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Greetings of peace!
This week marks 2 years since the tragedy in Haiti--the earthquake of January 12, 2010. The natural disaster compounded the already difficult conditions in Haiti, and two years later, we are well aware that the struggle for justice continues. The Haitian people have seen only marginal improvements in the rebuilding of their country. Many are joining an ever-growing exodus to other countries to find work to improve their living conditions but often find themselves running the gauntlet of human trafficking to arrive there. The installation of the new president, Michele Martelly, has garnered more attention for his plan to reinstate the previous human-rights-violating Haitian military than for any plan to establish an infrastructure and meet the basic needs of a languishing citizenry. His commission ordered to study the issue of reinstating the Haitian army just endorsed President Martelly's plans while, conversely, the mandate of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission to "Rebuild Haiti Back Better" ended in October 2011 and awaits its eventual demise.
In the midst of what are always described as seemingly insurmountable circumstances, Pax Christi Port-au-Prince's peace education and community-building work in Cite Soleil continues to prove the headlines wrong with each new relationship made, with each conflict positively transformed, and with each young mind made more attuned to the power of active non-violence. Click here to read a message from Daniel Tillias, Program Director of PC Port-au-Prince, two years after the earthquake.
Pax Christi USA was invited to join this process of peace education and advocacy for the basic rights of Haitians on their own soil, and we accepted that invitation. With your gift today, you can help ensure that this collaboration continues! Simply click on the "Donate" button below to give a secure donation through your credit card. [NOTE: You don't need to have a PayPal account to give through PayPal. After clicking on the "Donate" button below, simply click on the "Continue" link at the bottom left-hand corner of the new page on your screen (where it reads: "Don't have a PayPal account? Use your credit card or bank account"). Follow the prompts and you'll have made your donation quickly and safely!]
 In peace,
Manuel Padilla and Amy Watts
Co-Coordinators of Haiti Collaboration, Pax Christi USA
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| PRAY: A Prayer For Haiti | | |
By Rose Marie Berger, January 2010
Most Holy Creator God, Lord of heaven and earth,
we bring before you today your people of Haiti.
It is you who set in motion the stars and seas, you who
raised up the mountains of the Massif de la Hotte and Pic La Selle. It is you who made her people in your very image:
Their gregarious hearts, generous spirits,
their hunger and thirst for righteousness and liberty.
It is you, O Lord, who planted the rhythms of konpa, Twoubadou, and zouk in the streets of Cite-Soleil. You who walk the paths outside of Jacmel and Hinche. Your people, O Lord, cry out to you.
To see the rest of the prayer, click here.
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STUDY: Haiti-Ayiti
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In October 2011, SOA Watch activists traveled to Haiti to learn more about the UN occupation there and the effects of militarization on Haitian society.
Article by Lisa Sullivan, Poems by Mary Ann Perrone
Yes, my name is Troy Davis,
but my name is also
Haiti
But Haiti isn't dead.
sentenced to death by
debt, coup, occupation, earthquake, cholera, and NGO
Haiti refuses to die
I have been back for ten days from Haiti. My report should have been written and sent off days ago. I usually start writing it before the plane's wheels even lift off from the country I am visiting, trying to capture the experience while fresh. But Haiti is............well, different.
As I boarded the plane to leave Port-au-Prince ten days ago, I simultaneously couldn't wait for the plane to lift off, and couldn't stand the idea of leaving. I wanted to race down the jet-way, dash into the plane, and close the doors myself. I had never felt so hot, hungry, dismayed, depleted and defeated as I did in Haiti.
But after settling into my seat, I was tempted to press the flight attendant's button, explaining: I need to get off, now. I've left something behind: myself. There was something so stunningly spirited about the people of Haiti, just beneath that level of composure, just below that reality of raw suffering, and I needed to stay longer to understand, to drink from that fountain.
To read the rest of the refection, click here.
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ACT: Support the PCUSA-PCPAP Collaboration
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We invite you to do one of the following to support the collaboration between Pax Christi USA and Pax Christi Port-au-Prince:
1. Host a 'House Party' with family, friends, and fellow Pax Christi members, on the topic of "Peacemaking in Haiti". Raise awareness of, and money for, the Pax Christi Haiti Collaboration. Show the DVD, Cite Soleil: Sun, Dust, and Hope, as an educational piece at the party! Need other ideas for conversation starters at your house party? Email us at:
Manuel@paxchristiusa.org & Amy@paxchristiusa.org
2. Don't have time or the capability for a house party? Then we ask you to please consider a donation to support this collaborative initiative led by our grass roots partners in Haiti. If each person who reads this Pray-Study-Act e-bulletin gave a gift of $25, $50, or $100 dollars, this collaboration would continue to grow and inspire new seeds for peace in Haiti and in the U.S. You can send a check to Pax Christi USA's national office in D.C. and write "SAKALA" in the memo line, or simply click on the "Donate" button below to give a secure donation through your credit card. [NOTE: You don't need to have a PayPal account to give through PayPal. After clicking on the "Donate" button below, simply click on the "Continue" link at the bottom left-hand corner of the new page on your screen (where it reads: "Don't have a PayPal account? Use your credit card or bank account"). Follow the prompts and you'll have made your donation quickly and safely!]
3. Please tell us your ideas for promoting the DVD Cite Soleil: Sun, Dust, and Hope. Know of an upcoming event? Have a listserve that would be interested in receiving information about this collaboration? Want to invite Amy Watts and Manuel Padilla (Haiti Collaboration Co-coordinators) to speak on Haiti at a gathering like Pax Christi Michigan did? Be in touch with your ideas! Email us at:
Manuel@paxchristiusa.org & Amy@paxchristiusa.org
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