I'm not telling you to post but the answer you want isn't simple and it would be easier for all involved if you just started to read other topics in the Haiti forum to learn like we all have done.
- Thread starter shawn27
- Start date
Why are people still suffering in Haiti?
I'm not telling you to post but the answer you want isn't simple and it would be easier for all involved if you just started to read other topics in the Haiti forum to learn like we all have done.
NGO stands for Non Governmental Organization.. or ONG in Spanish or Non Profit in English .. except NGO refers more to the big international ones.. Like World Vision, and Plan...
In case you have $150 million .. here are my recommendations of where to send it...
Changing Perspectives
Thanks for your generosity!
Go to PaP airport one day as if you were taking a flight to FLA and talk to the folks in the departure lounge.
That is where your money is going.
My mum sponsored a child in Haiti for years before I came here - turns out she lived near some folks I knew. I took a trip out there and tracked her down just to see if the whole thing was some scam - but sure enough she knew who my mum was. She went to school and was generally a pretty cool kid.
So there is both good and bad, from what I have seen.
I shall find out the name of the organisation if you like.
My sister sponsors a child in the D.R. to go to school - again totally coincidentally.
That is where your money is going.
My mum sponsored a child in Haiti for years before I came here - turns out she lived near some folks I knew. I took a trip out there and tracked her down just to see if the whole thing was some scam - but sure enough she knew who my mum was. She went to school and was generally a pretty cool kid.
So there is both good and bad, from what I have seen.
I shall find out the name of the organisation if you like.
My sister sponsors a child in the D.R. to go to school - again totally coincidentally.
Could have been ActionAid, they also work in Haiti. Also a very good organisation IMO, like Plan they are not paternalistic and their support is aimed at equipping people with skills and knowledge so they can overcome poverty.
ActionAid UK: End poverty. Together.
ActionAid UK: End poverty. Together.
Having said all this, the only thing that I really see doing good is dirty old petty capitalism.
True enough if people have jobs then that is the difference between life and misery.
The jobs that then actually enhance that life and others connected with it are the kind of jobs that are real. Jobs that make money. Sustainable jobs. Jobs that pay for themselves - and then some.
The only way to have a really bright future is to be part of something that can justify itself in the real world - these days that is something that is making money.
I cringe when I hear the phrase "what Haiti needs is...." from expats and NGO folks, but anyway......
What Haiti needs is all the people that were starting to come back to Haiti and setting up businesses to do it some more. The margins are good - the competition is sparse and you can make lemonade from lemons here. In fact the streets are lined with lemons.... :laugh:
Here is my spurious capitalist reasoning -
If Haiti is going to succeed it needs to be efficient and competitive.
You strive to be much more efficient and competitive if you have a bottom line.
Err, wandered a bit off topic....
My geat grandfather Sam will be turning in his grave - he was one of the founders of the Labour movement in the UK.
True enough if people have jobs then that is the difference between life and misery.
The jobs that then actually enhance that life and others connected with it are the kind of jobs that are real. Jobs that make money. Sustainable jobs. Jobs that pay for themselves - and then some.
The only way to have a really bright future is to be part of something that can justify itself in the real world - these days that is something that is making money.
I cringe when I hear the phrase "what Haiti needs is...." from expats and NGO folks, but anyway......
What Haiti needs is all the people that were starting to come back to Haiti and setting up businesses to do it some more. The margins are good - the competition is sparse and you can make lemonade from lemons here. In fact the streets are lined with lemons.... :laugh:
Here is my spurious capitalist reasoning -
If Haiti is going to succeed it needs to be efficient and competitive.
You strive to be much more efficient and competitive if you have a bottom line.
Err, wandered a bit off topic....
My geat grandfather Sam will be turning in his grave - he was one of the founders of the Labour movement in the UK.
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We just all need to sit tight until after the elections and then hopefully the international community will come through with the money. I've heard through the grapevine from supposed members of the "Clinton Commission" that there are some pretty big projects projected; like new communites from scratch with all the necessary infrastructure. Needless to say this can take years to build and the people need stuff now but it can't be done as quickly as everyone would like.
The elections are on Nov28. Then there is all the wrangling, second rounds and horse trading until a new president is inaugurated in February?
Now if you have been sitting in a tent with your wife and two kids since January (9 months) then the prospect of another 5 months to let the political dust settle after an election that you had no real part in - well that is enough to tip any decent person over the edge.
People should remember that when you see on TV a load of skinny black people scrapping over donated food that is being thrown from the back of a truck - they are you and me.
Never forget that.
Yes.
And no...Pedro, I am not forgetting that those people are indeed you and me but its frustrating indeed...
Haiti
I agree with the writer who said a little pure capitalism is the only solution. However, the country is devasted, and does not have enough resources for the number of people still living there.
A country in Africa offered to give Haiti free land to relocate the people. They should accept the offer, and the resources available in Africa. If you do that, maybe, maybe, the locals will allow the forests to regrow, and develop a sustainable agriculture industry. Having a few million less people will also reduce some of the chaos there.
Right now the only industry is charity, and most of that has not arrived, or has gone in someones pockets.
Finally, forget the Red Cross, I have reliable sources that confirm they are inefficient and corrupt.
I agree with the writer who said a little pure capitalism is the only solution. However, the country is devasted, and does not have enough resources for the number of people still living there.
A country in Africa offered to give Haiti free land to relocate the people. They should accept the offer, and the resources available in Africa. If you do that, maybe, maybe, the locals will allow the forests to regrow, and develop a sustainable agriculture industry. Having a few million less people will also reduce some of the chaos there.
Right now the only industry is charity, and most of that has not arrived, or has gone in someones pockets.
Finally, forget the Red Cross, I have reliable sources that confirm they are inefficient and corrupt.
Please enough with the NOG conspiracy theories. I recommend people go to Haiti and volunteer before they assume the Hatian people are not being helped, good grief.
Not half as presumptuous as you telling people to sit tight for another few excruciating months waiting to get sick.
Anyway, it wasn't necessarilty aimed at you.
Everyone forgets a bit - other wise you would go bonkers.
It's quite presumptuous of you to think that I directed it to the Haitian people, whom I'm sure are not reading this forum, thanks.
At any rate you won't see any real change at least for the next few years.
I don't donate to big NGO's anymore since I learned that if you give 1 euro to such organizations, that only 15 cents actually go to the "causes" and the rest is spend on PR, paying staff and other expenses.
I prefer to think that big NGO's are more and more acting as initiators these day's rather then a "rescue" organization as such which is fine by me but they should be subsidized by governments and not dwell on the goodwill of people anymore.
Then you have the "do gooders", mostly smaller organizations where I am pretty sure, most of them, are really doing their best to make a difference but their effort is frequently overshadowed by some shameless crap people who do anything to get into the light of the camera or magazine instead of helping people and frequently they get away with it. If you have seen some of these second latter organizations or people at work, you hesitate even further to give one penny anymore.
And to say, well just go there and do something, is probably also NOT the brightest idea either.
I prefer to think that big NGO's are more and more acting as initiators these day's rather then a "rescue" organization as such which is fine by me but they should be subsidized by governments and not dwell on the goodwill of people anymore.
Then you have the "do gooders", mostly smaller organizations where I am pretty sure, most of them, are really doing their best to make a difference but their effort is frequently overshadowed by some shameless crap people who do anything to get into the light of the camera or magazine instead of helping people and frequently they get away with it. If you have seen some of these second latter organizations or people at work, you hesitate even further to give one penny anymore.
And to say, well just go there and do something, is probably also NOT the brightest idea either.
Sit tight in American English means to wait without complaining. What are you implying?
As it does in English English.
Exactly my point chip - it is all very well for you to suggest that people wait without complaining but the arrogance of that stuns me.
If you do not get that then fine.
Anyway you have become a very grumpy old man recently - what happened?
Exactly my point chip - it is all very well for you to suggest that people wait without complaining but the arrogance of that stuns me.
If you do not get that then fine.
Anyway you have become a very grumpy old man recently - what happened?
I was never referring to the Haitian people, good grief!
Grumpy is as grumpy does, I think Forest Gump said that.
Well it's good to know that it wasn't a scam... sometimes I wonder if the situation is as bad as it is. US media says how much Haitians and Dominicans hate each other yet what what I've seen most co esxist in the DR... I just remember several months ago someone posted a school in Haiti in where they were making food out of brackish water and didn't have any electricity.. I want my money to go to places like that.