by Mark Weisenmiller
TAMPA, the United States, Nov. 4 (Xinhua)-- Through earthquakes, flooding, massive rainstorms, a cholera outbreak, and soon a presidential election, the long, historical connections between the state of Florida and the Caribbean country of Haiti remain strong.
Ever since the January 12 earthquake which killed 230,000 and left 1.3 million people homeless, the year 2010 has been the most devastating time for Haiti since it's independence in 1804.
The most current problem to befall Haitians is Tropical Storm Tomas, which is expected to make landfall over Haiti sometime Friday.
The more than one million people who were made homeless due to the January earthquake, many of whom are living in plastic tents, were told on Wednesday by government officials to abandon their tent homes, so that they can shelter themselves from Tropical Storm Tomas.
"A tropical storm is defined as having winds above 40 miles per hour," informed Dennis Feltgen, spokesman for the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. "If the storm stays on the same path as it is now, then it will pass over the lower part of the island of Hispanola (which includes Haiti and the country of the Dominican Republic). Rainfall could be as much as 15 inches in the more intenser areas of the storm."
Tropical Storm Tomas overtook the other notable recent news story of Haiti. In late October, a cholera epidemic was spreading through the country. Over 200 people died, and more than 2,500 people fell ill due to the cholera outbreak.
"We run a medical clinic in Haiti but we were not prepared to deal with such a problem as cholera," confessed Claude Noel, founder of the aid agency Partners in Haiti.
Noel, who was born in the Haitian town of Leogane, which was close to the epicenter of the January earthquake, also added that Partners in Haiti sends teams of specialists, such as doctors or construction workers, to the country for anywhere from one week to 10 days, so that they can help with the rebuilding and reconstruction efforts in Haiti.
Americans in general, and Floridians in particular, have been sending aid to Haiti for years, even before the disastrous January earthquake, by way of social or religious-financed and run organizations.
Due to geography -- the U.S. is the closest largely populated country to Haiti -- American and Haitian diplomatic relations have been strong. There are two Haitian Consulate General offices in Florida, in the cities of Miami and Orlando. In Miami, Tampa, and other Florida cities are located Haitian-run radio stations, which often broadcast in either French or Haitian Creole, the two official languages of Haiti.
"One thing that Floridians need to realize is that whatever happens to Haiti and Haitians will affect them. Florida and the U. S. need to treat Haitians as well as Cubans regarding immigration. It should be as easy for Haitians to enter Florida and the U.S. as it is for Cubans," said Daniel Thelusmar, a Haitian-born Floridian who runs Heart to Heart Caribbean Ministry Inc.
Another Florida-based aid agency is the Haiti Recovery and Development Company, located in Tampa.
"There is no manual for rebuilding a country. So I wanted to create a 'Marshall Plan' (the U.S. series of economic aid programs, named after former U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall, that were used to rebuild destroyed European countries after World War Two) for Haiti. But because the 'Marshall Plan' has some negative connotations to it, I call our plan a 'renaissance," said Jim Lange, Founder and CEO of The Haiti Recovery and Development Company.
The "renaissance," to use Lange's word, is being done chiefly through numerous partnerships with both charitable and for-profit organizations.
One of the larger neighborhoods in Miami is La Petite Haiti, or Little Haiti. The neighborhood had a population of over 29,000 in 2000, according to city government figures, but when the final figures of the 2010 U.S. Census are released in 2011, that figure is expected to rise, due to large numbers of Haitians immigrating to the neighborhood during the past decade.
Noel, who lives in south Florida, believes that the Haitians who live in Little Haiti "need to keep helping Haitians who are trying to rebuild the country's infrastructure in anyway that they can."
Haiti is scheduled to have a presidential election on Nov. 28, but it is unclear if the election will or will not be held if Tropical Storm Tomas does much damage to the country.
The Florida/Haiti connection was re-established, regarding the upcoming presidential election, as on Oct. 17, five of the 18 presidential candidates participated in a debate held on the campus of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg. Thelusmar moderated the forum-style debate.
No matter who is elected president of Haiti on the Nov. 28 [ residential election, providing that the election does take place on that date, "the next president will create stability for Haitians, both physically and mentally. It will bring Haiti hope again. The election will prove the strength of Haitians," stated Thelusmar.
Yet there exists concern among some members of the U.S. Congress that, despite Haitians' best efforts, that the country is not ready to conduct a presidential election.
In a letter that was sent to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in early October that was signed by over 40 Congressmen and women, it was noted that "although some may argue that Haiti has more pressing problems, allowing flawed elections now will come back to haunt the international community later."
Secretary of State Clinton's husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, is the United Nations Special Envoy to Haiti.
The U.S. Nov. 2 elections had Rick Scott being newly elected as Governor of Florida and Marco Rubio being newly elected as one of Florida's two U.S. senators. Both are Republicans and both, in Noel's view, could help lead some of Haiti's reconstruction programs.
"One could choose a project such as agriculture, and one could choose a project such as health, and then concentrate on them. Both (Scott and Rubio) can give their backing to programs which would help people living in Haiti to help build lakes. This can be done in some parts of the country and that may stop any future outbreaks of cholera," explained Noel.
