While the earthquake in Haiti has become a distant memory for most, it is very much alive and relevant for the people who live on the island. I have a number of friends involved in the support efforts (I swear everyone in my class either went to work in finance or a non profit), and we can't help but discuss the model for development in Haiti.
How do you fix Haiti? Non profits have led the way in the initial response, and Clinton has helped broker the entry of the private sector (see article below). Below are are the thoughts of a few.
Factory Jobs to Haiti
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/06/world/americas/earthquake-relief-wher…
Non Profit Friend 1: Displacing Caracol families from their fertile land is not a step in the right direction, but sadly is the latest neo-colonial action taken in Haiti, where many other similar actions have been disastrous for its people. This is not about helping Haitians, this is about making money and it's being done at the expense of the natives.
Banker: Got to pull out the relevant facts. Didn't they say 300ish farmers? And they got paid. 20k jobs > 300
High Friend:#MoMoneyMoProblems
Non Profit Friend 2: So what will those 300ish farmers and their families do now? They probably can't do much with whatever they got paid.
But how many other people rely on this land? Also, what will this do to the 'fragile ecosystem" (the land that was supposed to become the only marine protected area in Haiti). The effect of this will be felt far beyond the 300 ish families.
Where will these 20k people live? 20k poor people are going to move to an area that, in all likely hood, has zero: roads, houses, sanitation system, health care infrastructure, etc. Sae-A is going to work these people very hard, pay them very little and then retire to their nice and safe quarters with cool refrigerators, while a mile down the road Joe Haitian and his family are among the poorest in the hemisphere.
Sae-A isn't coming to help Haitians. They are coming to make money, lots of money and they have had a lot of assistance getting that started thanks to the USA and multilaterals who are helping back this. They'll get nice tax breaks and duty free access and will be able to break plenty of labor laws, environmental laws, etc.
I could go on, but need to get back to work. I could also throw so many great quotes in, but I'll just end with this one, which is just very sad:
"When he arrived from Korea this year, Mr. Cho said, he thought, 'This area is like a white paper and we can draw on it.'"
Banker: I don't think the fact that private enterprise seeks a profit is a negative thing. The factory is mutually beneficial. The alternative you laid out isn't really mutually exclusive. You can have water systems and provide PIH support while simultaneously creating industry. The industry solution is self sustaining while the non profit support is a one way money pit.
I think the environmental impact is the last thing I'd be worried about. Improving the life of the people is much more important than having a national park.
I think they should build their textiles and beef up the cruise ports. Isn't tourism the #1 industry in the Caribbean?
I'm a realist, so let's fix our own problems here at home first.
Haiti needs to first stop borrowing money from intrrnational lenders Find an alternwtive to expensive oil Becom self sufficient in food production End organised crime
Haiti has a lot of work to do and it all starts with the government, they lack structure... Big time. Having born and raised in Haiti, jobs are so scarce unless you have a reputable last name than your job search mission is 50% complete.
I just wish they can put a hold on all of the donations coming and utilize all of the donations they have accumulated over the past decade or so (a lot of money has been donated) and just distributing the income adequately.
I completely agree, no one can really help until Haitians help themselves...there has been a huge brain drain in Haiti since the duvalier regime (actually since its independence sadly) and those in postions of power have just exploited that ever since "democracy" was restored. Lotin, did you leave Haiti for school? What have you done since? I am Haitian American myself so am curious.
Girl I'm seeing co-founded this nonprofit called SowaSeed in Haiti. Common theme is all these nonprofits receive a lot of donations, but they go and hire foreigners for everything (construction, food, etc...).
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Take a look at the island that Haiti shares with the DR:
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/1/14/126…
Haiti is a barren wasteland while the DR is lush and still preserved. You can thank Trujillo for this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Trujillo
A violent strongman who slaughtered people, but also protected the environment and preserved the Dominican Republic's natural resources. Compare that to the stripped bare Haiti.
Throw in some racism, lack of government/infrastructure/education/basic and you have a total dump.
Here is nice overview of things.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1953959,00.html
How to fix Haiti: Have fewer Haitians.
Come on Pet, you're a tool, but surely this is a new low.
In all fairness, he is kind of right. The country has no tax base, no industry, nothing. A reduced population would enable more help to be spread to fewer people.
Haiti has surpassed their carrying capacity and this is the result. We will see something similar on a global scale if we do not reign in human reproduction.
It's actually a bit of a combo. When you have extremely low human capital (which every 3rd world country does), it helps tremendously to have a lower population base because then the resource wealth is spread between fewer people.
The history of Haiti is pretty cool though. It was touched on by Jared Diamond in Collapse.
http://www.theglobalist.com/storyid.aspx?storyid=4776
Grew up there. Came to America 7 years ago, I will try to provide my opinion.
Haiti is an unstructured country. There are no serious institutions. The lack of institutions make it difficult to build and preserve anything: it is like the country doesn't know how to read and write to preserve best practices, make them better, and follow them. Guess what, 50% of the country doesn't know how to read and write, thus, the country is ruled the same way. Institutional memory last a few years and is distorted.
For me that's the big picture.
To fix this, long-term :you need to have a way to educate everyone, which hopefully will turn out more educated workers, who will create a better place to live.
Short-term: the Haitian government can provide incentives to companies interested in outsourcing (manufacturing), strengthen the institutions (reduce then collect taxes, police forces), build roads, and build more schools (making them better can be in long-term goals).
glad to see some Haitians on this site. And you're completely right man, so much wrong with this country and the politician are just trying to grab a piece of the pie. I hope something happens and the country gets back on its feet hopefully in the next decade or so.
I left Haiti when i was about 9 years old after my father found a job in the US, he bought the family along soon after.
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