WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT HAITI. THE SPEECH OF THE HAITIAN PRESIDENT, RENE PREVAL DURING THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL.

Message of the President of the Republic

At the National Memorial Ceremony

Port-au-Prince, February 12, 2010

People of Haiti, especially those who are wounded,

Those who have lost their arm, whose legs have been amputated,

those who have lost a mother, a father, a brother, a sister or a child,

Haitians and foreigners alike, please allow René Préval,

the person, the father, to address you on this day.

The night of January 12, as I was out on the streets, I went through Bel-Air, I went by the Nursing School in the area of the General Hospital, I was stepping over corpses lying all over the streets. By the home of the Bel-Air sisters, nothing but corpses. At the Nursing School, I heard the screams of the students begging for help under the rubble.

Then I went downtown, on Grand’ Rue, by the Bicentennaire Boulevard, throughout the town the streets were covered with dead bodies and people trapped under masses of concrete.

Upon returning home, my wife told me:”You must say something immediately.”

My answer was : “What can I say to the nurses under the concrete slabs?

What would you have me say to the dead ?

What will I say to the wounded and those who are suffering?

As the days went by, the more I realized the extent of the damages, the less I found words to match what I saw in the streets.

There are sorrows that words cannot express!

My only response to such atrocious suffering was to try and find help, especially abroad, in an attempt to alleviate the pain of the wounded.

The sorrows are too great for words.

Today, we are burying our dead in dignity.

People of Haiti,

Your courage, your strength has given the Government the courage and the strength it needed to get to work.

I lost my own cousin Jacques Préval,

The Ministers have lost fathers, mothers, children,

as well as police officers and other civil servants

we drew our courage from your courage;

we drew our strength from your strength.

While we are praying for our dearly departed,

I ask you to remember President Clinton

who had heart surgery yesterday. Our thoughts are with his family just like he was by our side in bad times.

Haitian men and women,

The sorrow is too great for words.

Let us wipe the tears from our eyes and get down to the task of rebuilding Haiti.

People of Haiti who are steeped in suffering,

Your courage and your strength in the face of disaster is a sure sign that Haiti cannot perish, a sign that Haiti will not perish.

Some sorrows are too great to be expressed in words,

Today, it is not the President, but the father who has a single word to convey to you: COURAGE!