Haiti’s men’s soccer team mirrors the resilience shown by a devastated nation

It is often said that the Haitian people are the most resilient in the world, a necessary trait for a country beset by a staggering barrage of adversity.

But Wynn Walent likes to use other words to describe them.

“Incredibly resourceful and creative. Brilliant, courageous, innovative,’’ said Walent, an American who has been involved in Haiti’s rebuilding effort since the devastating 2010 earthquake.

“Tremendous sense of humor,’’ adds Nigerian-American author Deji Olukotun, whose work of fiction, “Splinters of Haiti,’’ is set in the country. “I think the surprise is that amidst all this suffering, they are people who produce great music, fantastic food, who know how to laugh and have a good time and make light of things. Generally, they have a pretty positive view.”

Haitians have spent six-plus years trying to restore their country after the magnitude 7.0 earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010, that killed 100,000 to 220,000 people (accurate estimates are hard to come by), affected millions more, and wiped out most of the country’s infrastructure, leaving an estimated 10 million cubic meters of rubble.

They had to rebuild their national soccer program, too. Not that the sport was booming with success before the earthquake; the country’s peak international soccer moment occurred in the 1974 World Cup, their only appearance, when they scored a goal against mighty Italy and their impenetrable goalkeeper, Dino Zoff, in a 3-1 loss.

But the road forward from January 2010 to Saturday night at CenturyLink Field, when Haiti’s national team, the Grenadiers, meets Peru in the Copa America tournament, is remarkable.

The Haiti Football Federation was just ending a meeting that fateful day when the ground began to shake violently. Their headquarters was destroyed, and more than 30 members of the Federation — all but two — were killed. The national stadium, Stade Sylvio Cator in downtown Port au Prince, was used to house the multitudes left homeless.

Though no players in Division 1 or 2 were killed, “a lot of young players are orphans,” Dr. Yves Jean-Bart, president of the Haiti Football Federation, told CNN in February 2010.

Jean-Bart was one of the two survivors from the Federation. The sport of soccer itself has provided a beacon of hope and a much-needed distraction.

“It is the only entertainment reserved for everybody,’’ Jean-Bart said in the same CNN interview. “At the federation, we had the great idea of distributing in the temporary shelters the few soccer balls we were able to recover, and it was an explosion of joy.”

Haiti’s Copa America prospects aren’t great. The team is ranked No. 74 in the world and will face two of the top 13 teams in the world (Brazil and Ecuador) after No. 48 Peru. The Grenadiers have an outstanding defense and a solid goalkeeper in Johnny Placide, but have been shut out six times in their last 12 games.

The team is very unpredictable, as broadcaster Pierre Rouzier, a former player on the national team, pointed out during a phone interview from Haiti. Before the 2014 World Cup, Haiti had back-to-back respectable matches, losing 2-1 to Spain and drawing with Italy. Then Haiti was ousted from the World Cup qualifier by St. Kitts, not exactly a world power.

“They can beat or play at the level of any team in the world,’’ said Rouzier, who will be analyzing the Copa America games on Tele Metropole in Haiti. “They can also be beaten by any underdogs. In essence, when Haiti is playing, you’re wondering which Haiti will show up, Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde.”

The challenges facing Haiti are rife, beyond the obvious. Many of the national team players are spread around the world, playing in Europe, the United States, or elsewhere, making it difficult to practice and build unity. Rouzier points out that the main attack player is on a team in India, and a leading midfielder plays in Poland.

“How can you practice? What’s a meeting point between India and Poland? Certainly not Haiti,’’ he said.

Kids playing soccer in Haiti is a constant sight, and soccer is a pervasive source of conversation, described by some as the country’s second religion. In the soccer world, Haiti is regarded as a country with considerable talent, enormous potential, but lacking resources to develop it. Because of the lackluster performance and lack of visibility of the national team, many Haitians ardently follow Argentina and Brazil, leaving a dilemma of sorts when Haiti and Brazil meet on June 8.

“Most people I talk to, I tell them, of course we’d like Haiti to win as long as it doesn’t jeopardize Brazil’s chances,’’ Rouzier said with a laugh.

Still, the perseverance of the Haiti team through all their travails, shines through. Besides the earthquake, there was a damaging hurricane as well as an outbreak of cholera. That’s on top of the political upheaval that regularly roils the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Jean-Bart notes in the CNN interview that “every time we try to restart the soccer world in Haiti, an unfortunate situation puts us back to square one.”

Such is the case, it seems, with Haiti in general. Many problems have beset the rebuilding effort after the earthquake, including questions about how the $12.5 billion pledged in foreign aid has been used.

But there are also positive developments that often get overlooked amidst the dreary narrative of a Haiti overrun by poverty and problems. Walent is the assistant national director of the St. Luke Foundation for Haiti, which has helped build hospitals, schools and health clinics.

“It’s all Haitian led, with a Haitian vision,’’ he said. “It’s not just Haitian people waiting for help, but the Haitian people doing the helping.”

David Pierre-Louis, a Seattle resident of Haitian descent, has worked extensively to provide aid to Haiti after the earthquake, including the formation of Kay Tita, a multi-level community-resource impact hub. He was also involved in a recent “start-up week,’’ geared toward cultivating the local small-business startups.

He believes that those connected to the widespread Haitian diaspora need to be more involved in moving the country forward.

“I’m one of many moving to Haiti to be part of that change,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, the Haitian soccer team plugs along, another symbol of the country’s resilience.

“Things are hard over there,’’ striker Duckens Nazon, perhaps Haiti’s top player, told Vice Sports in 2015. “There’s aid and everything, but it’s not distributed everywhere in the country. There’s a lot that still needs to be rebuilt; a lot that’s still lacking.

“We want to make our country proud so badly. Things are so difficult over there. That’s why I think we’re more motivated than others. We have a determination that pushes us higher and that others don’t have, I think.”