Haiti

[MattH]

I presume all of you have seen the news reports about the horrendous disaster in Haiti, a country that had many problems before this earthquake.

Here is some advice from the FTC:

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/01/haitiquake.shtm

If you donate to a charity by credit card, read this NY Times posting carefully: the major CC companies are waiving their usual fees for donations to specific charities:

http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/some-card-fees-waived-for-haiti-aid/

Before giving to any charity, check them out here:

http://www.charitynavigator.org/

If you want some general historical background about Haiti, below are some places to start.  As it happens, my father is a retired professor of history who spent a summer doing research for one of his books in Haiti, and he took his family along so I actually visited the place when I was about 12 years old.  I had never seen that sort of poverty first hand so it was an unforgettable experience for me.

Much of what has been written about Haiti comes from a Marxist, Liberation Theology, or other ideological perspective; serious historical research that seeks to find factual data has been less common.  If you spend a couple of hours reading the two references I cite below, then you will be vastly more informed about Haiti than at least 90 percent of those who have been discussing it for the news media.

Here's a reasonably good summary of Haitian History compiled by the Federal Research Division at the Library of Congress in 1989 (so it won't cover the last 20 years).  It is therefore somewhat outdated, and also written in a rather dry style, but it's about a balanced a survey as you are likely to find:
http://www.country-data.com/frd/cs/httoc.html
PS: this survey cites my father's book, but I won't say which book because that would reveal my last name!

And here's a 2002 dissertation about the Clinton Administration's intervention in Haiti.  It does a decent job of covering more recent events, and is therefore a good supplement to the FRD survey.  It's also written in a more readable style; unfortunately it displays its author's personal biases to a greater extent than I think appropriate for a doctoral thesis, so I recommend reading the older FRD survey before reading this dissertation:
http://etd.ohiolink.edu/send-pdf.cgi/Girard%20Philippe%20R.pdf?ohiou1035828999

[fishbjc]

Haiti has faced many challenges, a corrupt government doesn't help matters.  My boss' wife belongs to a sewing group who makes diapers and dresses.  She made 125 herself.  I go to garage sales and purchase baby and childrens shoes for their totes.  Its a small thing, but it helps.

[MattH]

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@fishbjc wrote:

Haiti has faced many challenges, a corrupt government doesn't help matters.  My boss' wife belongs to a sewing group who makes diapers and dresses.  She made 125 herself.  I go to garage sales and purchase baby and childrens shoes for their totes.  Its a small thing, but it helps.

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I would imagine they can use just about anything we can think of and lots else besides, from the news reports the situation seems quite desperate.

Anybody who gives money, check whether your employers will match your donations as many companies do.  My own employers normally match donations to approved charities 100 percent, but just announced they will match employee donations for earthquake relief 200 percent to every dollar I give becomes three dollars for the relief effort.

Edited to add: the Library of Congress has a newer country profile here, it goes into much less historical detail than the one from the late 1980s but covers events through early 2006:
http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Haiti.pdf

Message Edited by MattH on 01-16-2010 03:41 PM

[Jazzzy]

I'm a nurse...and in May will complete my Masters to be a Family Nurse Practitioner. My family has had to convince me not to go to Haiti with one of the medical groups going down. If I were to go, it would be a year before I could finish my degree, and that's another year without my income. So...my grown children give me all these practical reasons I shouldn't go...why I shouldn't jeopardize my degree...but my instinct tells me they are mostly worried about my safety. (My husband, however, would be OK with waving goodbye to me at the airport...he knows my head doesn't always tell my heart what it can and cannot do.)

I've been to Africa twice and Guatemala five times on such trips, and I felt pretty secure. But, none of my trips was during a disaster. I've also done a lot of that work domestically (w/ Katrina, etc.), but I know my family feels better when I am on U.S. soil.

I agreed to safely stay put, and my final classes started yesterday. I am already thinking ahead, however, to May. I graduate the 1st week in May, and I can't take boards until mid-July. That timeframe represents an interesting opportunity.

[DI]

When I move to Miami in August, I plan to take part in opportunity to help with the rebuilding efforts.  I'm sure it's going to take some years. 

[MattH]

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@LynetteM wrote:

I'm a nurse...and in May will complete my Masters to be a Family Nurse Practitioner. My family has had to convince me not to go to Haiti with one of the medical groups going down. If I were to go, it would be a year before I could finish my degree, and that's another year without my income. So...my grown children give me all these practical reasons I shouldn't go...why I shouldn't jeopardize my degree...but my instinct tells me they are mostly worried about my safety. (My husband, however, would be OK with waving goodbye to me at the airport...he knows my head doesn't always tell my heart what it can and cannot do.)

I've been to Africa twice and Guatemala five times on such trips, and I felt pretty secure. But, none of my trips was during a disaster. I've also done a lot of that work domestically (w/ Katrina, etc.), but I know my family feels better when I am on U.S. soil.

I agreed to safely stay put, and my final classes started yesterday. I am already thinking ahead, however, to May. I graduate the 1st week in May, and I can't take boards until mid-July. That timeframe represents an interesting opportunity.

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Bless you for all you do, the world needs more good Family Nurse Practitioners, that's for sure!  Whatever you decide and whenever you go to Haiti, I am sure the need will be severe.  In fact, they may well need medical help even more when the world's attention has moved on the some other disaster.

[haulingthescoreup]

This is a decidedly more biased book, but an amazing one: Mountains beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder (Amazon link.) It is the story of Dr. Paul Farmer, who started and maintained medical clinics in Haiti. His organization, Partners in Health, has been deeply involved in direct medical care in Haiti for two decades and is directly involved in the current efforts.