Haiti Action Committee is very sad to share the news that our beloved long-time committee member Carolyn Scarr passed away last week. We send our deepest condolences to Tony and her 
daughter, to her Ecumenical Peace Institute family, and to all whose lives she touched. Carolyn’s lifelong dedication to peace and justice and her indomitable spirit are irreplaceable.
daughter, to her Ecumenical Peace Institute family, and to all whose lives she touched. Carolyn’s lifelong dedication to peace and justice and her indomitable spirit are irreplaceable.The poem below is by Carolyn during a fact-finding delegation to Haiti in early 1995. President Aristide had recently returned from three years of exile following the first coup d’etat 1991-1994 that resulted in over 5,000 killed by Haiti’s military and death squads.
A visit to a flooded community child care center and other parts of the neighborhood of Site Soley (Cite Soleil) after an average rainfall brought home to the delegation the living conditions of the people, and the destruction of the infrastructure exacerbated by the bloody coup d’etat. Shocked by the sights, Carolyn wrote “Invoking the flood.” It is about the flood or lavalas (Kreyol) that we witnessed in Site Soley and to the people’s movement “Lavalas,” the cleansing flood that will wash away this corrupt, unjust system.
INVOKING THE FLOOD
Poem by Carolyn S. Scarr, program coordinator for Ecumenical Peace Institute/CALC and member of Haiti Action Committee, © 1995
Also see the video of the Poetry Fundraiser for Haiti Action Relief Fund.
Also see the video of the Poetry Fundraiser for Haiti Action Relief Fund.
Sudden rain descends outside our dining room.
Drops the size of thimbles strike the courtyard awning
in rackety thunder.
People run to bring cushions in from chairs
take down clothes from the line
shut windows.
Drops the size of thimbles strike the courtyard awning
in rackety thunder.
People run to bring cushions in from chairs
take down clothes from the line
shut windows.
Run-off from the brief downpour
converges on the city below
built on the dump.
The child care center is knee-deep in brown water.
Mud and garbage flow in a filthy slurry
from surrounding suburbs down to Cité Soleil,
the city of the sun.
converges on the city below
built on the dump.
The child care center is knee-deep in brown water.
Mud and garbage flow in a filthy slurry
from surrounding suburbs down to Cité Soleil,
the city of the sun.
A wall surrounds the city of toil
where people slaved for a dollar a day
in cavernous buildings now echoing empty.
In the brief rain unsound foundations crumble.
The wall goes down crushes lean-to shacks.
Five people die.
where people slaved for a dollar a day
in cavernous buildings now echoing empty.
In the brief rain unsound foundations crumble.
The wall goes down crushes lean-to shacks.
Five people die.
Laws of gravity, reverse!
Water, flow uphill!
Water, flow uphill!
Cleanse of filth the city of darkness.
Purify each crack and corner
of the city of greed.
Wash clean our lives.
Prepare us to build a city of light.
Purify each crack and corner
of the city of greed.
Wash clean our lives.
Prepare us to build a city of light.
~~~
