Bob Della Valle-Rauth's speech to Pax Christi USA (summer 2007) after being honored for his work re: Haiti (2007)

I thank you very much for this award, from the bottom of my heart, and thank you for the many years of support you have given to the Haiti Task Force by way of your witnessing and support of our recommended advocacy. Pax Christi has supported the people of Haiti since the mid 1980s and solidified in a booklet written by Mary Evelyn Jegen, SND, titled “Haiti - the Struggle Continues”. In the early '90s Pax Christi became a presence in Haiti during the coup years 1991-1994 through a Pax Christi program called “Cry for Justice.” Many of us in the movement went to Haiti during that period of time to be a presence and a witness for nonviolence despite the killings perpetrated by the Haitian military and the organization called FRAPH, a paramilitary group formed to destroy the Lavalas party and anyone associated with President Aristide. I first went to Haiti in 1990, shortly after my wife Sally died in 1987 and following the twinning of my own parish, Resurrection, in 1989 with a girls' orphanage in Port-au-Prince, which became a conversion experience for me. I decided that I would have to change my life. In 1991, Adele and I, along with our wedding vows, committed ourselves to be a voice for the people of Haiti in their plight for survival for the rest of our lives.

In all of our work, both with the Diocese of Richmond in promoting twinning, and with the Haiti Task Force in promoting more just policies of the U.S. toward Haiti, our first move has always been to ask Haitians what they think they need from us and the one thing we have heard is that we in the U.S. must never impose our form of democracy upon the people of Haiti. We have to recognize fully that Haiti is a democratic government initially begun in 1991 with President Aristide, the first president, and is a fully sovereign nation recognized by the U.N. and part of CARICOM - the Caribbean Community of approximately 19 nations. To be sovereign however the occupation must end - the occupation led by the U.N. but directed by the U.S. government and the Embassy in Haiti. Interference by the U.S. government in Haiti affairs began almost on the day of their achieved freedom from slavery in 1804. Over 200 years of oppression is more than enough and must end!

One of our Haiti Task Force achievements was the initiation and development of Pax Christi Haiti led now by two great Haitian leaders: Junior St-Vil and Daniel Tillias, both of whom have attended some assemblies and have toured parts of the U.S. spreading the news of their good work of promoting nonviolence among the youth of Haiti.

We are confident that the work of solidarity with Haiti will continue through the leadership of Pax Christi. The work of the Task Force was given over to Johnny Zokovitch in 2006 and more recently transferred to Marvin Rodriguiz. We have already met with Marvin, and Adele and I have high hopes that the support from Pax Christi toward Haiti will continue as strong as ever. Again, I thank you all heartily for the award you have presented us and thank Bishop Zavala and Judy Coode for all of their good work.

From Adele Della Valle-Rauth's speech to Pax Christi USA (summer 2007) after being honored for her work re: Haiti

Thank you so much. I've been privileged to know the Haitian people for a very long time. I first met them in 1981, in the apple fields of Appalachia in Southwest Virginia. They were living in conditions equal to or worse than what they experienced in Haiti. I determined that I had to see for myself what would prompt them to risk their lives to come to the U.S., not knowing the language (they spoke only Creole), without papers, in leaky boats, some of which capsized on the way. Lives were lost. Eventually some of the men asked to leave the migrant stream because of the harsh life, and a couple of us Sisters of the Holy Names took eight men, under the cover of darkness to avoid detection by the armed crew leaders, to Roanoke, Virginia, where we resettled them. The rest is history. The Haiti Task Force, established in 1995, has enabled me, along with eight members and 15 ARPs (Area Resource Persons0 across the country, to continue the work of advocating for Haitians, and broadening the base of support for their cause. Many visits have been made to the State Department and much has been written in the Organizer to promote support for more just policies by the U.S.

I often joke that there must be a Haitian gene in me because my birthday, February y7, is the day Duvalier was ousted back in 1986, and now is celebrated as Haiti's Inauguration Day. For the past 13 years, February 7 is the date around which Haiti Solidarity Week is celebrated here in the U.S. There has always been a groundswell of solidarity with Haiti within our Pax Christi membership that I hope and trust will continue.