Les Belles Etoiles

I have just accepted a new job in Haiti to help with the reconstruction effort after the huge and catastrophic earthquake which struck on 12th January 2010. It registered 7 on the Richter scale, by far the worst in nearly 200 years, and has been followed by many aftershocks. Around 3 million people have been affected across a country already blighted by misfortune for many years. As at 27th January according to President Rene Preval nearly 170,000 bodies have been recovered. This number is rising still, and for the estimated 1.2 million homeless there is little respite in sight. The devastated infrastructure & numerous bodies yet to be recovered are likely to lead to a major outbreak of disease in the near future. Some of the homeless are being moved into tented cities, but with a hurricane season expected in June the situation will be precarious for months to come.
So I am going to play my own small part in helping to bring some order to the chaos and some relief to this wounded land. I will be establishing the finance function for a major US based humanitarian NGO named Mercy Corps, based in Port au Prince.

So why the blog title? Why "Sous les belles etoiles"? In the days before I accepted the job I watched some TV coverage of the aftermath - a very ill young girl in hospital, one of the fortunate few to be treated and who was receiving only her second hot meal in nearly 3 weeks, after surviving on crackers. Her mother was simply grateful that her beloved daughter was alive and was being cared for. The journalist asked her about her own circumstances - what she would eat & where she would sleep: her response was simply - she had no food and like so many others she was now homeless. When the reporter pressed her on where she would sleep she smiled gently and said "Sous les belles etoiles". (for those who don't speak French this means "under the beautiful stars"). I was so touched by the simple dignity of this woman, and dumbstruck that in such harrowing circumstances she was able to discern beauty in the midst of the horror around her. For me this typifies the wonderful spirit of the Haitian people - they deserve far better than history has given them: they deserve a genuine, whole-hearted & sustained response from the international community. For me "sous les belles etoiles" celebrates this unbreakable spirit of survival and grace in the Haitian people