"Did you read the news about the more than 200 Haitians found starving in a cave?" my chiropractor asked as he sought to distract me from cracking my back into some semblance of upright biped so that I could walk again without pain. How I had injured it was a mystery.
"They were singing. That is how the aid workers found them. They had nothing to eat. Months after the hurricane. Just google it, You will see. I do not understand it. They should be able to grow food there."
"I have blog" I responded. "Lots of information on that."
My doctor is from Toronto, moved here years ago for the weather. Many of his patients are Haitians. He picks at my mind, seeking to understand. His receptionist calls herself Haitian, although born here, child of the elite, speaks Kreyole, speaks of her country with contempt. As does the branch manager at the local Chase branch. "Haiti will never change." "Haiti could not have been expected to prosper after having to pay reparations." "No, I have never been" "No we rarely go back now, although my family owns several properties around St Marc."
Someone still collects the rents, I think. Someone made those folks poor.
I get angry easily on this topic and want to BLAME someone.
Except Bill and Hillary Clinton- I seem the only one who does NOT want to blame them. I think about the earthquake and Bill Clinton and his office in Harlem. Read Notes from the Last Testament by Michael Diebert for the deep background on Bill Clinton and Haiti and Aristide.... But I was in Santo Domingo during the earthquake and saw how quickly Bill Clinton responded how often he came down .. how deeply -- he really does indeed care about Haiti.
No good deed goes unpunished.
I google the article on the cave dwellers. Both the Herald and the Sun Sentinel have the same article. It is a puff piece written for Food for the Poor. I know it well.
"Starving Haitians Found.. SEND MONEY"
How could they even bother to print this mess? Found in a cave? With no water? honestly? really? no water? eating toxic plants?
One does not survive without water.. a HUMAN cannot survive without water...
Miami Herald
I have a lot of respect for Jaqueline Charles..
Who is a fine journalist..
but note - the same story .. here
but it would be relief to ALSO hear ABOUT
the ABUSE..
ABOUT the SCAM of the Lords of Poverty
and some reflection on
how it must look -- those "mission trips" - on the air conditioned buses - going down for three days at the cost of about $400 a day (air fare not included) to "SEE THE POVERTY"
HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT THAN KEEPING THEM IN A ZOO?
anyone
who has spent more than 2 weeks on the ground in Haiti knows this is \
A SCAM
Wouldn't it be a RELIEF
to have the RELIEF AGENCIES
exposed for the SCAM artists that they are?
Fortunately... there are REPORTS
http://www.ngosunited.com/how-haitian-aid-works/
So Bravo to Dr Schwartz --
The irony of what I’m saying here is that it’s a viscous cycle. If Haitians could not leave the country. If 90% of medical school graduates and 98% of the children of the rural elite did not emigrate to the US as soon as they are college aged, those people would be the ones to change the system. They have the smarts and the connections to make the system work. And 50 years ago they did have an impact. But emigration gives them and their parents a much easier option. They don’t have to risk fighting. It’s just stupid not to go to the US, Canada or France. Why on earth would someone stay. Think about it: send your kid to one of these developed country with limitless possibilities and good healthcare, or have them stay in poorest country in the western hemisphere with pathetic future for all but the super-rich and horrendous healthcare. No man, you get your kids the hell out.
And so in Haiti the human capital is gone. The only people who are left are the super- rich, the super poor, drug dealers, and people living on remittances. What that means is that the only people left in Haiti either don’t want change, don’t need it, or can’t do anything to effect it.
