THE EDITOR, Sir:
It is with great pride that I read the February 27, 2004 news article in The Gleaner entitled 'More Haitians arrive Refugees to be transferred to Montpelier, St. James'.
Amidst Haiti's dire civil unrest, Jamaica has embraced our fellow brothers and sisters who, faced with war-torn conditions and a total upheaval of law and order, fled their home country in search of a warmer and less hostile environment. The United States of America, under the auspices of President Bush, has warned Haitians that they will be sent home if they try to flee to the U.S. The press of Haiti's neighbour, the Domini-can Republic, believes that Haitians should keep their distance. Diario Libre, one of the Dominican Republic's newspapers, shares the view of many other press agencies that Haiti will have to sort out its problems for itself. "We are not to blame for the fact that the Haitians have never reached agreement in all their long years of history," the paper says.
Jamaica, amidst straining economic and social conditions, has decided to not to turn a blind eye and to accept those who have escaped to our shores. It is not in the best of times that our sister country Haiti needs us, but rather it is when conditions have reached the unspeakable levels that they currently have that Haiti needs us the most and we have answered that call.
I am sure those that have fled to Jamaica are eternally grateful and I feel the Haitian sentiments were summed up very well by a certain Haitian refugee after landing in Portland on Monday February 23, 2004 and receiving our trademark Jamaican hospitality. Giving his name as Edson he told The Gleaner "We prayed before we left to go to somewhere peaceful and this is what we have found in Jamaica. The Jamaicans here are very nice people, we are very grateful."
Kudos to all the relevant Jamaican personnel and to my people in general, for embracing our fellow Caribbean people in their time of most need.
I am, etc.,
AYANNA SAMUELS
asamuels@mit.edu
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
Cambridge, MA
Via Go-Jamaica
