By Michael Morton
“They haven't responded,” Herold Dasque, director of Haitian-Americans United for Progress in Cambria Heights, said of the 40,000 to 60,000 Haitians living in surrounding neighborhoods. “There is nothing I can do.”
HAUP has asked residents to contribute food and money, but Dasque said his organization had so far received no more than $200, though no exact count had been made. That stood in contrast to collection efforts by the group in 1998, when it quickly garnered more than $8,000 and filled two trucks with supplies for a less severe flood.
The current catastrophe began May 24 when torrential rains pummeled the southern part of the mountainous border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Flood waters rose as high as 10 feet and, according to recent news reports, the combined death toll has reached at least 3,300 people, with Haitians living on both sides of the border.
Haiti already suffered from the worst poverty in the Western world, and the departure by its first freely elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, threw the country into further turmoil. The chaos introduced yet more uncertainty in a country already notorious for corruption.
The alleged graft and the circumstances of Aristide's departure – he was pressured by the United States and France to step down in the face of a rebel onslaught – has led borough Haitians to be wary of flood relief efforts, Dasque said.
“People are very reluctant to give money in that situation,” he said. And even though HAUP has tried to remain apolitical regarding Aristide and has an untainted reputation in the community, “the people feel that those who need it will never get it,” Dasque said of donations, adding that he hoped area residents were still giving to groups like the Red Cross.
Adding to the problem, Dasque said, is that the Haitian Consulate in Manhattan seems to want to control the donated money.
“The people that are corrupt are still in place in Haiti,” he said, adding that the country's private business sector exerted a powerful control.
Haitians also remain dubious about the role played by the United States and France in Aristide's departure and about the two countries' efforts to aid Haiti. For the flood, the United States initially pledged $50,000 and France, the former colonial ruler, $35,000.
“People said, 'That is a joke,'” Dasque said. “These are the countries that are responsible for Haiti.
The increased skepticism and wariness with which expatriates view their country has also affected recent Haitian cultural events in southeast Queens and Brooklyn, which have been sparsely attended, Dasque said.
“Any event has been a failure,” he said.
But the director asked Haitians to contribute to the flood relief.
Said Dasque: “It's not about politics.”
Reach reporter Michael Morton by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by calling 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
