I rarely use my blog for activism. It generally is my arena for philosophical reflection whenever I cannot identify conversation partners. This will be an exception. These are exceptional times. Exceptional approaches are warranted. To borrow some of Mia Motley‘s words, we are likely to be living in a multi-crisis environment for some time. We simply have to get used to it. Rise to the challenges. Earth groans because it is giving birth.
I began the year reflecting on Mia’s words: Jamaica land we love paradoxically tells the story of how, in this very season of multi-crisis, our parochial nationalism must give birth to an equally fierce and fervent regionalism in order to navigate this dark tunnel of change we must pass through to arrive safely into the light of whichever world awaits us on the other side. It will not be a world our ancestors recognize. It is hardly a world we are capable of conceiving. There is a profound competition of visioning and a plethora of profound tensions with unpredictable consequentiality. We have an obligation to unite for survival.
I began this year in Dominica, supporting a family member still reeling, almost a decade later, from the profound devastation of Maria, the Cat. 5 hurricane with winds of 175 mph that totally leveled that island in 2017. The harrowing stories of terror she tells about that moment match every bit with stories being told all across Jamaica’s west-end now about Melissa. Her grandchild was actually born in that fateful storm. My cousin attributes, not to the hurricane, but to the fact that he, his wife and newborn child actually lived to tell the tale of that unspeakable ordeal, a Sovereign act of God. Should you hear their story, you would too. The family exporting business, on the verge of massive breakthrough into huge European and US markets, was reduced to rubble.
When I saw Mia Motley and Guyana’s president Irfaan Ali fly from their respective countries to stand in support by the side of Prime Minister Andrew Holness just days after Melissa’s devastation, I remembered my aunt’s lamentation, reflecting on her own moment of crisis – These are not days that we can make it alone.
I also began the year reflecting on war and its link to freedom. The real price for the maintenance of sovereignty is military vigilance. I think it is noteworthy that the same year that started with very real military threats upon one of our member states from a former friendly (can you think of a more hospitable regional gesture than Petrocaribe?) turned hostile by an envious eye on new found natural resources, by what must be a most ironical twist of fate, has ended with the tables being turned on our errant neighbor, with the region’s super-predator now ready to pounce and return the very fate so ill-imagined by our errant friend. And where has the voice of reason and the plea of peace come from in either circumstance? Building solid unity is our greatest hope for survival. Whoever has not yet contemplated this simply is not paying attention, and this is no time to be ignorant and careless.
If I began the year echoing Motley’s words, by the middle of the year she was echoing mine. Whatever explains the coincidence, hearing Mia repeat verbatim the thesis statement of my Caribbean day article in her summit speech handing over the baton of regional leadership to our Prime Minister – “Haiti must be the epicenter of reparatory focus”, the requisite for regional integrity; had the immediate effect of requiring deep reflection on my part as to what should be my role in this matter? We all have a part to play. That is the very ethos of community.
Not long after that, answers began to present themselves. Haiti has homework to do and the assignment deadline is fast approaching. In February 2026, the term limit for the temporary Presidential Transitional Council, brokered with CARICOM approval, will expire, thrusting that nation, beleaguered on all sides, to have to once again make a clear decision between democracy and dictatorship.
Everyone, including the United States, which has been most vocal in applying diplomatic pressure, is hoping for the return of balance, democracy and the pursuit of peace and prosperity; (although one can never be sure of the true motives of a nation who is as much the greatest beneficiary of war on the planet as England was the greatest beneficiary of slavery.) But even if we take a disdainful view of US politics, we might remember who they learned it from. Dessalines was brilliant in the use of duplicity to disarm his intended victims. We may tend to forget, but the US was once an infant whose greatest fear and dread was the mighty Haiti.
There are times we need to forget the historical narratives that fuel our peeves and prejudices to look squarely and sanguinely into the present reality for practical solutions. Whatever Haiti’s past has been, I am convinced that their best future is in the hands of the ones that created their present circumstances, the utter triumph and tragedy of it all – the Haitian peasant … but they need our help … as before. We are one people.
It’s become clearer to me over the last few months the little role I can play, which is to help them tell their story and lend my voice to the conch cry waking up the nation to her responsibilities. And here is where I ask for your help. I finished their website. I’m working on their documentary. Timing could not be worse for seeking support (for all of us), but multi-crisis times demand multi-level focus.
Visit the website. There is a vital role you can play. I am asking every community of my association: the church, the Pan-African community, CARICOM brothers and sisters, The Caribbean and African Diasporas…
Let’s move into 2026 with one heart, one mind, and one love.
YeKengalé 