Sixty Haitians Arrived in Tarija

I wanted to write about Haiti and my petition to give women money in their hands and rewrote the article four times, until I saw these 60 human beings who had entered Bolivia via Perú and are trying to decide wether to stay or not.

Sixty young men, women and many children who have lost everything, are escaping from the monster of starvation and lack of jobs. Desolation of the heart, is the worst kind of desolation. Their faces resemble trees that have lost their foliage in winter. They will soon find their new spring to blossom.

Migration is the logical colaterall damage of this catastrophe. People who leave, are people who dissapear from the surface of Haiti. Usually the best people. Can we blame them? Please take a moment to think about it.

I saw the faces of these women directly, and although I could not understand a word they said, I could sense the reasons they were giving. I connected with them in a spiritual way. And this gave me the strength I needed to come here and write this to beg you, to open your eyes and minds, to the awful need of making our voices be heard in behalf of the corageous Haitian women who chose to stay in that desolated country.

Giving some water, giving, giving,,,, It is not only about giving, but about DIGNITY instead. Haitian women need dignity in their lives. Besides everything international organizations and local foundations are giving them, can you imagine the difference that it will make if women have a small amount of money in their hands every month for the next three years?

With this small amount of money women will be able to decide when and where to buy something they consider basic to them. It will also help them stop brutality from men, as they will not have to ask them for anything. They will be able to stand up for their rights.

Why are the Unifem and the World Bank not working on this already? Because most economists won´t advise giving money directly to people. We can change that. We can tell them to use their money more wisely and trust the Haitian women to rebuild their own economies, while helping the miracle happen.

We want to give the women a choice, they can leave if they decide to do so, but they can also stay and receive US$50.- each month without having to pay it back. This way they will be free to look for a job, or initiate some activity without having to be raped, annulled or belittled by violent men.

I am asking for your help. I have opened a petition site with the organization I work for, Fundación Activa, where we can all sign up to tell these organizations to see the greater picture, to act according to the real needs of women, and call them to the real action that will give them prestige for working for women in an awesome way.

We know that for every hundred people who read this, only three or four will actually sign, so it is imperative that you share this link with your friends telling them why you think this action is worth it.

Please paste this link in any web page that you can, and ask your friends to do the same.

God bless you for reading this and signing this petition, we need to be at least 10,000 to be able to open the enormous ears of the World Bank and Unifem, who will easily be deaf if we don´t open them.

Love and hugs to you all,

Jackie