Congressman Steve King releases the following video of comments made Thursday by the Haitian Ambassador to the United States, Herve H. Denis, in which the Ambassador expresses thanks to the Congressman for the work he is doing to address the humanitarian crisis in the impoverished Caribbean nation.
Earlier this year, less than 24 hours after a meeting between King and Ambassador Denis, USAID announced that they would be sending emergency food assistance to the Island, a development that prompted Ambassador Denis to send a thank you letter to King noting that “thanks to your involvement and keen diligence, the people of Haiti were able to receive assistance in this strenuous moment that my country is facing.”
King is also the lead sponsor of a House Resolution, H. Res 619, which expresses support for the Haitian people while condemning the violence that has recently disrupted the political process in that nation.
To view the video, click on the image or on this link.
Transcript:
Congressman Steve King:
“Hi, I’m Congressman Steve King here with Ambassador to the United States from Haiti, Herve Denis. We’ve developed a friendship here over the many months going past, and we’ve seen what’s happened with the terrible earthquake in Haiti and that’s brought the attention of America. There’s so many Americans that want to help out in Haiti and I’ve made a trip down and seen the disaster and built friends down there as well. I just appreciate that we’re working together to continue to move Haiti up towards first-world status one day. There’s so many people down there that can benefit from the work we are doing together.”
Ambassador Denis:
“Thank you to Congressman King for the help he provides to us, first of all the earthquake and recently with the humanitarian crisis in Haiti and all he did with his intervention to help us. Tomorrow, we have the Director of USAID that is coming back to Haiti, so this is partly to his [King’s] effort. We know he is a true friend of Haiti. He has been helping the social and religious organizations, and we are two men of God. We believe strongly and know that prayer can help Haiti to go forward. And so we continue collaborating, and we expect a lot from you Congressman, as well as your colleagues, that are for our country. We are living close to the greatest country in the world. This is a blessing, so we have to take full advantage and we hope with people like you, Congressmen like you, with good will we can go ahead and we’re proud of you, and would you please say to your colleagues that we are proud of their efforts too.”
Congressman Steve King:
“Well, I thank you Ambassador. And I want to say thank you also to all the people of faith and charity that have stepped forward to help in Haiti. The people in my neighborhood, and across America, that go down on a regular basis to help out. And, also, thank you to the State Department and USAID who have been very cooperative with the messages that we have sent to them. Those relationships all matter, and we’re looking forward to strengthening our relationships with Haiti. Hopefully, we will see the Haitian President come to the United States at the Prayer Breakfast in February and build these networks around the world so that one day we can go to Haiti and see they’ve been lifted up out of the poverty and out of the disaster and join first-world status in our hemisphere. Which we talked about, tying the whole hemisphere together. It’s not only a Haitian vision, it’s a vision for the Western hemisphere entirely, Ambassador.”
Ambassador Denis:
“Definitely and the President is a man of God. He will be very happy. I hope his time will allow him to come here, and I think he would be very happy to participate and to launch messages of prayer and of peace because he is a man of peace, a true democrat, and we hope to work together and take much benefit from the trip that we will propose to the President.”
Congressman Steve King:
“I say to you, Ambassador, God’s blessings to you, God’s blessing’s to Haiti. Let us work together.”
Ambassador Denis:
“Thank you, very much. Thank you. God bless Haiti. God bless the United States of America.”
