Haitian Americans Will Play a Vital Role in Rebuilding Haiti

Now that the staff and writers at Associated Content (AC) have done a great job contributing to the relief effort in Haiti, it is time to contribute to the reconstruction of the island nation. AC can play a constructive role and help in this effort by helping Haitian Americans obtain the critical information they need to decide if they they should return to the island, when they should return, and what role they will play in Haiti. Haitian Americans will play a vital role reconstructing their nation and AC can assist them by providing a link for Haitian Americans to communicate with their contacts on the island. Perhaps AC can provide a chat room for all Haitians and Haitian Americans. An astonishing number of Haitian Americans, estimated at one million, need to know what is happening on the island.

The reconstruction of Haiti is one of the greatest nation building projects in human history, and the United States has a mixed record in this area. The United States had great success in rebuilding Germany after World War II, and this was due in part to the controversial decision to allow former members of the Nazi party to return to their vital civilian jobs.

Unfortunately, the United States has not been very successful in Iraq. The United States invaded and occupied Iraq and then took responsibility for the future of the country. We broke it, and we owned it. The chaos that followed was astronomical, and throwing the approximately eight million Iraq Sunni out of power made the chaos much worse. They were driven form the top positions in government and industry, and many of their businesses were destroyed.

Rebuilding Haiti will be extremely difficult after the devastating earthquake. This earthquake was one of the worse in human history and the human suffering on the island is horrific. Generally, the poorest of the poor survived the earthquake while those living in more substantial structures were most likely killed. The core of the population that managed the government and economy are probably dead. Many Haitian Americans have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to rebuild Haiti, and it is critically important for some of them to return. We should do everything possible to help them is this effort.

Source: Nick Souchik, Haitian Americans need info on returning to help homeland, The Citizens Voice Newspaper of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, February 2, 2010.