Slow pace of recovery in Haiti not a surprise — unfortunately

Like most newspapers around the country, and even the globe, we hailed the commitment of $5.3 billion in aid for the reconstruction of the impoverished nation of Haiti after the worst earthquake in history on Jan. 12. Thousands died and 1.6 million Haitians were left homeless.

But we also warned that the warm feelings for the international donors who pledged would be replaced by harsh criticism if they did not put their money where their mouths are.

They haven’t — and thus are deserving of public rebuke. Only 10 percent of the $5.3 billion has been given. To our national shame, the United States has paid only $30 million into the donor fund of the $1.15 billion it promised. Legislation approving the rest is tied up in Congress.

Indeed, rather than cash, which is sorely needed for the reconstruction, most assistance has been in the form of debt relief. Relieving Haiti’s debt when the poorest country on earth isn’t generating enough revenue is putting the economic cart before the humanitarian horse.

The New York Times in a story Sunday offered a glimpse of the daily conditions Haitians face in the capital Port-Au-Prince as a result of not having secure housing.

Here’s what the newspaper reported: “Hundreds of displaced families live perilously in a single file of flimsy shanties planted along the median strip of a heavily congested coastal road here called the Route des Rails.

“Vehicles rumble by day and night, blaring horns, kicking up dust and belching exhaust. Residents try to protect themselves by positioning tires as bumpers in front of their shacks but cars still hit, injure and sometimes kill them. Rarely does anybody stop to offer help, and Judith Guillaume, 23, often wonders why.”

The answer is obvious: The world has stopped caring after the initial outpouring of sympathy and help made everyone feel good about themselves.

Counterproductive

There were so many volunteers from around the world in those early days and so many governments sending care packages, that all that goodwill almost became counterproductive.

But as the months passed, Haiti disappeared from the front pages of newspapers and the headlines on television, and the world forgot.

And lest Americans think that the people of Haiti simply want their country to be a ward of the world, consider what former President Bill Clinton, co-chairman of the international commission overseeing the $5.3 billion in promised reconstruction aid, had to say about the people of Haiti:

“They want to be able to live in a place that works. Their goal is not to need any of us anymore.”

To his credit, the former president continues to work tirelessly on behalf of the Haitian people and said in a recent Esquire magazine interview that he intends to spend the next three years helping with the reconstruction.

Clinton says the goal must be to create a functioning, stable society. That means helping to establish a centralized government that’s honest and effective and an economy that works.

It also means cutting through the red tape, government bureaucracy and all the other impediments to development so 1.6 million people now living in shanties have good housing, clean water, sanitation and health care, especially for the young and the old.

In other words, Haiti needs everything — and it needs the world’s help.

Six months from now, on the one year anniversary of the earthquake, the story line should be one of good news.