MORE ABOUT HAITI
2004 Emergency Support
There have been several times when St. Mary Cathedral was
asked to provide emergency relief to the Pendus area -- the most notable times
occurred after the ouster of President Jean Bertrand Aristide in February 2004
and after Hurricane Jeanne in September 2004. As Father Ronel Charelus said, "Sak
vid pa kanpe!" Translated, that means "An empty bag cannot stand." The money
raised and sent at these times helped to provide food for many in the area. The
avenue for much of it to be distributed was by feeding the school children at
the various schools in Pendus and its surrounding chapel areas.
After the ouster of Aristide in early 2004, economic activity nears stopped
in much of Haiti -- but particularly in the northwest mountains of Haiti where
Gros Morne and Pendus are located. Gas prices rose from the $2.50 to $3 (US) per
gallon range to over $10 US per gallon in the middle of March. While most
Haitians do not own cars, they are dependent upon tap taps for their form of
public transportation and upon others to deliver food and other supplies to
their remote mountain regions. Rice -- the most basic food staple -- quadrupled
in price during this time frame.
With an annual income of only $360 per year, many Haitians could barely get by
on the prior prices of everything -- and not at all at these new inflated ones.
As Father Cha Cha said, "An empty bag cannot stand." They needed help for food.
When asked how much he needed to try and feed his people, Father Cha Cha said,
"Twenty thousand dollars would not be too much!" St. Mary was able to raise
$20,000 in a fairly short time frame and sent it to Father Cha Cha in two
installments in March and April to help him buy rice, beans, cooking oil and
spaghetti to help feed many of the people in the Pendus area.
Feeding the children in the schools was the best way for Father Cha Cha to
distribute the food -- as many families only ate one meal per day during these
times. If a child had a bowl of rice and beans at school, he would not have to
eat at home, thereby allowing what precious little food they may have had to be
stretched farther within the family.
St. Mary also sent another $10,000 installment later in the year because in
September, Hurricane Jeanne occurred. While it did not hit Haiti directly, it
stalled just enough to be downgraded to a Tropical Storm that left so much rain
in the north central mountains that extensive flooding occurred -- not only in
the Gros Morne and Pendus area but principally along the coast near Gonaives.
In Gonaives alone, over 3,000 people died and over 100,000 were displaced from
their homes as Haiti's third largest city essentially had 5-8 feet of standing
water! There was so much rain, that Lake Jeanne was formed just to the south of
Gonaives. This arid area now was a lake over two miles wide and two miles long
(and had fish that washed in from the sea!) It totally wiped out the only
southerly access into the city (and the rest of the country to the north). A
temporary road had to be cut around the new lake to reconnect Gonaives and the
north with the rest of the country. Now nearly over three years later, much of
this lake is gone, but it was a huge concern when it happened. An elevated road
is nearly complete through this area to prevent Gonaives and the north from ever
being cut off from the south again.
Click on the thumbnail to see a larger picture. Use the arrows to the left and right of the thumbnails to see more pictures in the gallery.
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Lake Jeanne was created by Tropical Storm Jeanne outside Gonaives.
