i thought I would start this thread so that we do not clog the hurricane thread with comments on foreign aid,
Certainly there will be aid needed in Haiti because most certainly Gonaives will flood again and will be submerged in mud.. So there is that,,
And certainly we ALL saw ho aid organizations were able to suck up almost all of the money donated after the earthquake without much to show for it on the ground afterwards..
A couple of observations
1. A great deal of the donated money was spent in bringing in food and water from the US,, There used to be a State Department directive to buy from the US with USAID money but that has been lifted in favor of buying supplies locally if available.. do not know what is in place for the Red Cross (who really shamed their brand in Haiti) etc
2. I was STUNNED by the reaction of two of the prominent Haitians on whose timelines i posted the information of #Matthew. I cut and pasted Mike Fisher's 9 AM post from yesterday and their time lines and followed up with a couple of pix from NOAH,, Each of these persons are very prominent in the Haitian diaspora,, onme has 5000 FB followers, organized a conference that had Bill Clinton as speaker.,. the other is the top dog for a very well known local "grass roots solidarity" women's group.. with 2000 FB followers.. Both posted their THANKS So Much Eliazabeth to me.. and gave lots of likes to my posts,, a few lines of prayers and best wishes to the folks in the path of the storm.. By the end of the day.. One was posting bird pictures, then by this morining was back deeply involved in and lengthy kreyole discussion about the future of the country.. ok.. to be fair.. they are trying to form a government and have an election but.. most of the diaspora does not return to vote,. although they do have that right. The other woman.. was deep into a lengthy note about how the governments of Canada and the US were polluting her culture with promoting homosexual values with supporting a gay pride parade,, she posted a rauchy video
3. Just to observe that the main cause for the poverty of Haiti is the wealthy class of Haiti.. referred to by the international developers as the "morally repugnant elite" or MRE. They live abroad. They own the land. They extract the rent from their tenants an entire year in advance. Much of the land is held in their hands, vacant, unused, untended.. left exactly as their grandfather left it. No peasant would dare take it over.
4. There is a wonderful book by the AP writer who exposed the UN source of the Cholera epidemic l..Jonathan Katz https://www.amazon.com/Big-Truck-That-Went-Disaster/dp/1137278978 available on Kindle.. buy it now and download to your Kindle before we loose the electricity.. It is a great read. He was the only international press in place for the earthquake...
Certainly there will be aid needed in Haiti because most certainly Gonaives will flood again and will be submerged in mud.. So there is that,,
And certainly we ALL saw ho aid organizations were able to suck up almost all of the money donated after the earthquake without much to show for it on the ground afterwards..
A couple of observations
1. A great deal of the donated money was spent in bringing in food and water from the US,, There used to be a State Department directive to buy from the US with USAID money but that has been lifted in favor of buying supplies locally if available.. do not know what is in place for the Red Cross (who really shamed their brand in Haiti) etc
2. I was STUNNED by the reaction of two of the prominent Haitians on whose timelines i posted the information of #Matthew. I cut and pasted Mike Fisher's 9 AM post from yesterday and their time lines and followed up with a couple of pix from NOAH,, Each of these persons are very prominent in the Haitian diaspora,, onme has 5000 FB followers, organized a conference that had Bill Clinton as speaker.,. the other is the top dog for a very well known local "grass roots solidarity" women's group.. with 2000 FB followers.. Both posted their THANKS So Much Eliazabeth to me.. and gave lots of likes to my posts,, a few lines of prayers and best wishes to the folks in the path of the storm.. By the end of the day.. One was posting bird pictures, then by this morining was back deeply involved in and lengthy kreyole discussion about the future of the country.. ok.. to be fair.. they are trying to form a government and have an election but.. most of the diaspora does not return to vote,. although they do have that right. The other woman.. was deep into a lengthy note about how the governments of Canada and the US were polluting her culture with promoting homosexual values with supporting a gay pride parade,, she posted a rauchy video
3. Just to observe that the main cause for the poverty of Haiti is the wealthy class of Haiti.. referred to by the international developers as the "morally repugnant elite" or MRE. They live abroad. They own the land. They extract the rent from their tenants an entire year in advance. Much of the land is held in their hands, vacant, unused, untended.. left exactly as their grandfather left it. No peasant would dare take it over.
4. There is a wonderful book by the AP writer who exposed the UN source of the Cholera epidemic l..Jonathan Katz https://www.amazon.com/Big-Truck-That-Went-Disaster/dp/1137278978 available on Kindle.. buy it now and download to your Kindle before we loose the electricity.. It is a great read. He was the only international press in place for the earthquake...