Donors to Haiti who don’t donate

Last January, Haiti was devastated by a catastrophic earthquake, killing an estimated 250,000 people. Still reeling from the aftershocks, the country witnessed global leaders parading their pledges of support for relief and recovery efforts.

In that context, I sounded a cautionary, perhaps cynical, note. I warned those managing relief and recovery efforts to beware of compassionate poseurs — who rush for the cameras to pledge support but hide in the shadows when the time comes to honor them.

Bill Clinton as czar of relief, recovery, and rebuilding

The Washington Post reported in April that donors pledged over $5 billion. And, despite my informed cynicism, even I was encouraged that Bill Clinton had signed on. He pledged not only to collect these pledges but also to ensure their proper disbursement. What I wrote back then is worth repeating:

I am hopeful that what will distinguish this latest round of foreign aid is the vested interest all donor nations are taking in Haiti’s sustainable development.

Indeed, nothing militates against billions more being squandered quite like having former US President Bill Clinton, instead of local leaders, managing this nation-building project.

(“Haitians: Returning to Africa,” February 12, 2010)

Well, I suppose I should have known better. Because Clinton himself marked the six-month anniversary of this tragedy by lamenting the failure of donors to fulfill their pledges:

We need a schedule, at least from the donors, of when they are going to give that money.

(The Associated Press, July 10, 2010)

The point, though, is that Clinton should’ve known better than anyone. So his lamentation smacks of the fox complaining about the hens.

Donors have reportedly fulfilled only 10 percent of their pledges. Even President Obama has only given $30 million of the $1.5 billion the US pledged. And nothing could be more disheartening, considering America’s historical obligation and Obama’s racial identity.

Media coverage

The media are duly marking the six-month anniversary of this tragedy today. However, finding a report on the death throes of daily life in Haiti is like finding a survivor in the rubble. That’s because the disaster porn of April’s BP oil spill is proving a more significant ratings boon.

Meanwhile, little has changed on Haiti’s rubble-laden streets. And over one million people have settled into a life of homelessness outside their own homes.

Reverend Pat Robertson infamously decried Haitians as Voo-Doo practitioners who are seeing their bargain with the Devil coming home to roost. He’s a religious crackpot. But it’s fair to ask: why has God forsaken Haitians, consigning them to such chronic misery?

The next disaster

Of course, as soon as the next disaster strikes, compassionate poseurs will rush for cameras to make all too familiar pledges. And they will do so even though they know they will never fully honor them.

But here, according to the July 10 Agence France-Presse report, is how a dismayed Franck Paul, a former mayor of Port-au-Prince, summed up Haiti’s plight: