Posts

, ,

The Catch-22 of Crime and Poverty in Haiti

Crime and Poverty in HaitiHaiti is both the poorest and most dangerous country in the Caribbean, the World Bank says. Political instability, civil unrest and a geographic location with a high risk of natural disasters keep almost 60% of Haitians below the international poverty line. Simultaneously, Haiti ranks 58th on the Global Organized Crime Index of 2023, and the U.S. has issued a warning against travel to Haiti because of dangerous conditions related to gangs and other organized crime. In other words, crime is rampant in an already impoverished nation. The connection between crime and poverty in Haiti results in a catch-22, or vicious, cycle. In this country, crime exists because extreme poverty exists. 

Poverty as a Breeding Ground for Gang Violence in Haiti

Simply put, political dysfunction, natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic have ensured that as of 2023, more than half of Haitians live below the poverty line. This poor circumstance allows organized crime to thrive. A lack of jobs and government instability open space for gangs to offer the structure, stability and income that Haitians desire. Haiti has such poverty, desperation and lack of political strength that more than 200 gangs have formed in the last five years. However, gangs do not offer the social stability or solution to poverty that Haitians might hope for. 

Nearly 100 gangs, half of the gangs in the entire country, currently fight for control of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. So many rival gangs in such close proximity cause extreme danger for Port-au-Prince’s residents, but Haiti’s current government is not powerful enough to regain control of the city. 

Gangs do not lift Haitians out of poverty the way that official government action could. For instance, by building infrastructure, protecting against natural disasters, increasing education rates or developing industry. Rather, gangs introduce extreme violence and cause long-term damage to a country already ransacked by extreme poverty.

Gangs are responsible for much of the crime in Haiti; the crime rate has more than doubled from 2022 to 2023 and more than 1,600 crimes occurred in just the first quarter of 2023. These crimes, including homicides and kidnappings, impede both immediate and long-term solutions to poverty because crime wrecks stability. Children, for example, run the risk of shootings at school and in the streets, impacting their education and the chance of a prosperous future. In other words, the crime-ridden atmosphere that poverty creates guarantees that poverty will continue — the catch-22 of crime and poverty in Haiti. 

Aid to Haiti

Despite the catch-22 that encloses Haitians in an unending loop of danger and poverty, some hope remains outside the loop. The U.S. has a close partnership with Haiti and is responsible for the largest amount of humanitarian aid sent to Haiti in 2023. Since 2021, USAID has provided Haiti with a total of $278 million for humanitarian assistance, societal advancement and the development of a reliable health care system; more than $110 million of this aid has come in 2023.

In addition to USAID, many nonprofit organizations work in Haiti to promote health, development and safety despite the threat of gangs. In fact, Haiti is known as the “republic of NGOs” due to the amount of aid that has poured into the country from nonprofits since the earthquake of 2010.

Hope for Haiti is one particularly successful NGO that aims to promote education among Haiti’s children. To date, Hope for Haiti has paid the salaries of 400 teachers, which opened space for more than 4,000 children to attend school. Regular school attendance guarantees Haitian children some form of stability amid the chaos of a gang-ridden country, allowing them the opportunity of a promising future. 

Although crime in Haiti is at an all-time high, which cycles into high poverty rates, the support of the U.S. and NGOs helps millions of Haitians living below the poverty line. 

– Suzanne Ackley
Photo: Unsplash

, , ,

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively Help Haiti

Ryan Reynolds and Blake LivelyHaiti’s present reflects its past as a French colony, when the country faced intensive slavery, natural resource exploitation and a costly independence process, among other abuses and challenges. As of 2019, almost 60% of Haiti’s population lives in poverty, experiencing problems such as a lack of access to clean water, electricity and sanitation. Moreover, the Associated Press affirms that the country has not fully recovered from the 2010 earthquake or the 2016 hurricane. The assassination of Haiti’s president Jovenel Moïse on July 7 intensified the nation’s instability at the political level. 

The 7.2 magnitude earthquake that happened on August 14, 2021, exacerbated an already difficult situation. Now, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere is even more endangered. Fortunately, the event had an effect on some celebrities including Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, who went out of their way to help Haiti after the most recent earthquake. Although the country needs much more help to be lifted out of poverty, donations from celebrities and the general population can make a positive and meaningful impact.

The Earthquake Horror

Geological studies show that Haiti is prone to earthquakes because it sits near a boundary between two tectonic plates. Furthermore, the makeshift material used to construct most of the country’s buildings has proved to be susceptible to the violent shaking of the ground. In 2010, for example, around 100,000 buildings collapsed because of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. The most recent event on August 14 destroyed more than 50,000 homes, killed at least 2,207 and injured more than 12,200 people. USA Today stated that “more than 3,000 humanitarian nongovernmental organizations operate in Haiti” amid an atmosphere of both sadness and hope. The country stands to benefit from different kinds of aid, including food and personal hygiene supplies. 

A Notable Donation to Haiti

Some celebrities have been pitching in and doing their part to improve Haiti’s situation. A few days after the earthquake, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds donated a total of $40,000 to 4 humanitarian organizations assisting the population in the country. Hope for Haiti received a fourth of the amount and thanked the couple on social media. On Instagram, Hope for Haiti posted, “Our entire organization would like to thank @vancityreynolds and @blakelively for their generous donation to our #HaitiEarthquake Response & Recovery efforts.”

The organization also said, “This donation will help empower our team to continue to respond in the hardest-hit areas of southern Haiti in the days and weeks to come.” According to People, the organization stated that the money will be used to build clinics and pay for food delivery costs from World Central Kitchen. The other three organizations that received the donations are Ayiti Demen (Fokal Haiti Relief Fund), Airlink Haiti Relief and Haiti Air Ambulance Service.

The Power Couple’s Philanthropy Example

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds have a history of philanthropy that can inspire other celebrities and the public. In 2020, the couple donated $1 million to two food banks in the U.S. and in Canada as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact. The couple donated another $1 million to the same two organizations at the beginning of 2021. The couple also pitches in to help non-emergency causes; for example, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds gave “$250,000 USD to help launch a Canadian mentorship program for Indigenous post-secondary student” this year.

The couple’s most recent move was to help Haiti after the earthquake’s devastation. Considering their philanthropic history, it will not be the last time they give back to those who need it. Events similar to the earthquake in Haiti expose the nation’s vulnerable system and the suffering of a population that calls for broader, global help. Although it is only part of the poverty-reduction equation, the money donated by celebrities inspires the public’s action, draws attention to the cause and equips humanitarian organizations to better provide local services.

– Iasmine Oliveira

Photo: Flickr

, , , , ,

A Look at Health Initiatives in Haiti

health initiatives in Haiti

Haiti’s health care infrastructure has suffered drastically since the last massive earthquake in 2010. The earthquake further destroyed access to the delivery of health care and destroyed the country’s health care system as a whole. As a result, Haiti’s medical facilities now lack basic but critical services such as water and sanitation systems, state-of-the-art hospitals and clinics, modern medical resources and a sufficient number of trained medical professionals. There have since been health initiatives to aid Haiti in rectifying its health care and health care system.

Health Initiatives in Haiti

  1. Community Health Initiative: Emergency medical physicians Chris Buresh and Joshua White, who combined have more than 14 years of experience in Haiti, founded the Community Health Initiative (CHI) in Haiti in January 2012. CHI was founded to address the health needs of the Haitian community that would otherwise lack access to care by providing continuous primary health care. The program works with long-standing partnerships and local talent in the central region of Haiti to combat malnutrition, provide clean water and deliver health care to Haitians by returning to the same villages every three months. Because Haitians lack affordable primary health care in the area, most patients walk eight hours or more to arrive at CHI’s clinics for treatment. The Community Health Initiative provides clinics in the rural areas of Haiti. Since its founding in 2012, CHI has delivered 1,100 water treatment systems in which have reduced the diarrhea rate among users to 1.8 percent. Community Health Workers have trained 81 women in their Helping Babies Breathe program which has allowed a 71 percent reduction in neonatal mortality.
  2. Partners In Health: Partners in Health (PIH) is Haiti’s largest health care provider. PIH has been providing medical services to Haitians for more than 20 years. PIH helps deliver high-quality health care to some of Haiti’s poorest regions, serving an estimated 4.5 million people with the help of the national Ministry of Health. PIH’s community health workers have helped 15,000 HIV-positive patients begin and remain on treatment and have allowed 1,500 TB patients to start treatment on the path to a cure each year since initiation. Since PIH’s founding, the mortality rate for children under the age of 5 has been reduced to 71 per 1,000 where Haiti had the highest rates of infant and child mortality; the rate of incidents surrounding TB has also been reduced to 181 per 100,000, and the adult prevalence of HIV is now 1.9 percent.
  3. Hope For Haiti: Haiti reports some of the world’s worst health indicators that continue to inhibit Haiti’s development. Hope for Haiti is a health initiative that operates an infirmary in southern Haiti and partners with 24 rural communities to improve the health care system and its individual health indicators. Hope for Haiti provides primary care services, public health education and nutrition education, and it organizes mobile clinics. Since Hope for Haiti was founded, 6,727 lab tests were performed for a record of 3,090 patients. Around 2,700 Sawyer Water Filtration Systems were distributed in Haiti, impacting over 13,500 people, 2,800 students were provided with public health education and 100 diabetes club meetings were held for the Haitian community.

Haiti is in need of a permanent and modern health care infrastructure so that it can respond promptly and effectively to the medical needs of its community. With health initiatives such as Partners in Health, Hope for Haiti and the Community Health Initiative, Haiti will be well on its way to better health care and an improved health care system.

– Na’Keevia Brown
Photo: Flickr

, , , , , ,

Poverty in Haiti: One Island, Two Worlds

Poverty in Haiti
On the Caribbean island of Hispaniola lies two countries: Haiti and the Dominican Republic (DR). Despite being on the same island, poverty in Haiti far exceeds that of its neighbor.

The Statistics

The United Nations evaluated Haiti and the DR for human development considering three factors: “a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living.” The DR ranked 94th out of 182 countries, indicative of its high human development. Haiti ranks much lower at 168th. The average life expectancy in the DR is 74 years, in contrast to Haiti’s average of 63. The DR’s expected years of schooling are approximately 14 years, while Haiti’s is about nine years.

The difference in development is evident in each countries’ economy as well. In the DR, rates of poverty decreased from 21.7% to 19.9% from 2015 to 2016. Within five years, the DR’s average rate of GDP growth was 5.8% per year. This economic boost has translated into a decrease in poverty and income inequality. In contrast to the DR’s economic success, the Haitian economy is suffering, leading to the majority of its population (58.5%) being in poverty in Haiti. In Haiti, GDP has decayed at a rate of 0.2%. Rapid inflation also plagues Haiti, indicating its struggling economy.

Differing Geography

There are several reasons behind these stark contrasts in development. The geography of the island is one explanation. The mountains dividing the island are able to prevent rainfall from coming to Haiti. Northeast trade winds blow towards the DR, promoting rainfall on its side. Additionally, deforestation is a serious issue on the Haitian side of the island, creating environmental and agricultural roadblocks.

These geographical features make it troublesome for Haitians to grow crops, which takes a toll on their primarily agricultural economy. This lack of cultivation decreases opportunities for farms in Haiti. Deforestation also diminishes the scenic beauty in the country, while the DR uses its natural scenes to promote tourism and bolster its economy.

Looking to History

Deforestation in Haiti began with Spanish colonization. When the Spanish colony gave a part of Hispaniola to France in 1697, the French began to import an excessive amount of slaves into the land. Although the Spanish also used slaves, France used nearly 10 times as much. The French over-cultivated the same cash crops, coffee and sugar in the same soil, which led to the environmental devastation of the country today. Haiti was the first independent black state, which came at a large cost as well. Its extreme amount of debt to the French government deteriorated its economy, as well as disputes about how to construct its new autonomous government. Although U.S. occupation and political instability riddled both the DR and Haiti, Haiti has received continuous exploitation and its leaders have had little regard for economic development.

Although there have been many countries that have provided international aid and relief, notably the U.S., the country has not been able to solve much. This is mostly due to the country not having the necessary investment in its aid. In fact, Haiti has even pursued policies that actively diminish its economy.

Organizations in Haiti

Although many countries have not aided Haiti with its recovery from exploitation, several non-governmental organizations have pursued several projects to tackle poverty in Haiti. After Haiti’s disastrous 2010 earthquake, Global Communities implemented several initiatives to remove rubble. The organization has now removed over one million cubic meters of rubble, providing 20,000 locals with short-term jobs. Global Communities also created the Lavi Miyo Nan Katye pa’m Nan (LAMIKA) program, which translates to “a better life in the neighborhood.” It focuses on Carrefour-Feuilles, a poverty-ridden neighborhood greatly affected by the earthquake in Port-au-Prince. It is reconstructing 1,500 meters of roads, almost 2,000 meters of pedestrian footpaths and nine schools. It has also worked to improve the water and sanitation systems of the country.

The Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) has also conducted several projects to alleviate poverty in Haiti. To improve the economy, PADF implemented the LEAD program, which the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded. LEAD connects investors from the U.S. and Canada to Haitian businesses, helping them develop into larger enterprises. Collaborating with American Red Cross and USAID, PADF encourages “resilient urban development” in the area of Canaan under the program name, Ann Boust Canaan. The program has introduced vocational schools to better train residents for jobs. Additionally, it has created 1,500 new jobs and linked citizens to businesses to better access their finances.

To expand the limited medical treatment in Haiti, Doctors Without Borders manages three hospitals in Port-Au-Prince. There is a prevalence of burn victims that require medical care in this region, so, in 2017, the organization administered 1,300 emergency room visits and aided approximately 700 patients. Victims of sexual and gender-based abuse obtained care, with 769 patients receiving treatment in 2017. Doctors Without Borders educates hospital staff and has begun building a new hospital in Haiti as well.

What Individuals Can Do

For those who would like to be more involved in the process of reducing poverty in Haiti, they can make donations to programs through the organization Hope for Haiti. The program allows donors to choose where they would like their donation to go, such as health care, education and environmental development. Another more active approach is volunteering for Haitian organizations. The organization MedShare sends medical supplies to Haitian hospitals and clinics and requires volunteers to package the items in the U.S. before shipping.

Haiti has undergone exploitation throughout its history. The DR has experienced exploitation, but to a lesser extent, which its better economic and environmental conditions today show. Since countries have not aided Haiti sufficiently, there are several non-governmental organizations that have helped in recovery from its instability. Individuals can also help by volunteering their time or supplies to Haitians in need. Being born on different sides of the same island should not determine drastically different life outcomes.

– Diana Piper
Photo: Flickr