As I researched if there was anything I might offer on Haiti in a Garden Blog, it became all too apparent that it might end up sounding so shallow as if I had worried about the pots of flowers outside the World Trade Center on 9-11.
Although I knew a level of history about the impoverished country, reading how Haitians have been crushed down over and over in every area of their lives only added to the emerging somber and sobering earthquake news. The image from NASA has a red line where the fault is located and the circles are centers for the quakes of January 2010.
In a paradise provided by the very location and nature of the land, man has continually stripped the citizens of their lives, their livelihood, and their will.
Ironically, the very fault line that caused this earthquake is named "Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault". I found no information why it might be termed "garden" but the paradise that was originally Haiti was certainly an abundant garden.
Haiti is a tropical mountainous country that has from 4-6,000 flowering and conifer plants. Since the human suffering and needs have always outweighed all other needs, the exact number and known species is poorly known or documented.
The area is very diverse with oaks and pines in the mountainous areas and the coast and lower slope has yucca, mahogany, bog wood and palm. Tropical fruit such as grapefruit, orange, mango and lime trees grow. 95% of the land has been deforested mostly to use as charcoal for cooking. It has the 2nd most diverse flora in the Caribbean.
Farmers cultivate vegetables, herbs, coffee and sugar. Again, the human factor tells us the farmers earn less than $2-3 a day and at least half the population is unemployed.
In a land where modern medical aid is seldom available to the masses, herbs are grown for medical treatments. Herbs are also used during Voodoo religious ceremonies and doctoring.
Even though many countries continue to mission and entrepreneurs start businesses, in hopes of improving life, Haiti is continually beat down by the powerfully corrupt. Areas of poverty are always open to the strong and evil.
The Katherine Dunham (1909-2006) Habitation LeClerc Botanical Gardens, located in the center of earthquake area, was one such well-meant endeavor. Ms. Dunham bought the fifty acres and structures and set about protecting and enhancing the native plant species.
Although the earthquake damage to the garden is unknown today, it had become a drug and gang infested slum, riddled with garbage, violence, and destruction. Little remained of the priceless natural flora, the structures or the wall of protection. What was meant to enhance the lives of the good citizens and their heritage, has fallen to the fate of so many endeavors meant to help.
As the world is struggling to provide immediate aid for the hundreds of thousands of citizens of Haiti, can we forget this is not a new struggle but only one much larger than the last. Can we dismiss the land and it's flora as inconsequential and not remember it must sustain a country in the future.
I remember riding in a car from the church to the cemetery when my mother died. I wondered why there were people going to work, laughing, going about their lives. Why weren't they suffering the grief that was consuming me? Later I realized it was necessary for people to go on with their lives. But in doing so, we take what has happened and contribute to the future of those less fortunate - those that must feel as I did that day.
When we put the natural paradise of Haiti and today's devastation in the same picture, we must contribute to their future. In a nation that has generations of sorrow and destruction, our opportunity to hold and build up our brothers and sisters is unlimited.
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