What’s on Your Heart Campaign for Haiti

by Global Ministries | published on Oct 10, 2014

Will you join me in sending a powerful message to our elected officials concerning our sisters and brothers in Haiti? Have a heart-making party or set up a table at your fellowship group, or in your church. Pass out hearts or postcards where you can—maybe at a holiday dinner! If you will send them to me, I will make sure that they are sent to the appropriate people. Thank you for your time, your energy and commitment to Haiti.

In 2008, a powerful string of hurricanes—Fay, Gustav, Hanna, and Ike—brought total devastation to Haiti, especially in its rural communities. Although the impact of hurricanes and tropical storms has been severe in the past, never before has destruction been so expansive and crippling, for these four hurricanes systematically hit every region in the country.

The degradation of the environment contributed to the damage. Waters gushing from the severely deforested mountains carried mud and debris and flooded the valleys and towns of Haiti. The flooding from the hurricanes caused hundreds of deaths, and loss of crops, homes and micro-enterprises and animals. Roads were impassable and many communities were left inaccessible. The country’s agricultural harvest estimated about $200 million was lost. Crops were flattened by mud, leaving farmers and peasants with no food to sell and no food to eat. Some have reported that at least 800 people died as a result of the hurricanes, 200 injured; 180,000 families affected; 11,000 homes destroyed and 36,000 homes damaged. So the question you must be asking is what has contributed to such severe natural disasters?

Today, 98% of Haiti’s forests are gone, leaving no top soil to hold rain. Since it lies in the pathway of tropical storms and hurricanes originating in the Atlantic, Haiti stands vulnerable to the impact of climate change. The heavy torrents of water, mud and debris which rage from mountains through villages and into cities, stand as a stark reminder of the consequences of Haiti’s deforestation.

The loss of life, property, and the destruction of the infrastructure which characterized the impact of recent hurricanes in Haiti are relatively new phenomena resulting from the country’s rapid deforestation. While more frequent and violent hurricanes are affecting the Caribbean basin as a whole, their impact on a treeless Haiti is exponentially more devastating.

The issue of food insecurity preceded the havoc wreaked by the hurricanes. A treeless terrain causes greater incidence of soil erosion, which lowers the productivity of the land, worsens droughts and eventually leads to desertification. Deforestation in this context represents one of the greatest threats to food security.

Rural women in Haiti are responsible for obtaining food, water and energy for cooking. Deforestation and the impacts of climate change causes women to work harder to secure these resources. Women have less time to get an education, take care of families or earn an income. When the supply of potable water is contaminated by flood waters, young girls must miss school and sacrifice their education in order to walk long distances to fetch clean water. As such, deforestation has a disproportional negative impact on women and girls in Haiti.

In conjunction with economic development projects, a continued focus on reforestation will help with disaster prevention when future hurricanes hit. Trees help reduce the loss of human lives, households, crops, food, and livestock because flood waters are mitigated. Trees help maintain quality water supply since they help absorb flood waters, making them less likely to contaminate potable water system.

Yes, houses must be rebuilt, communities must be stabilized, and roads and bridges replaced. Haiti, however, cannot address infrastructural issues without confronting the root causes of its problems. Haiti can thrive with sound environmental policies which place reforestation as one of the most pressing priorities.

Environmental policies must offer solutions to eradicate poverty, gender inequity, and food insecurity. You and I are called upon to support our Haitian sisters and brothers efforts to reduce its vulnerability to natural disasters, protect its watersheds and support its farmers in sustainable reforestation.

Given these circumstances, I think we can all agree that the people of Haiti would be better served if the government was freed to use its limited resources to address the environmental crisis, improve healthcare, expand access to education, and reform the justice system. Therefore, Global Ministries in partnership with Jubliee USA Network is calling for a complete debt cancellation. Haiti’s government has already agreed to use the savings from debt relief for these purposes.

Haiti is faced with urgent humanitarian needs and cannot afford to spend its limited resources on debt service payments. Sharp increased in food and energy prices have also led to an escalation of hunger among the poorest sectors of the population. Moreover, Haiti can expect to be severely and negatively affected by the recent downturn in the economy of the United States. Not only are exports to the United States a significant percentage of Haiti’s Gross Domestic Product, Haiti is also heavily dependent on the money sent from Haitians relatives living in the United States. . Immediate cancellation of Haiti’s debt to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank would free much needed resources to fight poverty and help the country to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals. Haiti is close to reaching completion point in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiatives, yet its expected completion date continues to be postponed. Given the current crisis, Haiti should not be made to wait any longer for 100% debt cancellation by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank. With this in mind, Global Ministries invites you to participate in the Jubilee Network’s What’s on Your Heart Campaign which asks you to write to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and share with him the issues on your heart about debt and economic justice for Haiti. The Treasury Secretary plays a central role in determining US economic policies on debt and global poverty. We recognize that times are hard and many Americans are suffering. In tough times, the temptation is to turn our focus inward, ignoring the plight of suffering people around the world with devastating results. We must not let this happen, we must make our voices hear and remind Secretary Geithner that our sister and brothers in the Global Southern countries have already been hit hard by the food crisis, and are now struggling to face the more severe financial crisis as well.

Together we can remind the Secretary of Treasury that while dealing with the economic crisis at home, he cannot allow the needs of the world’s most vulnerable to be pushed aside. The issues on the hearts of Haiti advocates include:

I. The urgency of immediate debt cancellation to address poverty in Haiti;

II. The need to stop the immoral practices of vulture funds that sue recipients of debt relief for huge profits; the Obama Treasury department should work to permanently outlaw profiteering by vulture funds;

III. Our responsibility to meet our commitments to fund debt relief; The moral imperative that we address odious and illegitimate debt, and work for a new framework for responsible lending in the future.

Repay climate debt to countries in the Global South. The north has made the biggest contribution to global warming, while the global South suffer the highest cost. The Obama Treasury department should provide grants rather than loans to help poor countries adapt to climate change.

To learn more about the Hearts for Haiti campaign, click here: http://www.jubileeusa.org/heartcampaign.html