Viewing those wretched Haitian earthquake images provokes a outpouring of desire to help. The organization, Doctors Without Borders, is “on the ground” and has operated facilities in Haiti for years. That makes them an excellent choice for donations that will alleviate some of the current suffering.
Before the earthquake, Haiti was not so much a failed state as a unofficial, failed colony of the US, a hapless condition Hispaniola’s Western population has endured for at least for the last 100 years.
All the piecemeal charitable efforts of thousands of private groups have failed to bring significant improvements to the lives of average Haitians, the country has been a sink-hole for small scale charitable efforts, as frequent eruptions of violence have erased the hard gained advances time and time again.
The economic refugees, who have fled deplorable conditions, have been treated with deplorable contempt by politicians and immigration agencies, not to mention the smug fundamentalist preachers.
I sincerely hope that the massive efforts, which will be needed to reconstruct the capitol to the pitiful state of affairs before the quake, can be extended to transform the political system, the social and economic circumstances of the popluation, and lay a foundation for sustainable development into the future.
If the international community can’t manage successful nation-building in this tiny country, Politicians surely must be deluded to speak as if “America” can do it anywhere else.
