10/08/2025
Tucked away in the bottom right corner on page 21 of the September 13th edition of The Toronto Saturday Star was a short clip about another gang massacre in Haiti, in the fishing village of Labordie, north of the capital of Port au Prince. It was also reported on social media.
I bring this up because I love and care about Haiti which I first visited as an NGO volunteer in 2006. I knew almost nothing about this Caribbean island nation then. Apart from its former reputation as a playground for mostly North American and European tourists during the totalitarian Papa Doc regime of the 50's and the worldwide attention paid to the calamitous earthquake of January 2010, very few of us know much more about this country and its people. Why should we?
Apart from being small, vulnerable and inconsequential, there are reasons why we aren't more connected to Haiti. Much of its complex and rich history has been obscured by the sweep of larger events and powers around its shores. A few chapters shrouded from common knowledge include: Columbus' savaging of the native Taino population; Haiti’s emergence as the richest slave colony on earth established and exploited by the French; its successful slave revolt, the first, which launched a free black republic in 1804 and the second democracy in the Americas; its role in turning back Napoleon's army sent to bring Louisiana under the French flag thus saving it for the United States; the courageous abolition of slavery - the first country in the world to do so, resulting in the reactionary exploitation by the United States in fear of free blacks just off its racist shores.
To want to know more is to care more, and that’s my second reason for reaching out found in the answer to the question - why should we care? Don’t we have enough world stuff to worry about from Ukraine, Gaza, to a burning planet and the pending doom of AI and our economic survival?
Since 2006 I have continued to volunteer and work professionally in Haiti: as an executive director of a physical medicine and rehabilitation NGO, marketing and communications consultant and board member for several non-profits. I've made wonderful friends and strong, lasting connections with Haitians. I feel I know a little more than I did about the Haitian conundrum - beauty, culture, pride, resilience and suffering overwhelmed by opportunistic colonizers and oppressors. To be honest and clear, as an outsider, a 'blanc' and an average Canadian, I don’t know a lot, but my experience has included witnessing the destructive powers of nature, politics, inhumanity and corruption which has given me a strong sense of what there is about Haiti to care for.
Haiti is a country with severe disabilities. It is crippled by poverty, violence, internal political corruption, foreign manipulation, the ravages of nature and the injustices of history. It exists among the nations of the world, like its own persons with disabilities and those everywhere - vulnerable, stigmatized, discriminated against and often largely forgotten or ignored, but no more so than its human counterparts, it is not defined by disability. To underline - it is not a disabled country.
If we want to know more and care more, we can look, and I have been privileged to see, Haiti’s capable side: the herculean genetic strength of Haitians to survive and thrive as a people and as a country; the unique, rich cultural vibrance expressed in its music, art, dance, poetry, literature and film, all against the backdrop of exquisite natural beauty and abundant resources.
As individuals of every culture and as a species, we are taught and continuously learn better how to care for the least among us, to love our neighbours, to uplift those weaker or disadvantaged. As we hone our skills of cooperation and collaboration and mature, we as nations can also evolve into a global community of greater peace, justice and sustained well-being. By mustering our best intentions, ideas and resources, we can help Haitians to uplift their country just as we can the many other disadvantaged nations whose plights are sometimes buried in the back pages of the news.
There is an old Haitian proverb - Dèyè mòn, gen mòn - mountains beyond mountains. They are beautiful, but there is always another one to climb, another challenge to surmount. Perhaps one day The Toronto Star will report a headline, on page one - “Haiti Survives to Host Summit on How the World Cared and Helped."
linkedin.com/in/eric-doubt-58758a5
https://abilityhaiti.org/
