SECOND OPINIONS : Cynic Becomes a Patriot After Experience in Haiti : Work in Valley politics and government was good experience for dealing with the turmoil in that country. And in the end, it was clear it is America that gives people hope.

I knew little about the immense problems Haiti faced when I left in January to work on a USAID project run by the Office of Transition Initiatives. It was designed to help Haiti make the transition from political and economic disaster to democracy.

The history of government in Haiti is one of corruption, extortion and violence. I was part of an international group, whose job after U.S.-led forces restored the legitimate, democratically elected government in Haiti was to work with the Haitian people to implement specific projects. These projects--for example, building a school or sewer system--were supposed to be directly useful, with the added effect of establishing credibility in democratic processes and institutions.

Ten years of working with San Fernando Valley homeowner organizations, labor unions, chambers of commerce, PTAs, politicians and bureaucrats prepared me well. What I lacked in language skills (they speak Creole, I don’t), I made up in a working knowledge of local government and participatory democracy. Between you and me, I’ve been to Burbank Airport meetings that were more dangerous than anything I encountered in Haiti.

Proverbs are popular in Haiti. My favorite was, “An empty sack cannot stand.” The fact is, democracy is an empty sack when you’re hungry, sick or afraid for your life. So, in the same way people would get together to oppose a project in the Valley, we got together and identified projects there. We built schools, latrines, sewers, latrines, roads, latrines, bridges, latrines, dams, latrines, health clinics and latrines. Yes, lots of latrines. We supplied power generators so children could study, groups could meet and the sick could be tended to. All of these projects had to meet the same critical test for funding they do here at home: a demonstrated, quantifiable, broad base of support, a significant community contribution to the effort and a project that could sustain itself after we blans (Haitian-speak for gringos) left town.

We built a school in eight days including school board meetings, bond issues (none), two-thirds votes (none), environmental impact reports (none), lawsuits (none). A Special Forces (Green Beret) sergeant sketched out the plans on the back of an envelope. We funded the unskilled labor and security. Everybody pitched in. It was straight out of the Nike school of planning: Just do it.

Not everybody was on the same team, however. Getting a straight answer ought to be an Olympic event in Haiti. After 15 years in domestic politics, I figured I could smell a lie. As explained to me by a colleague: “In the U.S., politicians lie. In Haiti, no one tells the truth.”

Our invasion was an “intervention.” The U.S. military was a “multinational force.” Prices were in Haitian dollars (no such thing). What do you expect in a country where a street is called an “impasse”?

Perhaps the cruelest of all was the misinformation spread from those people whose mission was to help. U.N. Secretary General B.B. Ghali (B.B. stands for Beavis and Butt-head) declared Haiti safe and secure. I could understand why he could get his facts screwed up. Incompetent, featherbedding, pocket-lining, patronage-practicing, negligent, neo-colonial, racist international bureaucrats driving around in their $50,000 air-conditioned cars in a country where the average wage is $250 a year could have easily missed a few minor events around the time B.B. was visiting Haiti. For instance, the leader of the opposition was assassinated in broad daylight on the busiest street in the capital. Two peasant leaders were also killed, and the superior court was burned down. Secure? Yeah, right.

The problem is, these people, funded with U.S. tax dollars, churned out mountains of reports proclaiming progress and success when there was little or none. Say what you want about the United States, but our system of checks and balances, with a free aggressive press that places a premium on investigative reporting, works to all of our benefit. In Haiti, these clownish international aid workers cannot effectively be held accountable. The Haitians, victims of a public perception that all is well or getting better, pay the price in the form of an apathetic world community.

Oddly, however, although I had left the United States a cynic, I returned a patriot, proud of what our country has done and can do. My boss, a cynical international bureaucrat, said with a smirk during my final days, “We are not Mother Teresa.” Sorry bub, after what I saw in Haiti, every American is a Mother Teresa, a Jonas Salk, a George Marshall and a Florence Nightingale.

When I worked in the Valley, people looked at me with disdain, disbelief, cynicism, contempt and mistrust. After all, I did work for politicians. Sometimes, on better days, people looked to me and my colleagues for direction, assistance and support. Never, never, did anyone, like the people of Haiti, look into my eyes with hope.