Monday, August 29, 2011

Our Head Quarter at Morne à Bateau

In search of stability, we found an abandoned home with water front that seemed to meet Operation Hope needs.   We contacted the local authorities and after their legal search, found and declared that the house was indeed abandoned and represented a danger for the community.  Leasing it to us was to be a gain for this community at risk.  We were given a price and were told to pay the taxes in arrears and all future real estate’s taxes for which we agreed.  The Mayor and his director wrote us a ten year lease with an option to renew the lease or to buy.  We were authorized to make all necessary renovations as we saw fit.   

On May 7 2005, the contract was signed between I, Operation Hope official representative and the Mayor’s office.  We moved in and soon our Head Quarter became the center of interest to the young children and teenagers of the area and a center to mediate and encourage better relations between the Police, the MINUSTAH and the people. 
We spent a great deal of money in the renovation of the home and the yard and soon were able to accommodate our visiting medical and teacher volunteers.  For three years we made a difference in that community with organized soccer tournaments, on site medical clinics and mobile clinics, dry and hot food distribution, donations of goods, teenage counseling, etc… until the day we were summoned by the owners of the property for illegal possession.  I truly thought this was a joke, a bad dream that I unfortunately lived for the next three months.

The Government, being duly represented by the Mayor and his staff, fraudulently mislead us, issued us a contract and the same to two other victims like us for the same property, was unable to counter suit the real owners.  We unfortunately could not fight this losing battle when our true ally we thought to be the Government, was actually the accomplice in malicious actions against the people committed to help it accomplish its real mission.  With sadness regrettably, we had to be literally evicted in search of a new Head Quarter, victims of the undeserved spiteful actions of the Haitian Government representatives in the commune of Gressier.   

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