Prologue

Having now had nine months to mull it all over I've come to the conclusion that explaining my experiences in Haiti will likely always carry with it a trace of our very naive western doctrine. In light of this, I've decided that the only plausible solution is to try to educate myself on the real needs of people there and to learn what I can from the mistakes that have been made by other aid workers so as not to waste too much time or to draw on the already very limited resources.

Anyways, before I get back into the swing of things, I thought I'd just share with you some of my thoughts on the everyday challenges in Haiti along with some interesting article and blogs I've come across- trying to keep my personal bias to a minimum of course...


Corruption & Orphanages
Its a give-in that Good Samaritan Orphanage is not alone in its struggle for finding sustainable sources of water, shelter and food but maybe less obvious is the fact that, like Good Sam, many other orphanages are kept in poor conditions to bring in more funding from international groups and individuals. It is undoubtedly one of the most distressing and heart-breaking things to see and even harder still is trying to figure out a way to make it worth while to the owners of the orphanages to agree to make the changes that are necessary to better the conditions.

This blog has some pretty interesting articles on these issues & this one in particular sums up a very similar situation:
http://goodintents.org/orphanages/hug-an-orphan-vacations-3

(You may also notice that there is a link at the bottom of the page for a note titled "Showers for Good Sam"  in springbox - this is a project thats been started at the orphanage and has sadly come to a halt for the time being as we try to work out how to go about negotiating with the owner without having to do a payoff. I'll update on my blog if anything changes with this but for the time being we are still negotiating.)


The Impact of Aid Workers 
Another thing that has really been on my mind since returning from Haiti has been the effect that the help from the international community has had on Haiti's overall circumstances. Take for instance Cholera- there are serious implications of having foreign aid come into a country with limited infrastructure, especially in the case of sewage...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/haiti/8494066/Haiti-cholera-outbreak-linked-to-peacekeepers-UN-admits.html

Event though it hasn't made mainstream media in a while the outbreak in Haiti is still going strong and is said to have reached with second peak. The very nature of Cholera means that it will stay with Haiti forever and with rainy season now in full swing the numbers are once again rising quickly. Seeing things from that perspective makes it easy to understand why the UN is not particularly welcomed by most Haitians.

(Aljazeera has really great coverage of Haiti- this is the latest update from them)
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2011/06/20116191451313846.html

There are also many concerns surrounding donations -a very sad but typical approach to it is often the "Well, its better than nothing" attitude. This article talks about our donation tendencies and offers quite a thought-provoking view on the drawbacks of our well-intentioned help: http://talesfromethehood.com/tag/swedow/

This is well worth reading too: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/02/haiti-election-open-letter-noam-chomsky

Feeling Helpless
I've been feeling pretty inspired lately by the overwhelming amount of goodwill that people show for one another and am convinced that if given the right set of circumstances and the resources to make it happen there are very few of us that would turn down an opportunity to help someone in need. I know myself that sometimes its hard to think that my skills or time could actually be helpful to someone that seems so far removed from my own life but there are so many people in Haiti and in every other corner of the world that could really benefit from the unique strengths we all have -even just a few minutes of our time could mean that donated money goes to the people that need it most as opposed to administrative costs.

These are just a couple examples of creative ways to contribute to Haiti but if anyone is interested in finding something more specific to their field or particular skills then I'd be happy to help you get the resources to do so.

         Half Hour for Haiti                                                            One Day's Wages
http://ijdh.org/archives/18462                                  http://www.onedayswages.org/

And above all else Staying Positive is Key -having that written down is probably more for my benefit than for your reading pleasure but its true. I remember when this really sank in -the last time I was in Haiti. Things had gone a bit sour one day at the orphanage and I welled-up with tears for the first (and only) time in-front of anyone Haiti- it happened to be while I was talking to Kenley (the 19year old boy who taught me how to speak Kreyol). He asked me to stop, and as he said it I saw the tears start to well-up in his eyes. He said that if I cry then he will cry and so will all the kids at the orphanage and all the people I want to help- if I loose hope then what hope does he have.

Yes, a good few tears were shed that day but that conversation was enough to stop me from getting discouraged for the rest of my time in Haiti and to this day reminds me of just how important it is to stay positive and empower those around you to do the same.

A huge thanks to everyone for their support and contributions, I'm really looking forward to sharing my experiences with all of you! (feedback is very welcome!)

sending lots of love & light from Miami
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