At long last, the elections in Haiti are over and they have a new president, Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly. Not the person many in the “upper” class wanted, but because he carried 65 per cent of the vote (much of that the youth of the country) he was certainly their choice. He is a person with a very checkered past who made his riches as a Haitian singer. But he did come from a poor beginning and proved that you can make something of yourself, even in one of the poorest countries in the world.
One of his top priorities, he says, is the educational system. We certainly can’t find fault in this need. In an article by Carrie Kahn and appearing on the NPR website on April 4, 2011 she says, “Even before the earthquake, there weren’t enough schools or qualified teachers.” Everyone who has been to Haiti knows this is true. She went on to say, “According to the government, 4,000 schools were destroyed in the 2010 earthquake and as many as 1,300 teachers died”. To say the least, the new president has his work cut out for him, not only in the area of education but in almost every sector of the country.
Another of those areas that need attention is the tent cities, one of which we have began working in and with. In an article written by Georgianne Nienaber appearing on the Huffington Post website, on April 5, 2011, she stated that “ with 680,000 people still living in camps, delivery of frontline basic services will remain critical this year, particularly in light of major threats such as the cholera epidemic, the rain and hurricane season starting in April, and an increase in food prices”. This story doesn’t mention the huge increase in gas prices they saw last month. She goes on the say, “the cholera epidemic has killed almost 5000 people and “officially” affected 261,985 and the count is accepted to be under-reported”.
Mud cookies baking in the Haitian sun
