Surprisingly enough, there were Filipinos working and living quite happily in Haiti and many of them want to go back. How unbelievable, Haiti is not exactly our idea of greener pastures. We have such a frightful image of it due to the adjectives used to describe that benighted land.

Haiti is constantly described as the poorest country with the lowest per capita income in the Western hemisphere, as shockingly illiterate, hopelessly destitute, overpopulated and afflicted with AIDS, as lacking in natural and technological resources, etc., etc.

That is probably why my dear friend Rosie Lelong and her siblings left Haiti like thousands of others. The Lelongs migrated to Mexico, married locals but continued to denounce the reign of terror of the Duvaliers, Papa and Baby Doc, and their savagely cruel lackeys –the Tonton Macoutes.

In Haitian creole Tonton Macoutes means bogeymen; they mercilessly persecuted,tortured, killed and murdered anyone suspected of opposing the Duvaliers. They began as a personal police force of the ruling family and later became the National Security Volunteers.

Then came Aristide, the first democratically elected president of Haiti. According to reader Paul Lescouflair,”... his ideas did not suit the few, so they came for him in the middle of the night. After two centuries, Haitians would have been able to embrace their heritage and rule their nation one more time, to become free one more time... We (Haitians) are an intelligent, warm, friendly, productive and tough to kill people. Even mother nature has learned that. When will the other nations?”(gemma601@yahoo.com)