Haiti continues to rebound after a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the region four years ago. Organizations such as The Haitian Alliance, formed by compatriots who live in metro Atlanta, continue to do whatever is necessary to rebuild as well as uplift the poverty-stricken country. Frantz Bourget, an East Point accountant and founding member of The Alliance, talks about its projects and government-led reconstruction efforts in his homeland.
Q: Tell me about The Haitian Alliance.
A: The Haitian Alliance is a local nonprofit organization that was founded in 2007 with a mission to empower the Haitian community to act as one and to create a future where Haitians realize their full potential. We have roughly 15 active members and 75 to 100 or so non-active.
Q: What was the Alliance’s response in the immediate aftermath of the 2010 earthquake?
A: The Haitian Alliance worked in collaboration with 21 community organizations to send a 40-foot container filled with much-needed goods that were donated by the generous people of metro Atlanta area. These goods were shipped to Haiti and distributed in four neighborhoods of Port Au Prince, where most of the devastation occurred.
Q: Do you have any ongoing projects?
A: The Alliance has adopted two schools in the southern section of Port Au Prince in a neighborhood called Fontamara. We helped build a section of one of the schools that was destroyed by the earthquake. In addition, every school year, we provide tuition assistance for 25 students attending these schools.
Q: Are organizations like yours making a sizable dent in the the country’s needs?
A: Absolutely. We are one community helping one community. Haitians all over the world are noticing the Atlanta model and are beginning to concentrate efforts, rather than spread aid to individual families all over.
Q: How is the Haitian government handling the recovery?
A: The government is working to revitalize the tourist industry, such as the home of the great Citadelle Laferriere, built in the 19th century and the largest of its kind in the Americas, designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as a World Heritage (Site) in 1982. As a result of the government's active solicitation of foreign investments, several new five-star hotels are now operating in the country. The Oasis is a five-star, Haitian-owned and operated hotel, and the Best Western opened its doors earlier this year in Petionville, to name a few. A new international airport was recently inaugurated in Cap-Haitian, Haiti's second-largest city. The Marriott will start operating a 173-room property in Port Au Prince in 2015. In addition to the efforts in tourism, there are developments in the manufacturing area. In 2011, a groundbreaking ceremony took place in Caracol, a northern fishing village, for a 246-hectare industrial park financed by foreign investors from the U.S., South Korea and several world monetary institutions, with the hope of creating thousands of direct jobs in the area.
Q: Is government malfeasance hampering revitalization efforts?
A: I am not privy to the government dealings or its inner workings. Therefore, I could not truthfully answer that question.
Q: Did the billions pledged after the earthquake get delivered as promised?
A: After the earthquake, the majority of countries in the world had pledged to assist Haiti in its rebuilding efforts. However, a series of natural disasters hit many of those countries which had pledged, from Chile with an 8.8 quake in February of the same year, to Japan with an 8.9 quake followed by a tsunami, and many more. Consequently, the focus that Haiti received started to fade.
A: Are global business relationships between our region and Haiti feasible?
Q: There are several aspects that makes Haiti very suitable for business relationships. From Atlanta, Haiti is only a three-hour flight. Haiti has a population of 10 million, with 55 percent under 30 years old. They are a multilingual, inexpensive labor force.
