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Dan Sadowsky
Website, Content and Services Team Manager
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New Haiti country director Bill Holbrook is no stranger to Mercy Corps. He held chief of party and country director posts in Azerbaijan from 2000-2005.
I spoke this afternoon with Bill Holbrook, Mercy Corps' newly appointed country director for Haiti, who leaves tomorrow for Haiti from his home in Maryland. He'll work in conjunction with our growing emergency-response team, which has been in country for nearly a week.
Bill is a 20-year veteran of international aid work, including two tours in Haiti, relief work in Sudan and a five-year stint for Mercy Corps in Azerbaijan last decade.
Your ties to Haiti run deep, don't they?
You could say that. Six years and family. My wife is Haitian, so I guess that says a lot. I went in '96, was country director for ADRA (a large humanitarian agency) in Haiti from '96-'99. We were one of three agencies that essentially took responsibility for all of the assistance that came to Haiti during that time. Then more recently I went back to launch a $100 million job-creation program, so I was there another 17 months.
What kept you going back to Haiti?
Hope. It's a country that everyone falls in love with. You can't help but love the people. Haitians are amazingly resilient. They have a troubled 200-year history, and you can get carried away with all the bad stuff, but the reason I've spent as much time as I have there is because I continue to be optimistic and hopeful that Haiti can become a viable economy, a viable state, because the people deserve it.
I know you have friends and in-laws in Haiti? What have you been hearing from them?
Chaos. They're in shock, many of them are dealing with profound grief. And others are trying to figure out how they will survive. There's concern about the speed of the recovery and the potential violence and some of the natural reaction you get from people who are just trying to survive. This is a country that has very little in the way of functioning government institutions.
What are the first things you'll do once on the ground?
First thing I'm going to do is figure out what more Mercy Corps can do and do quickly. And to do everything I can to build relationships with key implementing organizations, with donors, with the government, and especially with local organizations. And I'm going to focus really hard on building Mercy Corps' capacity to work effectively in Haiti.
What's your definition of success in the recovery phase and in the rebuilding phase?
A stabilizing economy, some measurable success in job creation, and a plan -- a plan that the Haitian people believe in. There is enormous opportunity in Haiti still. But it will never be reached until Haitians and their government and the international community can come together and find a way to take Haiti out of its past and into the future. The best thing Mercy Corps can do is help Haitians realize their own dreams.
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Filed under
- Countries: Haiti
- Topics: Emergency response
Comments
Denise Buchanan
January 21, 2010 1:54AM
Dear Bill Holbrook,
Thank you for all you are doing to help the people of Haiti.
I would like to be integral in the rebuilding of Haiti as I am an expert in teaching people to use a proven building technology to build homes. This is an ideal opportunity for Mercy Corps to help people in Haiti who are now most in need of getting their lives back together to be occupied in the rebuilding of their lives and their communities. I am an expert in Architectural Technology, Urban Design and Community Development and I can teach people to build their own homes using this proven building system which has been used in over 40 countries worldwide. The building technology is over 30 years old and has a proven track record of withstanding earthquakes, it is energy efficient and people without any skills have been taught to use this building technology with worldwide success. The buildings produced are durable, beautiful and people can take pride in building their own homes. It has even been used not only in home construction, but also for multi-story buildings and even to construct the Research Facility on the South Pole.
Having grown up in the Caribbean, I have a deep compassion for the people of Haiti and what they are going through and I know that this building technology is the solution to get people in action in rebuilding their lives. Their need is immediate and I am offering to teach a building system that has been internationally proven to be an ideal solution in situations such as that in Haiti. I would like to discuss how we can work together and I can be contacted at denise@californiacares.vpweb.com and at www.californiacares.vpweb.com. or on Facebook
Thank You
Denise Buchanan B.A., M.L.A., PhD.c
Tel: 310-980-2770
Gordon D. Kirk
January 29, 2010 8:18PM
“UN-DOUZE”. “Bagay sa, kraze paye mwe”!
First of all may I thank all of you who serve with the international NGO infrastructure for your highly dedicated and on-going work in the rescue of the people of Haiti from the depths of “Un-Douze” , the earthquake of January 12th, 2010.
It remains important to keep in view the effect of Haiti’s past dilemma upon the neighboring nations of the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Martinique, Cuba, Jamaica, the U.S.A., Canada, Europe, and even some African states. Haitians have fled their country en masse since the events of 1958 and forward depending upon the never ending provocations.
Should the rehabilitation be applied with fervor, commitment, sagesse and consideration for all, without a time-line of less than ten years, then the results will become beneficial to all involved.
Whatever the contributing world partners may wish to do relative to Haiti’s added dilemma of the earthquake “Un-Douze” damage, the project must be that of long-term, funded ever so carefully so as to link the re-development to new sources of revenue producing infrastructure that in turn will support a tax-structure for the on-going betterment of the Haitian State’s services to the population.
About the reconstruction effort (in my opinion):
-Firstly: the “reconstruction” will require a minimum of ten years and forward. This infers immediately that an International Commission might be set-up with a slight majority of Commission members being resident citizens, or legal residents of Haiti. The Haitian Diaspora from professional international sources may be given status on said commission relative to their fields of expertise. The lengthy logistical planning will be more than complicated; dynamic and obtuse in the variety of disciplines needed to round-out the application of refurbishment.
The opportunity for Haiti is that of being thoughtfully “refurbished” in a Green manner avoiding the “energy” pit-falls of North America.
A careful and re-inventive attitude, not in any way based upon preserving past encumbrances, will bring Haiti to re-flower in a positive multi-faceted dimension for the benefit of all financial classes, industries, and the eventual economic independence of the Haitian nation.
To enumerate only a few long-term subjects of concern:
1. Social Science, the redistribution of population relative to agri-industry and redevelopment of employment in provincial centers.
2. Zoning regulations, a new application that in the past was not enforced. (residential, commercial, tourist facility, parks, reserves).
3. Municipal Civilian Resources & Infrastructure: communal boundaries & services - authority & responsibility.
4.Construction & building codes, based upon guidelines adopted from Peru, Japan, California, etc.
5.Infrastructure development: distribution: i.e. sanitation sewers, EDH-electricity, CAMEP-water, storm water drainage, roads/bridges, aviation, etc.
6. Educational Facilities: primary through graduate, expanded away from Port-au-Prince such as the University located in Les Cayes. More needed!
7. Government Services, offices & research facilities to expand for: Agriculture, (Damien), Medical, Fisheries, *Forests, *Mines, *Rivers, etc.
8. Housing & Public Transportation: two linked needs, new development for zoned neighborhoods with internal infrastructure.
9. Transport-rail: to rebuild the rail-link with a spur to the P-a-P centers and airport/industrial area, out to St. Marc and Miragoane and beyond.
10. Highways: Provincial roads to be hard-surfaced, drained, and bridged at numerous crossings, to support rural populations & economies, reduce the waste of imported energy.
11. Energy Resources: hydro, wind, solar applications for the generation of electrical powers. (repair the Peligre basin/reservoir).
12. Tourism: realization and development of potential areas: Le Moule, Grand Goave, Port Salut, Les Coteaux, Les Arcadins, (only a few).
13.Airports & Aviation: many additional sites are needed to open up the entire country to allow the expansion of economic “engines” into the provinces.
14. Ocean & Seaboard: the Haitian Coast Guard (GCd'H) is vastly under-developed with a very long 3000 Km coastline to patrol & service.
15. Rivers*: Government Department for the protection & revitalization of rivers- some have been destroyed during the past forty years.
16. Forests*(desecrated starting in 1680): Govt’ Dept. for the redevelopment of the forests, a part for commercial use i.e. bamboo & lumber, expand the work by the private Haitian & international reforestation efforts..
17.Environment: Government Dept: to propose laws, set & enforce regulations (PNH), supervise mines, forests, agriculture & waste recycling. Contract out waste control to local companies, process the waste in a central plant.
18. Commerce: to further develop local markets & sanitation, regulate retail imports (environmental concerns), open new commercial areas with zoning away from P-a-P.
19. Cultural: to protect & preserve all aspects of Haitian culture, art, music, writings, religion, dance, theatre, & other expressions.
20. Judiciary: to uphold and protect the every-changing need for application & enforcement of the Constitution, and citizen rights. To remove any impediment.
21.Office of Anti-Corruption: New! officers to be installed linked to the Judiciary: investigation of existing Customs Service, DGI, Communes, and more etc.
Haitians are perhaps the richest of the Caribbean Nations when it come to culture and family values. The refurbishment of the physical infrastructure would do well not seek to dissolve the concentration of the culture, but to enlighten it further.
In my humble opinion, this presentation is only a cursory list of some ideas that may be embraced in the rehabilitation process. Of course, and hopefully so, there will be a variety of subjects of need added and expanded upon by persons of expertise; devoted to the enfolding of all Haitians into a new and eventually more self-sufficient society of one. This must become a national endeavor authored by the world.
Thank you.
P.S. Anyone choosing to better understand the past of Haiti and Haitians in a more positive time, may read and look upon a recent publication by Grissom Company & Logo Plus, Inc.- Edouard Peloux’s “Photographe du Vingtieme Siecle” 1930 to 1980; an opportunity to understand Haiti's majesty before the abyss.
Gordon D. Kirk
January 29, 2010 8:23PM
Congratulations Bill! You will make that positive difference.
(long time past resident of Haiti)
Roger Blain
February 28, 2010 5:21AM
Bill,
I wanted to contact you and find out what were you up to. I had no idea it would be so easy to find you and that you would be involved in such crucial work.
Wishing you and the people you work with every sucess.
Please drop me an email when you have a spare moment but I will understand if that is not for some time.
Roger Blain
BIF, Baku, Azerbaijan
Lennart Wahlne
January 20, 2010 8:26PM
Bill, so Great to see that you are doing well. I had heard from TA friends that you were working in Haiti. I'm sure that you are looking at difficult days ahead helping those unfortunate people of Haiti.
I would love to connect with you!!
Please contact via E-mail or Facebook.
Again happy to see that you are alive and well, Lenny