Community Comment : Haiti Refugees Are ‘Anxious To Go Back’

First of all, we thank the American government and the American people for helping to return President Aristide to Haiti.

So Aristide is back. Everyone is happy. It’s the rebirth of Haiti.

Many of (the Haitian refugees) are happy even though they know their families are struggling. They don’t worry about the Haitian police or the threat of their families being hassled. They feel Aristide can open more doors to jobs and get help from the other countries in the world. Once Haitians begin working, we can put food on the table and can be content with that.

But Aristide has a very big and hard job to do because he has been away for three years. He has been able to look at the country from a distance and can see some of the problems, some of the changes.

First he’s going to have to work on a reconciliation. The people who’ve wanted him will listen to him when he talks. He didn’t forget his Creole. He’s got to bring lots of people together--people who have been on both sides of the fence. As they say in Haiti, “When they’re making bread, everybody has to put their hands in the dough.”

It’s going to take some time for the president to try these people (who committed abuses during the military regime). It will take time for Aristide to pick the right people for his Cabinet and to make sure that people are trying to be friends again.

All Haitians have to get together and help the president rebuild the country. All of us Haitians abroad should try to encourage people to go there and invest. That is what I’m doing. I’m getting flyers to mail out to the factories and major companies to invest again in Haiti.

I’m conscious now that the feeling is “Let’s leave what’s happened behind us and move on.” Everybody’s anxious to go back in December to spend Christmas with their families if they can afford to. Those of us who are looking to reinvest in our country are going to see how things are and work on those plans. But because Aristide is back doesn’t mean we’re going to stop processing the (political asylum) applications of the refugees. Because all the problems will not be solved from today to tomorrow, the Haitian refugees here want to wait before rushing to return. I don’t blame them. That country has been through so many things that people need to see how the tide will turn.

The refugees still need places to stay and we’re still looking for jobs for many of them. We’re about to organize a spaghetti dinner fund-raiser to raise some money to pay for translators to help with the clients and the pro bono lawyers who are working with them for their political asylum applications. Our work here will go on.