As the fallout continues over U.S. President Donald Trump’s reported description of Haiti as a “shithole” country, a Langford volunteer who has visited the country more than a dozen times said the slur could jeopardize his team during their next aid trip to Port-au-Prince.
Bob Beckett, who retired as Langford fire chief last year and has raised more than $320,000 to support Haitian orphans since the devastating 2010 earthquake, said the comment was “unbelievable” and could stoke resentment toward foreigners inside the country.
Beckett, retired RCMP officer Bruce Brown and a team of Greater Victoria residents are returning to Port-au-Prince in April to visit the Divine Hand Orphanage, which they have supported through fundraising since 2014.
“It is so irresponsible to make a statement like that,” Beckett said. “He’s jeopardizing our team when we go there, because there is going to be anger, hostility and resentment to foreigners. So when we’re driving around trying to do good and help out, how are we perceived? Are we those folks who believe this is a country such as [Trump] described?”
While Haiti is desperately poor, Beckett said: “The people, the children, the families, they are no different than the families here.”
Trump on Friday denied making the comment during a meeting Thursday on immigration with Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
“The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used,” Trump tweeted. In another tweet he claimed he never said “anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country.”
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the only Democrat in the room, said Trump had, indeed, said what he was reported to have said. The remarks, Durbin said, were “vile, hate-filled and clearly racial in their content.” He said Trump used the most vulgar term “more than once.”
Beckett said when the team visits in April, they will be sure to display the Canadian flag on their backpacks.
Beckett and other delegates from the City of Langford first visited Haiti just three weeks after the earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010. They partnered with RCMP officers deployed in the country to build a new facility for the children of Baby Jesus of Prague Orphanage, who were sleeping in tents. The City of Langford continues to send donations to the orphanage every month.
When Beckett and other volunteers returned to the country in 2014, they were led to the Divine Hand by a Quebec police officer, who was concerned about the cramped and unsanitary conditions for 52 children. The Westshore Sunrise Rotary Club helped orphanage director Doris Abraham set up micro-businesses, such as a commercial bakery and a chicken farm to sell eggs. They also tapped into a source for potable water to sell to the community. Donations from Rotarians and the wider community also pay for the children’s school fees and books.
Beckett’s trip in April will focus on helping Abraham and the orphanage become self-reliant within two years. Brown is attending to honour the two RCMP officers who died in the 2010 earthquake, which killed 230,000 people.
While progress has been made in the country since 2010, many Haitians struggle with access to potable water and electricity.
United Nations peacekeepers left Haiti in October, and Beckett is worried that will stagnate recovery efforts. Southwest Haiti was hit by hurricane Matthew in 2016, which killed 900 people and exacerbated the cholera epidemic.
Many UN peacekeepers, including Canadians, formed personal bonds and attracted fundraising dollars from their home communities, Beckett said.
“It’s naïve of us to think that because the UN left, it’s all good. There’s still a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done,” Beckett said.
Beckett is looking to attract 160 people to commit to giving $25 a month for 24 months or a lump sum of $600. The $4,000 a month in donations would be distributed to the orphanage for two years, allowing Abraham time to focus on becoming self-sufficient by the end of 2019.
“Rotary and the team, they want Doris and the children to succeed,” Beckett said. “If we can successfully get them on their feet so that they’re sustainable, that’s just a wonderful thing.”
To learn more about the project or to donate, go to helpforhaiti.ca.
— With files from The Associated Press
