During his visit to Canada in September, our Haitian guest Renaud Thomas (Director of Rayjon Share Care Haiti), had a lot to say about Haiti—what’s happening and why, potential solutions, and what hope he has for the future.

“I’m not the president but I can still drive some changes with my actions. And I think about what I can do to bring some changes in my country and bring some hope in the communities.”

Looking forward, we’ll return to Renaud’s key messages to Canadians:

     1- Port-au-Prince is not Haiti. "[W]e cannot reduce Haiti to 1/10 of its area."

     2- Foreign intervention alone won’t solve the problems. “The first thing I would do would be to ask the international community to let the Haitian people decide, for them to be more involved in the country’s politics. Secondly, I would ask them to control the ports, the airports, and the shipment of weapons and munitions in Haiti.”

     3- Change must come from within. "I will say that for a positive change to happen in Haiti, it will have to come from the communities in the first place."

Click the button below to learn about Renaud’s key messages to Canadians.

[Photo by Meghan Bond: A bougainvillea blooms amid earthquake ruins in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince]