable cause. I was now purchasing canned goods for the victims in Haiti and accessories that I’ll need for my departure to Korea. Packing my bags with clothes metaphorically reminded of the bodies being dumped in those mass graves. The duality of pain would essentially follow me on that 14-hour-flight across the globe, where the news of the quake was just as prevalent. It obviously followed every young Haitian-American traveling domestically and abroad—suddenly faced with the heightened task to positively represent two distinct cultures.
Arrival to Inchon Airport, Gimpo to Jeju:[/b] I arrived to South Korea somewhat amazed and content by the massive global response to Haiti. As a Haitian-American, I felt like I had the responsibility of portraying myself as the direct contrast to the graphic Haitian images constantly displayed by the media in the aftermath of the quake. I also felt compelled to counterbalance the perception of black males in general. Nothing was forced—it was imperative to just be my free-spirited self. I saw the genuine empathy and compassion that Koreans and other foreigners felt for the tragedy, after all, South Korea can relate to having absolutely nothing.
Haitian-Americans were also lured into the political sphere. Haitian born and Grammy-Award winning musician, Wyclef Jean, decided to run for President after the disaster. He hinted on it for quite some time because he had the support of the youth. The focus, on a large-scale, turned to his ability to lead instead of the well-being of the victims. The excitement was real—many of us, however, doubted he could string his way through political corruption and the secret underlying interest behind the “rebuilding of Haiti.”
A year later, despite the overwhelming international support and solidarity, the post-quake recovery has generated conflicting reports of hubristic progress and standstill. I couldn’t help but see similarities with North and South Korea with that of Haiti and Dominican Republic. South Korea is much more economically superior to North Korea. Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with the neighboring Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is economically much more superior to Haiti; however, both nations have had their shares of issues, such as corruption, dictatorships, immigration issues, and political clashes.
January 12, 2011—state of mind: This anniversary is unwanted. Haiti has had to endure setbacks after setbacks and it took a disaster of this magnitude to bring adequate attention. For 2011, I’m yearning to hear about sustainable and long-term investments in infrastructure, education, and job training instead of just food distribution and shelter. A massive campaign—a philosophical revolution must take place, not just a political one. Religious aspects should be boiled down a little and direct focus on practical solutions. If not, then practicality should be equally aligned with faith. These are some of the aspects along with the investment of other countries that helped South Korea rise from the Korean War .
We are human beings first, nations second. Unfortunately, there is a duality in that realization as well. Tragedies will continue striking us all--we, the people of the world, will continue recognizing the upcoming unwanted anniversaries as we continue to search for a common ground and live with the forces of nature.
