Haiti and Dissociative Amnesia

Haiti, my dreams are still filled with your suffering. Did I come away from being of service in Haiti irreparably scared, with images permanently burned in my memory? When I speak of your continued suffering why do the eyes of others glaze over?

Today, Haiti is lost to a never-ending cycle of un-kept promises, continuing suffering and our psychological process of dissociative amnesia. We as a society are unable to hold the reality of the continued crisis in our collective consciousness. We have done our part, responded when the world identified Haiti as a priority, pledged our efforts and funds to relieve this perfect storm of human misery, and moved on.

While this dissociative process has allowed me focus on other interests, my religious community and the continuing disaster in the Gulf and Japan, for example, it is also a process that leaves the people of Haiti alone in their efforts to recover, reduce senseless deaths and establish a new future for their children.

Forces that have combined to stall the effort to rebuild Haiti include political posturing by politicians, endemic corruption, lack of logistical infrastructure, and the dissociative process mentioned above. Hundreds of millions of dollars are stalled with little hope of resolution in the near future.

Even worse, the small effective NGO’s that our community has supported have experienced severe reductions in contributions. While we may not be able to clear the logjam of international aid, our attention has also turned from those organizations that are doing an outstanding job.

This year 100% for Haiti completed construction of a school in Haiti. Due to funding limitations this school consists of plywood, a tin roof and a dirt floor. Today this organization is finding it difficult to obtain on going funding to support their new school.

An organization doing great work, which our community has supported, facing a humanitarian crisis with limited resources. In addition to the challenges in funding this organization also face obstacles in government regulation, and establishing effective logistical support in a third world country.

With a background in disaster logistics, it is my intent to expand my skills in this area. Logistics on the international scale presents challenges that my skill set acquired responding to US disasters does not address.

Bringing a more complex understanding of logistical issues and solutions to the table will set the stage for the continued growth of our efforts. This focus on developing skills is a direct result of how personal this issue is for me. Millions have shed tears for Haiti, but the time has come to focus all the emotional energy on direct and rational action that can make a difference.

Whether you can afford to donate your time for direct action, or are able to provide financial support, I urge you to reestablish your commitment to the relief efforts in Haiti. We know who is providing effective relief to the people of Haiti and they deserve our assistance. Lives are being saved and children educated for a brighter future.

We were all traumatized by the images of Haiti after the Earthquake, but our normal human tendency towards dissociative amnesia is threatening to let our tears for Haiti wash away all the progress we have made. This year, as we remember 250,000 lives lost in Haiti, let us also take action, make a commitment to supporting these causes long term, and join me in attempting to make a lasting difference in Haiti.

Peter Dybing