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Monday, November 10, 2008

So what happens when the government does not give a damn?

Haiti is a troubled country and those who have been elected to govern are either taken advantage of the country or they don’t give a damn about the inhabitants and in some cases both assessment would apply. I am sure many of you are aware of the school that collapsed last week and if you were unfortunate to have seen the pictures, I am sure you were both sad and disappointed. But then again, you could as well be one of those people who don’t give a damn about others, so therefore assuming you were moved by what happened could be a very bad assumption on my end.

Let’s get back to the topic at hand; why wasn’t this school inspected prior to its re-opening 8 years ago? Better yet, isn’t there a system in place whereby those in charge, presumably the department of education, would go out and visit these schools before the fiscal school year begin? It’s troublesome to think that those who are put in place to educate our kids and the future of our country do not give a damn about their safety. The people who live nearby by this school knew that something of this nature could happen; the minute they saw the building they recognized that it wasn’t set on the proper foundation, so why wasn’t this brought forth to the administration? Why did they have to wait for this tragedy to happen to come forward?

I know many of you are probably saying that this school is a private institution and I shouldn’t be placing the blame on the government; well my friend, most of the schools in Haiti are privately owned so therefore the government should take extreme measures to make sure that these schools are safe. I’d like to think that the private schools should be examined a lot more thoroughly so that the government can prevent this sort of incident.

I happen to know an extended family member of the owner of the school and I feel bad for her because well, they have taken him into custody and giving how the judicial system work in Haiti, he will not get a fair trial and he will be crucified. Matter of fact, they could kill him before the trial even begin, so I will keep them in my prayers but then again, he’s at fault. Because of him the lives of over 700 kids have been altered. 100 or so kids are now dead. And it’s being reported that some of them are still trapped in that building; I now fear they all may dead giving that it has been more than 72 hours.

So doesn’t the government give a damn? I could come up with plenty of reasons but then again I don’t you to feel brainwashed; so if you’re able to think on your own, I hope you can answer that question. Otherwise go ahead and ‘live your life’ and do ‘whatever you like’.

3 comments:

  1. As much as I hate to play the blaming game or to point the finger at anyone, I believe the local government of any particurlar city should have some established order and/or stability in constructions that involve schools, churches, hospitals, public buildings in general. Shouldn't buildings pass inspections and be given certificates of occupancies before they can be occupied by anyone and to prevent poorly constructed buildings.
    Hello, Ms. Mayor of Petion-ville!
    Do I understand that one side of that same building had collapsed 8 years ago and nothing had been done about, following countless complaints from the neighbors?

    Hello, Education Nationale D'Haiti!
    Where is the safety of those educators and students? Yes, I undertand that the owner failed to respect building codes and compliance and that he did not get the approval to build, but, why didn't the local government demolish that poorly constructed building just like it's done in stable countries?

    It didn't have to cost a tragedy and fatalities to get this wake up call. Did it?

    My take on this is, the local governments should not only finance school constructions, Educational Nationale D'Haiti should be involved and Building Inspections should be done to prevent such tragedies from occuring.

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  2. Well, this is deja-vu, all over again.

    Do I hear that another school in Port-au-Prince has partially collapsed, 2 days ago?
    This is the type of carelessness that is endangering the lives of children and school staff. Knowing Haiti, I'm almost sure that no insurance of any kind is involved. Therefore, those families should expect no compensation of any type, not even for funeral expenses. It's their loss, regardless.
    Although no one is ever perfectly safe anywhere and at any time, but I think parents in Haiti should start looking into other options, such as, Home Schooling their kids, as a way to assure some safety.
    Children have the right to live a full life until adulthood, just as most of us and as their creator intended for them. Those kids' lives had been cut short, due to other's negligence and that's not fair.
    Two incidents in a row, happenned w/n less than a week apart. Now, that's a true wake up call.

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  3. This is getting ridiculous, but mostly scary.

    According to a news report on Le Nouvelliste, Haitian school kids and the parents are in a state of panic.

    Any little noise the students hear they scream "Mèt, lekol la pral tonbe sou nou, an n soti" (professor, the school is about collapse on us, let us get out of here)

    So far three schools in Haiti came crashing down in less than one week: L'ecole la Promesse Evangélique in Petion-Ville (leaving 89 students dead), L'Ecole de la Grâce divine in Canape-Vert, and now L'Ecole Nationale Darius Denis at Ruelle Jeremie in Lalue.


    What is going on in Haiti, do we have any leaders?
    What (if anything) are they doing to prevent this?

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