I attended Paul Farmer’s lecture on Haiti after the earthquake this afternoon. It was a very informative talk on key problems the country is facing, notably education, health problems, access to medical care, lack of basic needs (water…), and the politics behind foreign aids. Farmer cites some troubling statistics: For example, the number of people in settlement camps by October 2011 is still approximately 550,000. After two years, only 30% of the rubble has been removed, and most of this labor was done manually by hands. Deaths from diseases, especially cholera, are rampant. All of this shows that there are still so much work to be done in the process of reconstructing Haiti.
One thing that captures me was Farmer’s idea on the role of university in community service. University should not only be a teaching and learning environment – it should also foster civic engagement. Farmer points out how Duke is lucky to have top-notch medical facilities, which allow high quality research to be carried out, and also input feedbacks about current policies and practices.
I’d be interested to hear what others who attended the talk think about the several issues raised by Farmer.
#1 by Allie Prater on December 7, 2011 - 6:08 pm
I’m a big fan of Paul Farmer/Haitian issues in general and also found his talk very interesting. Because of his background, Farmer is extremely knowledgable on all things Haiti. Unlike many who spearhead aid initiatives in the country, he thoroughly understands the contexts and causes of Haiti’s past failures; among these are the trend of blind or parachute aid (coming into the country without knowing enough about its culture, etc.) and circumventing the Haitian state in aid initiatives, which ultimately reduces the state’s capacity to help itself. The latter issue is particularly troubling, as many of the governmental inadequacies seen in Haiti result from repeated instances of this in the past. Additionally, if state ministries and initiatives are not included in the aid process, Haiti will never be able to help itself or eventually regain its sovereignty.
A related issue came up in a question to Farmer and in my view, wasn’t fully addressed: exactly HOW can we better include the Haitian state and public sector in the current rebuilding process? The exclusion of the Haitian government has its reasons, and fully involving the government is not without concern; there have been, and continue to be, substantiated doubts about corruption and competence. However, there must be a way to collaborate between state programs and non-state aid agencies/funding. Farmer’s answer to the question above was simply, “better communication.” This certainly wouldn’t hurt – both better communication between the general Haitian civilian population (their needs, views, etc.) and the aid providers, as well as between state and non-state sources of aid would be beneficia. But ultimately the answer needs to be more specific. Problems of willingness to communicate and language barriers hinder communication efforts. The government is aware of this issue and has stressed it repeatedly, but no one seems to listen when leaders call for better communication or collaboration.
So this brings me to the question: when you rely on others for aid, how forceful can you be in directing how their aid is given? The adage “beggars can’t be choosers,” might seem fitting in this situation, but unless Haiti wants to cement their position as “beggar,” more concrete guidelines for donating and distributing aid must be established that offer increased inclusion of the Haitian people and government.
Ok – I’ll get off my soapbox now.