Haiti After the Earthquake
Like many in the field of international relief and development, January 12, 2010 is a date I will never forget. That’s of course when that devastating earthquake struck Haiti.
The news from Haiti has been sobering these past two years. But good, dedicated people — Haitian and otherwise — continue to help Haiti build back better. It’s been a learning experience for a lot of us, and I know we’ll hold on to what we’ve learned for a long time.
One person who has much to teach us about Haiti is Dr. Paul Farmer, a medical doctor and anthropologist who has split his time over the past few decades between pioneering community health initiatives in rural Haiti and teaching at Harvard Medical School in Boston. He is also the founding director of Partners in Health and has written numerous books.
Because of all this, I’m grateful for Dr. Paul Farmer’s latest book, Haiti After The Earthquake (PublicAffairs). I read it last fall, and I’m pleased to say my review appears in the new issue of PRISM magazine and is reprinted below with permission.
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Few would argue with the fact that what followed Haiti’s devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010 was one of the most widespread showings of sympathy and humanitarian support in recent memory. What is up for debate, however, is why rebuilding efforts haven’t made more progress as we near the quake’s two-year anniversary.
In his new book Haiti After The Earthquake, anthropologist and medical doctor Paul Farmer affirms that this outpouring of compassion indeed saved countless lives, but he also addresses the deeper problem by recounting not just the events immediately following the quake or the ongoing recovery efforts, but also what he calls the “history of the present illness” -- a history marked by the scars of slavery, foreign occupation, dictatorship, and a slew of disasters both natural and otherwise. Complementing Farmer’s writing is a collection of essays by several others -- many of them Haitian -- which allows for an illuminating range of perspectives.
Farmer, who co-founded the medical organization Partners In Health, writes as one who has lived and worked in Haiti for nearly three decades. His main argument is that Haiti’s woes are directly tied to its crippled public sector, and that a strengthening of that sector is precisely where Haiti’s hopes for a brighter future lie.
The scope of the disaster, Farmer writes, put Haiti and the entire humanitarian community in “uncharted territory,” making it “hard to know how to prioritize anxieties.” He writes, therefore, with measured humility, though he is critical of the so-called “experts” who descended upon Haiti with what proved to be unfounded confidence in their solutions. Further, he argues, Haiti has long been a “Republic of NGOs” with foreign entities filling a leadership vacuum that has done little to strengthen the country’s already weak public sector.
Farmer recognizes that it is far easier to identify a problem than to offer a solution, so he devotes an entire chapter to the nation of Rwanda, where Partners In Health also works and where he and his family now live. Not long ago, following the genocide of 1994, Rwanda was considered more or less a lost cause, not unlike Haiti today. It has since been transformed, however, and while foreign agencies and governments have played important roles, it has been the work of Rwandans themselves -- led by an ambitious and disciplined government especially committed to massive job creation -- that has truly helped Rwanda rise from the ashes.
As a special envoy to the UN, Farmer’s voice is routinely heard in high places. But here, as elsewhere, he seeks to “echo and amplify” the voices of those who were lost on that fateful day as well as the voices of those who remain. Through a project called “Voices for the Voiceless” Farmer has worked to represent the perspectives of ordinary Haitians and then to share them with donor governments and agencies in hopes that decisions made at high levels will truly align with the interests of real people on the ground.
Some humanitarian workers and generous citizens may bristle at the idea that NGOs have done long-term harm even while doing immediate good, but we should resist the urge to react with either pride or despair. As one working in the field of relief and development, I believe this book provides an important opportunity to acknowledge the mistakes of the past and to change course, when necessary, to better ensure that Haitians truly have the opportunity to build back better.
