All filled with expensive "managers' living in air-conditioned comfort, eating great foods from fine restaurants, their clothes all clean and starched...:cheeky:
- Thread starter mbain
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Brand new suv's for the UN
That?s the image that chokes me; parents and children that lost it all, seating in their hot tent watching the white shiny parade?just doesn?t click for me.
So they should arrive in Honda Lead passolas so the Haitians can feel better about their disgrace?? I believe those UN workers are professionals at what they are doing and they will be way more useful in their luxury SUV than in a 1995 worn down Isuzu Trooper.
Instead of criticizing those who are helping people better should set the example. It looks like Sean Penn is one of them.
Sean Penn in Haiti since January helping earthquake victims: 'The efforts have been extraordinary'
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? bient?t
Guest
Yeah, Sean Penn is DA MAN! When "Heckuva-job Browny" and c
mpany couldn't get to the Big Easy, Mr. Penn and others were able to do it.
mpany couldn't get to the Big Easy, Mr. Penn and others were able to do it.Do not know where my post went either.....
Love Boat..,,
2 bunks to a room
Not 'guest friendly'
Pool is green and out of order
Gym is OK
Bit of a dump
Not a luxury place to stay at all - photos to come
From the horse's mouth.
Now I do not know about how J D Jones and the others live, but for me air/con, a decent vehicle, clean clothes and decent food are conducive to doing a professional job under difficult circumstances.
If you can not afford to have all these things then I am sorry for you.
You should have these things if you want them.
Love Boat..,,
2 bunks to a room
Not 'guest friendly'
Pool is green and out of order
Gym is OK
Bit of a dump
Not a luxury place to stay at all - photos to come
From the horse's mouth.
Now I do not know about how J D Jones and the others live, but for me air/con, a decent vehicle, clean clothes and decent food are conducive to doing a professional job under difficult circumstances.
If you can not afford to have all these things then I am sorry for you.
You should have these things if you want them.
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If they have decent accommodation you do not like it.
If they have modest accommodation you do not like it.
They cannot win!
I am starting to feel sorry for these guys.
- These are not soldiers we are talking about.
- They are not even military.
- They are people like you and me.
Anyway, this thread was about vehicles.
If you think a 35k SUV is a luxury vehicle then we have a very different outlook on life.
If they were driving round in X5s or Carreras then, yes, I would start to wonder a bit....
Instead of criticizing those who are helping people better should set the example. It looks like Sean Penn is one of them.
I personally have been donating my time and materials every weekend since the quake working with 28 kids and adults that were injured and transferred here to a shelter. I’m going at 2pm this afternoon, want to join me?
I personally have been donating my time and materials every weekend since the quake working with 28 kids and adults that were injured and transferred here to a shelter. I’m going at 2pm this afternoon, want to join me?
Too bad the brave soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan...and even Haiti...don't have those things.
But UN bureaucrats? MUST have, poor suffering darlings...
I agree Haiti needs help and money.
MINUSTAH's task is to stabilise Haiti - keep the peace, basically.
To do this they need comms and police training.
This they are doing quite well - you can walk the streets of Port au Prince with little worry these days. Back in 2006 you could not.
To maintain this relative peace, civilians are required to keep the infrastructure running.
To attract the best civilians you have to give them a decent circumstance, otherwise they will not work in Haiti. They will go where the money and the perks are.
The spectacle of UN guys driving round in new SUVs when the rest of the country is riding round on their 'three legged donkey' is not lost on me. But there are so many more reason to have a pop at what the rest of the world is doing in Haiti that the vehicle thing is a red herring.
Interestingly enough, and I hope he does not mind me mentioning this, Spanky sent me a PM and told me that he was there in 2000-2004. The place really was scary back then. Ask him how things have improved as he will know better than me.
The real bad guys in all this are the NGOs who are spending 200+ bucks a night staying in hotels, having meetings and getting bugger all done. They receive huge salaries paid for by charitable donations and/or government aid but simply do not produce.
There are good quality NGOs, admittedly, but not many.
And your last comment - I agree with so much it hurts.
Haitians need help.
Haiti receives a lot of cash but Haitians receive almost nothing.
The real tragedy of Haiti is not SUVs, it is the disgraceful waste of money spent on discussing what to do and how to do it. It is like this scene from the 'Life of Brian'.
YouTube - Life of Brian. Activists.
Again,let us never forget that it is not the UN's job to rebuild Haiti (thank god!). They do what they are supposed to, by and large - keep the peace and train the local police so that they can keep the peace.
I only mention the following sick jokes as they have an element of truth:
Haiti recently suffered a huge earthquake which ripped through Port au Prince, causing 9 billion dollars worth of improvements.
The earthquake has knocked the Caribbean nation right forward into the nineteenth century.
Haiti is one of the most stable countries in the world - nothing has changed there for the last 200 years.
MINUSTAH's task is to stabilise Haiti - keep the peace, basically.
To do this they need comms and police training.
This they are doing quite well - you can walk the streets of Port au Prince with little worry these days. Back in 2006 you could not.
To maintain this relative peace, civilians are required to keep the infrastructure running.
To attract the best civilians you have to give them a decent circumstance, otherwise they will not work in Haiti. They will go where the money and the perks are.
The spectacle of UN guys driving round in new SUVs when the rest of the country is riding round on their 'three legged donkey' is not lost on me. But there are so many more reason to have a pop at what the rest of the world is doing in Haiti that the vehicle thing is a red herring.
Interestingly enough, and I hope he does not mind me mentioning this, Spanky sent me a PM and told me that he was there in 2000-2004. The place really was scary back then. Ask him how things have improved as he will know better than me.
The real bad guys in all this are the NGOs who are spending 200+ bucks a night staying in hotels, having meetings and getting bugger all done. They receive huge salaries paid for by charitable donations and/or government aid but simply do not produce.
There are good quality NGOs, admittedly, but not many.
And your last comment - I agree with so much it hurts.
Haitians need help.
Haiti receives a lot of cash but Haitians receive almost nothing.
The real tragedy of Haiti is not SUVs, it is the disgraceful waste of money spent on discussing what to do and how to do it. It is like this scene from the 'Life of Brian'.
YouTube - Life of Brian. Activists.
Again,let us never forget that it is not the UN's job to rebuild Haiti (thank god!). They do what they are supposed to, by and large - keep the peace and train the local police so that they can keep the peace.
I only mention the following sick jokes as they have an element of truth:
Haiti recently suffered a huge earthquake which ripped through Port au Prince, causing 9 billion dollars worth of improvements.
The earthquake has knocked the Caribbean nation right forward into the nineteenth century.
Haiti is one of the most stable countries in the world - nothing has changed there for the last 200 years.
Those vehicles also serve as shelter and possibly sleeping quarters when nessessary......
I'm an old guy. I've been very aware of the UN for over 50 years. I was one of those indoctrinated kids who went around my neighborhood as a 6-7 y.o. with the little square UNICEF boxes, collecting coins for the poor children. Mom CB was the school "sponsor" for that...until the UNICEF person chewed her out for her young school kids only collecting 85% of the Unicef school "budget."
UN work is supposed to be some sort of charitable "calling", not a business. To say they can't recruit the best and brightest without perks...is comical to me. They don't OPERATE like a business; why should they expect to have people who operate with business efficiency?
There are 10,000,000 people in Haiti. The country needa $9,000,000,000; $900 per person. The numbers look large but really aren't when you put them in proper perspective.
To say Haiti can't rebuild itself without the UN directing traffic is to say Haiti has no future once the esteemed "international community" leaves. If folks believe that, why even ~try~?
Sorry, but to many UN athiests a boatload os shiny, spiffy new SUV's is a reflection of a deeper problem than the problem itself.
The day I see UN bureaucrats eating canned rations, living in group tent cities, pooping in portajohns and driving bare utilitarian vehicles I will believe they are actually dedicated to ~doing~ something in Haiti and not doing it for themselves.
And you know what? They shoulda bought used vehicles from the many dealers in the DR and put stickers on them. Would have taken some off the DR streets, helped boost the DR economy and saved enough $$$ to build some more housing for the victims of the earthquake...
Absolutely 100%
totally and utterly
without a shadow of a doubt
completely and unequivocally -
WRONG!
Maybe it should be but it is not - any more than the Military is.
It is a job.
Think about it for a while.
If I need a comms network building, who do I get to build it?
Someone who is well meaning or a professional?
If I need a comms network building, who do I get to build it?
Someone who is well meaning or a professional?
A Haitian company. I am SURE there are qualified engineers and maestro's that are Haitian and would be more than happy to work within the environment they live in.
don't know what military you were in but we sure as hell were not there for the money! long time ago but starting was $76 a month, meals and clothing. Boot Camp. worked out to about .11 cents an hour as you were on duty 365/24/7. $99 a month for an E3 or .13 and hour.
Please dont ever compare military duty in any country to the UN.
Tinker, Tailor Soldier Sailor...
Military is a job.
Maybe in the olden days when you were conscripted it was not??
In the free world the Army recruit young people and pay them, train them and pension them.
Be all you can be etc....
Military is a job.
Maybe in the olden days when you were conscripted it was not??
In the free world the Army recruit young people and pay them, train them and pension them.
Be all you can be etc....
Sure enough. And they employ Haitian technicians. The UN jobs are the most sought after for Haitian techs as the conditions and pay are so good compared to the rest of the local market. They manage to get the best guys.
- Who manages these guys?
- What should these managers drive and where should they live?
What about the police training - the other major component of the UN work.
You think they should employ Haitians to train the police force?
Hmmmmm, now that is not going to work.
- Who trains these guys?
- What should these trainers drive and where should they live?
Again, do you want enthusiastic amateurs or experienced professionals?
Which military were you in?
What campaign?
How long ago was that - seems like a poor deal.
Tents, canned rations, outhouses and utilitarian vehicles. That's living like kings compared to earthquake victims.
I was in Barahona last week at a big hotel who houses UNICEF and other UN bureaucrats (how do I know? The parking lot was full of big, nice luxury SUV's with huge white "UN" and "UNICEF" logos on them, and there were only us, some missionaries and UN folks checked in.)
I saw a guy I presume was a UN guy just ripping the front desk clerk because his shirt didn't have enough startch in it coming back from the laundry. Saw him later at dinner just yukking it up with colleagues with a table full of beer and rum, making nasty comments about some christian missionaries also in the hotel.
I was in Barahona last week at a big hotel who houses UNICEF and other UN bureaucrats (how do I know? The parking lot was full of big, nice luxury SUV's with huge white "UN" and "UNICEF" logos on them, and there were only us, some missionaries and UN folks checked in.)
I saw a guy I presume was a UN guy just ripping the front desk clerk because his shirt didn't have enough startch in it coming back from the laundry. Saw him later at dinner just yukking it up with colleagues with a table full of beer and rum, making nasty comments about some christian missionaries also in the hotel.