View of Haitian landsape: Michelle Walz Errikson (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:View_of_Haitian_Landscape_hispaniola.jpg)
On the first day of 1804 and after 14 years of violent conflicts between the African slaves and French colonists, Haiti made history by being the first independent African nation in the world.
16 years later, the declaration of the Greek Revolution against the ruling Ottoman Empire recieved a warm response in Haiti. Not only was Haiti the first country that recognised the Greek War of Independence and the Greek state but 100 volunteers also departed from the island to join Greeks. Unfortunately those brave men never arrived in Greeece, probably because of a pirate attack on their ship.
It is interesting, however, how the free nation of ex-slaves viewed its role in the world supporting the liberation of slaves worldwide.
Jean-Pierre Boyer, President of Haiti, responded positively to the requests of the Paris Greek Committee in 1822 to help Greece . In his letter to the Committee, he said that Haitian government would like to support the fair Greek Revolution by sending money to revolutionaries to purchase weapons.
The young republic did like to help financially… but it couldn’t, because of the extreme poverty of the island.
The truth is that Haiti did find another way to help. It sent 25 tons coffee beans to the revolutionaries, in order to be sold to buy weapons.
For readers interested in contributing to assist the victims of the tremendous earthquake that struck Haiti, here is a list of organizations that plan to offer relief. There are thousands of injured people who need care, thousands homeless, up to two million children remain at risk. Food and drinking safe water are needed as well. If even before the earhtquake there was not enough food around, imagine what it’s like after this .
Please, help.
Yele. You can use your cell phone to text “Yele” to 501501, which will automatically charge 5 $ to your cell phone bill.