Now that it has been a few months, I daresay that many have already forgotten about Haiti, with its lack of exposure in the media. But it was brought back on my radar this weekend when I heard the most bone chilling story from my friend that left me quite speechless. One of her friends had visited Haiti recently to see for herself what the situation was like there and was surprised to find that there was no signs of major improvements. It seemed that billions of dollars in donations are just floating around somewhere in corruption and inefficiency. She found that the aids were on one side of a barrier, while the people were on the other side just sitting there in desperate need of help.
Curious, she walked over to the other side to talk to the people and ask them why they were not coming over to get aid- they felt that they have nothing left besides the piece of land they’re sitting on, and if they move someone might come and take it. And so they were just sitting there, waiting for help. Then she saw a little boy of 4 or 5 years old just wandering aimlessly around. The boy stopped next to another little boy who had a cracker, and tried to take it away from him. Then suddenly, the boy with the cracker’s mother was there and literally punched the boy unconscious! She immediately asked the mother why she did it, and the mother said, “That boy has no parents to take care of him, he’s already as good as dead. If I had to choose between the survival of a stranger and my own child, I’d choose my own child.” Sadly, who can blame the mother? Many more such children are wandering the streets lost, looking for their parents with no protection, making them incredibly susceptible to human trafficking. Efforts to register and track these children are not proceeding nearly fast enough.
With the hurricane season coming soon, the situation is about to get worse. Where are the tents and supplies donated? Apparently they are in an island not far away, but they just can’t figure out a cost efficient way to transport them over without harming their charity ranking status.
Most people forget about a cause once they’ve donated money, thinking they’ve done their part. But hearing about these inefficiencies really gets one thinking, should we be doing more?
Tea with BG 
linh said:
charity ranking status??? is it that important compare to people’s lives especially the children walking around aimlessly looking for food or better yet their parents? i see no point of the charity ranking status. who cares about that. i for one don’t. instead of sitting there thinking about not harming the status, it is better to do something, take action. what was the point of donation? what was the point of the remake of the song, “we are the world” i get worked up when i hear these things because seriously, with all these donations and no improvements is ridiculous. sometimes donations can be a scam for other’s benefits, who knows.
Pink sun drops said:
What?!?! Are you SERIOUS?! That is crazy!!! Why don’t they walk over and take it to them so they can keep their land?! Makes me sick. Surely it must be going somewhere, somebody somewhere has to be helped right? That’s insane for it all to be just sitting there while people are in desperate need.
Barneys Girl said:
PinkSunDrop: I hear that some people are bringing them supplies, but others aren’t because the whole providing aid thing is actually quite a corrupt process… and also they’re worried about security….
Gleenn said:
This post made me speechless. I was already stunned by the video of how the haitians were burning thir deads because they had nowhere for them. Something has to be done. Yet, what can we do to help?