Mennonite
Central
Committee

Learn more about Haiti and act

April 2007

Learn

• Learn more about Haiti's complex environmental problems through this interactive video, which discusses the impact of natural disasters, charcoal and cement production, soil erosion, deforestation and access to clean drinking water on the Haitian landscape.
• Inform yourself about key events in Haitian history, and keep up-to-date with current news
• Read an Amnesty International report about the institutional maltreatment of Haitians living in the Dominican Republic in regards to citizenship rights, education, healthcare, and working conditions.
• View a list of video and book recommendations about Haiti

Act

• Join the Micah Challenge which seeks to hold world leaders responsible for achieving the Millennium Development Goals of halving extreme poverty by 2015. Use the Micah Tool-kit for Sunday school classes and small group discussion. Prepare your church service for Micah Sunday on October 17.
• Learn about the policies and structures of the international financial institutions at the Bank Information Center, and contact the appropriate representative for the World Bank, IMF and Inter-American Development Bank and ask them to cancel Haiti's debt immediately.
• Learn more about MCC's work with Haiti's debt.

 

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Current News

Keep up-to-date on Haitian news through various local and international sources:

www.haitiantimes.com

www.sun-sentinel.com/news/caribbean/sfl-haiti,0,5762688.storygallery

www.rnddh.org

news.yahoo.com/fc/World/Haiti

 

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Video and book recommendations

Rent the documentary, "The Agronomist," by Academy Award-winning director Jonathan Demme, which profiles the journalist and human rights activist, Jean Dominique, who was assassinated in 2000.

Trailers and reviews

 

Check your local library, or bookstore for Dr. Paul Farmer's "The Uses of Haiti," an essential read for a historical understanding of the state of Haiti and the 1991 coup of democratically elected Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In addition, read Paul Farmer's testimony to the French government's investigation of Haiti's claim for restitution

Paul Farmer's testimony

 

Check your local library or bookstore for Jean-Bertrand Aristide's "In the Parish of the Poor: Writings from Haiti." This collection of earlier writings and sermons from the charismatic former priest and president provides insights to his popularity among the poor and a good introduction to 'liberation theology' in Haiti.

 

Read some of the works by Edwidge Danticat, an acclaimed novelist who immigrated from Haiti to New York at the age of 12. Her popular, "Breath, Eyes, Memory," was selected by Oprah's Book Club in 1998.

A brief biography