From Catholic News Service

Haitians suffer glare of poverty, instability

By Agostino Bono - Catholic News Service

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) -- Haiti is a country with a tropical sun and the glare of poverty.

Broad green leaves rustle to the Caribbean breeze in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world.

Chronic political instability has led to economic instability, widespread corruption and such money-making schemes as kidnapping people for ransom.

Outside the well-manicured, fenced-in grounds of the presidential palace in the capital of Port-au-Prince, street vendors crowd the winding streets selling wood carvings, homemade clothing and soft drinks kept cold on huge blocks of ice.

One boy holds up an early style cell phone with receiver and cradle, offering passersby the chance to make a call for a price.

"Haitians don't show their sufferings," said Bishop Louis Kebreau of Hinche, president of the Haitian bishops' conference. They keep the hurt inside them, a counterweight to the outward joy of the carnival-style Haitian singing and dancing, he told several U.S. bishops and staff members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during a March 8 briefing in Port-au-Prince.

Statistics indicate the depth of suffering among Haiti's 8.1 million inhabitants, 80 percent of whom profess Catholicism.

Annual per capita income is $1,500 and the life expectancy is 52 years for men and 54 for women. By contrast, its western neighbor -- the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti -- has a per capita income of $6,300 with a life expectancy of 70 years for men and 73 for women.

More than 5 percent of the adult Haitian population is infected with HIV/AIDS.

Corruption is so widespread that Transparency International, an international nongovernmental organization fighting corruption, lists Haiti as the second-most-corrupt country on its list of nations.

One consequence of the disheveled economy is that the bishops will not be accepting new students in their interdiocesan major seminary next term.

"Vocations are up but the seminary is too small," Bishop Kebreau said. The bishops lack the funds for more professors and equipment, he added.

The poor level of public education, especially the lack of high schools in many parts of the country, forces the bishops to rely on minor seminaries to develop vocations, said Bishop Kebreau. Without minor seminaries, many promising Haitians would not get the education necessary to enter a major seminary, he said.

Bishop Kebreau said that another gap in public school education is the lack of instruction in Creole, a local French dialect that is the everyday language of Haitians.

"Students are taught French in school and speak Creole at home," he said.

Without bilingual education, young people will not learn how to ready and write in Creole, he said.

The literacy rate in Haiti is 53 percent, and compulsory education covers only children from ages 6 to 11.

With such poor education levels, the church relies a lot on its own radio stations to reach people with religious messages and general information. Seven of the nine dioceses have their own radio station, and the bishops are hoping to fuse the stations into a network.

The poor economy, unable to reverse itself since the political instability fostered by the 2004 ouster of elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and a series of hurricanes and floods in recent years, have forced many Haitians to flee and clandestinely enter other countries in search of economic opportunities. Many go to the United States, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas, said Bishop Kebreau.

Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Lafontant of Port-au-Prince, secretary-general of the Haitian bishops' conference, said the flight of Haitians also extends to the wealthy class, fearful of being kidnapped for ransom by armed bands who see kidnapping as a lucrative source of income.

The exodus of the rich causes a "vicious cycle," said Bishop Lafontant. "People with money leave because of security fears. They close their businesses, adding to the unemployment."

Bishop Kebreau said that other thriving criminal activities are drug and arms trafficking. He estimated that 27 percent of the region's drug trade now passes through Haiti.

Colombians have arrived in one large Port-au-Prince shantytown to train people in drug trafficking, he said. Tied to this is laundering illegal money from the trafficking, he added.

Bishop Lafontant expressed hope that the February election of Rene Preval as president would be the first step to national stability. Preval is expected to be inaugurated at the end of April after congressional elections are completed.

"We have to be optimistic," said the bishop. "Preval said he needs the help of all social classes."

Copyright (c) 2003 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service.