generalspeaking

Haiti, Emerging From Crisis ... Stumbling

Sad for Haiti, that utter misery of a failed country, that it must once again draw on the pity and compassion of the international community to bring itself back into its former position of dysfunctionality. Seen now by many Haitians as a time of plenty in comparison to the dire straits in which they now find themselves, with over a million poor homeless Haitians living on the streets, among them former civil servants, members of the middle class, and other indigents.

Where the hundreds upon hundreds of millions of aid dollars funnelled into the country from abroad have gone to was never quite clear. The government administered barely functioning services to their public within barely functioning infrastructures of civil service. The latest figures released by the government reveals that over 230,000 Haitians perished in the earthquake that struck the country weeks ago.

Had the country's architecture been designed in light of the earthquake-vulnerability of the island, like their counterparts in the other part of Hispaniola, the death toll would never have been so amazingly high, and many buildings would have been left whole; government offices, hospitals, businesses and homes would still be standing, and helping to bring the country back into full operation.

Relief deliveries of food to starving Haitians, medical assistance to injured Haitians, temporary housing for Haitians cowering from the environment under improvised shelters are proceeding, but not without plenty of problems in delivery. Enterprising Haitians taking the opportunity to wrest from needy Haitians the products of international charity, to sell on the black market.

Escaped convicts from the destroyed national prison preying on helpless men, women and children, unable to foil the brutal intent of their predators. Food distribution proceeding haltingly through a variety of international sources; aid agencies, NGOs and the UN World Food Program. Working ceaselessly to ensure that privation and starvation take no more lives.

And the government of Haiti, working out of inadequate, temporary quarters is on the job. Stoutly defending the country's laws and its orphans by arresting members of an American charity seeking to bring a handful of children off the streets and into neighbouring Dominican Republic where they are setting up an orphanage to care for those children.

Whose own government never has, neither to the parents of the 'orphans' happy to sign them away to the better care to be provided by earnest charitable organizations, nor to the children themselves. Children who may grow up to become servants of the wealthier class of Haitians, in a modern-day bondage of slave labour.

Labels: Human Relations, Political Realities, World Crises

posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, February 09, 2010