Engaged For Success

When I visited Haiti …

While the people of Haiti recognised the hardship within their country, they spoke of the place with great pride and persistently asked me if I like their country.  They consistently spoke of how they wanted to stay in their country and help its development. They also spoke about how the hardships they were faced with would force them to leave if the opportunity arose.

Typically when we talk of Haiti we tend to focus in on the poverty, the lack of development,  the failed Governments in a failing state from which numerous families in Countries such as America and Canada see the adoption of children as a way of helping. All the same while I stared in horror at the rubble on the streets, the cracked up buildings that were only half standing and the make shift cities of tents on the roadsides, the Haitains told me of the beauty of the countryside and the beautiful beaches.

I marvelled at the low level of formal education and the high level of up to 70 to 80% unemployment. Simultaneously I was fascinated by the craftsman with two years formal education who spoke Creole, learnt French at school and taught himself English and Spanish so that he could effectively engage with customers and not lose business. I was further fascinated  by the camp coordinator who in perfectly clear English explained to me how the camp was organised. Gave me clear statistics on the residents, outlined the issues in the camp and what they were doing to try and resolve them. Yet he felt the need to apologise to me for his English and asked me (that only really speaks the one language – English) if I spoke Spanish as his Spanish was better than his English.

I read with mixed feelings of the thousands of NGOs and charities operating across Haiti as it seemed that with the best of efforts all that was being done was like putting a tiny plaster on a gigantic gash.

The truth of the matter is that from my visit to Haiti I came to the realisation that the real solutions to the problems of Haiti would ultimately come from the coming together of the central stakeholders of Haiti with the support of everybody else who is interested in helping. By the central stakeholders I mean the Haitians at home and abroad together with the different people who have adopted Haiti as home who all have a joint understanding of Haitian language, culture, issues and the way of life.

However, they can only make a real change with the support of people like you and I.

Selah

Copyright 2010. This document is the specific intellectual property of Susan Popoola. Content may not be reused or reproduced without the specific permission of the owner or a reference to the source. Opinions may be generated

Having visited Haiti earlier this month I decided to mark the fourth month anniversary of the 12^th January 2010 earthquake on the 12^th May with 12 updates which I placed on twitter, Facebook and a number of other sites.  They are as below:

1.     Sadly devastation in Haiti is much worse than what television portrayed & the risks remain high. ref: Sean Penn: http://bit.ly/dnu8tf

2.     When the disaster occurred a man cried out “Do something so that people can have hope” There is still a lot of need for things to be done

3.     In addition to damage of the palace, most Government buildings in were severally damaged or completed destroyed displaying Govt depts.

4.     A significant number of people Haiti in live now tent camps – some real tents others made up & often not rainproof – it’s hurricane season

5.     A lot of people in Haiti whose homes were not badly damaged sleep in tents by their houses/in compounds for fear of further earthquakes

6.     Last Monday while in Haiti there was a 4.4 scale aftershock. The ground beneath my feet literally shook. This was not d 1st aftershock

7.     In Haiti there are still half collapsed buildings across the city with massive amounts of rubble in the streets

8.     Haiti a camp coordinator said- thank God we are still alive, thank u for coming it’s good to know people care –we r all brothers & sisters

9.     I was informed that prior to the earthquake the key needs of Haiti were Food & work. Now there is an additional need for Housing

10. Big concern is what happens when disaster relief ends in Haiti. Unlike other places, most pp in Haiti don’t have a “normal” life to resume

11. A key solution for Haiti lies in the hands of Haitians at home & in Diaspora to work with the support of the rest of the world

12. A lot of caring people are making a difference in Haiti, but it feels like a gigantic wound is being covered with a tiny plaster

I plan to provide 12^th updates on the 12^th of every month up until the 12^th January 2011, the 1^st year anniversary of the earthquake.

Please don’t forget Haiti!

Copyright 2010. This document is the specific intellectual property of Susan Popoola. Content may not be reused or reproduced without the specific permission of the owner or a reference to the source. Opinions may be generated

Beautiful

Lifted out from the rubble

Dirt on your face

Bloody and scared

But something in your eyes

Makes me stop and realise

~        How beautiful you are

Maybe it’s the way you stand tall

And walk away, still trying to find a way

Maybe it’s the way you don’t complain

Regardless of the immensity of your pain

Whatever the case, there’s something in your eyes

That leaves me amazed at

~          how beautiful you are

Looking back in time

I come to realise, how much you’ve endured

Self inflicted, imposed by others

But you’ve stood tall through it all

Dancing and singing

That the world may see

~          How beautiful you are

Maybe now’s the time

For you to scrub up

And put on your make up

That all may truly see the beauty you are

I don’t mind bringing soap

While others bring water

That the whole world may behold

~          The beauty that you are.

(c) Susan Popoola 40:087:17:25

In view of the current Climate Change Summit taking place in Copenhagen, I thought I’d share a short poem that I wrote  many moons ago when I was 21!

POLLUTION

The sky

was blue

with silver white clouds

cruising along

at ease with the world

a detonation of peace to all mankind

The sky

became black

as fuming warish smoke fumes

exhumed warish smoke fumes

making me wonder

about the destiny of this world

(c) Susan Popoola 21:166:16:06

I doubt if will surprise anyone that knows me to hear that I am hoping and praying that Barack Obama wins the American Presidential elections.

I am not an American, neither do I live in America and as such I am not in a position to vote. Some would even say that as a consequence I shouldn’t even have an opinion. However, if the truth is that we now have a global economy and the current economic problems that we are facing here in England (as with the rest of the world) stem from or at least relate to actions taken within the US, then I believe I as everyone has the right to comment – even though we are not in a position to vote.

My support for Obama is not due to the colour of his skin or his change mantra, but because I have studied him as a person, his background and his proposals and I believe he is best positioned to serve and propel America forward.

Indeed at the beginning of the primaries I studied all the candidates and specifically listened to biographical information on each of the candidates, searching…. searching for the candidates that I believe would be best positioned to understand , support and connect to everyday people. With an awareness of the divides and growing disparities that exist within societies, this was the most crucial factor for me.

Obama’s background, work experience and policies mean that he meets the essential criteria. His campaign strategy (which I believe should be studied by every business leader, entrepreneur, community worker etc) demonstrates his ability to mobilise and involve people. This is compounded with the experience of Joe Biden who I believe is very much in touch with the people, both because of his background and because he probably interacts with them on a daily basis as he travels with them on his daily commute. On the other hand, while I believe that McCain sincerely cares, I don’t believe that he or Palin have the background experiences to fully understand.

My focus and essential criteria for the next president sounds simplistic, but I’m a simple person. I do not however deny the importance of experience, intelligence, character etc. These are also very important. Though you may choose to question Obama’s experience, he has clearly demonstrated character and intelligence in the campaign and for any experience that he is lacking I believe he will pull together a team that will effectively fill in the gaps in his experience.

I still, however, go back to the ability to connect and support the needs of everyday people because I sincerely believe that as Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. Said “As long as there is poverty in the world I can never be rich, even if I have a billion dollars. As long as diseases are rampant millions of people in this world cannot expect to live more than twenty-eight or thirty years, I can never be totally healthy, even if I just got a good checkup at the Mayo Clinic. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the way our world is made. No individual or nation can stand out boasting of being independent. We are all interdependent”.

For a leader to lead on this principal he or she must be a servant leader with fortitude, compassion and understand. I believe at the very least Barack Obama will do his uttermost to be a servant to the people.

Last night I turned on the TV. The news was on and there was a story on how the Prime Minister was proposing to give £200 to parents from economically deprived areas to encourage them to go on programmes which I guess were aimed to help them. To me, however, it sounded like one of those schemes that deal with symptoms rather than real issues. Similar to the decision to prosecute young people for carrying knifes, without getting to the root of why so many of them are actually carrying knifes.

I went on to watch Dispatches – The Truth About Food Prices as from the trailer there was an indication that I might learn a few tips on how to save on food costs. I was, however, left disappointed.

There were two families featured. The first family, seemed to go into a supermarket and pick up what they wanted without any real awareness of individual prices of items, just a knowledge that the overall cost of their shopping had increased dramatically. The solution presented to them was to shop around and go to some of the alternative low cost stores.

The second family were in the habit of throwing masses of food away. In simple terms, they were adviced not to throw the food away, but to use it!

So as I said, I was left disappointed. In fact, irritated and slighted urked. I guess the advice given was great if you are in the habit of just going into a supermarket and picking things of the shelf without thinking of the price or if you ritually waste food. But for those that have never been in the position to do either of these things – those who naturally shop around and would not dream of wasting food …. I mean those who are really stretched by the food crisis and are most in need of help at this point in time …. I’m not sure what good the programme did for them. In a way, it’s as if the programme was for a selected few who were suddenly feeling a bit of pain akin to what a number of people feel on a regular basis. It did not seem like a programme that has solutions targeted towards all of us in the general population.

So, I switched channels to numb my brain with a bit of comedy and watched a couple of series of the American sitcom, "All of Us"