Synopsis of Haiti

Haiti is the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. Unbeknownst to the majority of Americans, Haiti’s poverty largely stems from French and U.S. interference. When Haiti became the first free slave nation, France imposed a large debt that transcends to the already impoverished country owing an insurmountable amount of money. America has dipped their fingers in a number of ways. Coup d’etat are governmental shifts and takeovers. The U.S. military has orchestrated a number of these to put into power leaders they see fit despite the popular opinion of Haitian citizens. Our country has also imposed trade regulations, such as importing so much rice that it drove Haitian rice farmers out of business. When Haitians were fleeing from the bloody dictatorship years in the 1990’s, the U.S. army redirected the political asylum seekers back to Haiti to face sure death or torture; the luckier ones ended up in Guantanamo where they were guarded by the army, fed rotten food, tested for HIV and involuntarily injected with contraceptive shots.

Paul Farmer, a physician dedicated to public health work in Haiti, and most known through his biography “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” he has termed the injustices on the Haitian people as structural violence. In simple terms, structural violence is a sort of institutionally imposed actions that have a trickle down effect and ends up violating human rights. One example Farmer commonly cites is the intentional damming of a Haitian river to benefit a few wealthy people and having it cause a drought in the downstream regions which displaced the farmers and their families. Later, those families end up destitute and structural violence persists. A prime example would be the earthquake. The 7.0 magnitude claimed the lives of about 200,000-300,000 people and pancaked the entire city of Port-au-Prince. The 7.9 earthquake in Chile claimed less than 100 people. Had the Haitian government during the dictatorship years invested in infrastructure, the housing would not have been so flimsy and countless deaths occur.

Since after the earthquake, the mass media has covered Haiti less frequently, many may assume that the country is well on its way to reconstruction. It might make sense since billions were pledged to Haiti relief efforts. The truth is that not much progress has been made for the amount of money poured into the country. The billions were in fact donated or promised but a large chunk never reached Haiti due to possible corruption in organizations such as the Red Cross and Republicans opposed to releasing the U.S. aid money promised. Haitians that lost their home and were relocated to tent cities, the IDP camps, are still living there despite the instability and temporary nature of the “housing.” Rubble is being slowly removed by very few organizations. There are very few job opportunities for Haitians. Disturbingly, gang rapes occur regularly especially among women living in the unsecure tarps. It is not uncommon for families to be extremely malnourished from lack of food or jobs.

These issues, though grave, are not unfixable. Like any model aimed at alleviating poverty, a transdisciplinary approach must be taken. Education for the children, secure shelter or housing, creation of jobs, sanitation and other factors must all be addressed. If the many non-profits working in Haiti coordinated their resources and avoided duplicating similar efforts, more effective outcomes may result. Government involvement in social programs is almost necessary to have a nationwide impact. These steps would of course require buy-in from all stakeholders and a breakdown of the many existing barriers.