Hope for Leogane Haiti

Hope for Haiti

First of all I wish everyone a Happy New Year! It’s been a hard couple of years for many of us, myself included. It seems that hardship and pain is in no shortage. It’s difficult to tell what a man-made calamity is, versus those of nature. The lines seem blurred.

I am writing this note in hopes that I may touch your hearts in helping me to help my beloved Haiti and its' people. Haiti seems to be going through a series of calamities. Its’ people are strong-willed and whether it’s a day, week or years, they will see the light of a new day.

Please help me raise money to feed the people of Haiti. They need a hand as they walk through this valley of despair, toward greener pastures. They have resolve .. They have hope.. They have us .. if not us .. who ?

I’m working with Father Anis, Of the St. Rose De Lima Parish – Catholic Church of Haiti, which Haiti Engineering helped to rebuild, following the 2010 Earthquake. Please help me feed the poor and less fortunate of Haiti, through Father Anis. Whatever you can give will go straight to the Father to buy food.

I was once asked by a colleague “why are Haitians are so proud of 1804”, which is the year they won their freedom from slavery. A silly question, that comes from ignorance and entitlement? One may never understand what it means to be the descendants of those that were in bondage. Taken from their homeland and made to serve for no more than food and a place to sleep. Where the bells of the Catholic Church once raised the slaves of Haiti to go to work every morning, those same bells now sound for their descendants to worship in Churches that their ancestors could never attend. The significance of those bells, then and now, will not be lost … Freedom ..

What was the price of this freedom? Just another form of bondage, that stifled and stagnated their growth, by an almost 100-year trade embargo imposed by the United States, in hopes of stopping the spread of slave revolt, paying reparations to France, for over 150 years, the disregard of the Catholic Church of the spiritual needs of the Haitian people for almost a century and the recognition of their mistake by providing Haiti with a Nuncio.

Yes, we are proud of 1804. Who would not be? Despite all the Haitian people have been through and are going through, they are still here. We are not just in Haiti. We are your neighbors, your nurses, your doctors, your engineers and look closely at the White House, we are in your government.

We hope to have a Haiti that is truly free one day. Where people can come and go freely. For now, we must lend a hand, not just because they need the help, but because it is the right thing to do. Haiti is not in the condition it is solely because of their people alone. There was plenty of help along the way, but it is never too late to change course. Hope..

Hope lives eternally within the Haitian spirit and the spirit of mankind. Another colleague opened up my eyes years ago. A high government official in the United States. He said Haiti has been punished and will continue to be punished, for its freedom and who they beat to get it. I pondered on this for a while. Why ?? The only thing I can think of, is if the price of freedom is a little misery, so be it. It took us almost 300 years (1505 to 1804) to break away from bondage, just to face a lessor form of institutionalized bondage?? Haiti will rise, we have nowhere else to go .. but up. Again, Haiti’s people are not in their situation solely because of themselves, there was plenty of help to stagnate their growth, since 1804. Haiti is the first black independent nation in this world, and even more amazing, the nation was born in 1804, by the hands of slaves. Hopefully, a sustainable and safe Haiti will not take the same 300 years.

Wishing you all a safe and prosperous New Year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx_OexsUI2M

If you would like to donate to the Father directly, please send me a note through GoFundMe.

Yves H. Lissade, P.E.

President - Haiti Engineering, Inc.

Certified 501c3 - Non-Profit