Question of the Week: Why Can’t The Haitians Help Themselves?
January 27, 2010 by nina
Filed under Question of The Week
So, I’ve been seeing the following message floating around Facebook statuses:
Shame on you America: the only country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment – yet we have a benefit for the people of Haiti on 12 TV stations. 99% of people won’t have the guts to copy and repost this.
So, my question of the week is, “What the fuck?”
At least that was my first reaction. Then, after sleeping on it, I wondered if a handful of people on Facebook feel this way, how many others do as well?
Personally, I think there’s a huge difference between a country that can (and has) help itself, but because of indifference, bureaucracy, and plain ole human nature, doesn’t always live up to its promise and potential and a country banding together to help an already impoverished country struck by a national disaster.
If you feel like more should be done at home, do it. You can’t blast the rest of the country for having compassion for a devastated country if you’re not writing elected officials to voice your concerns about health care reform or donating clothing and food to the homeless.
I understand the frustration behind the post. Our country has a ton of its own problems, but I think the comparison is way off base.
What do you think?
Nina is a 34-year-old mother, wife and writer who spends her days blogging, studying, changing diapers and watching ridiculous amounts of TV. She currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, two children and three TiVos.
I think all the people who post that should be deported to Haiti to live. In exchange, we can house all the people without homes/food/water/basic essentials.
I like this idea. There are people that just can’t see the big picture and to ‘broaden their horizons’ a little bit. A one-way ticket to Port au Prince would help such narrow-minded people see outside their little landscape.
I agree that the comparison is crap. Hopefully the intent was to get people to really think about their neighbor and how they might be able to help them.
It’s also not a fair comparison. Our aid to Haiti is meant to do a lot more than just help people survive. We’re also trying to keep Haiti’s government running so the country doesn’t completely collapse into anarchy.
Difference is plain and simple that Haiti is a shithole. It wasn’t always, but after the French raped the island of all natural resources and left it with no real government in place the evils of human nature took over and corruption followed. It has never had a stable government and is devoid of the tools necessary to compete and survive in a world market. These people are the poorest of the poor and some the least educated in modern times. By helping them not only with food and water, but hopefully with some sort of agriculture and infastructure we are only helping to stabilize and potentialy allow them to obtain a self sustaining enviroment thus reducing help and aid in the future.
As for the US we do not have a ‘homeless’ problem like they do in other countries. Here in Chicago if we actually had homeless one day of negative temps would kill them all. They have shelters and soup kitchens, degrading by our standards, but would be a godsend to Haiti. Our ‘poor’ still have the new Nikes or a PS3. Billions of our tax dollars already go to subsidize people allowing the Government to control their lives. There is no comparison. If you don’t want to give to Haiti don’t, but if you think people have it so bad in the country a little research might open your eyes and your heart.
What he said ^^^
There is a wide difference between homeless and poor in the United States and the homeless, poor and now homeless in a third world country that was struck by a 7.0 earthquake. The people of Haiti have never been able to help themselves under the rule of the Haitian government and the conditions that they were left with after the French left.
Do the homeless, living on the streets due to mental illness, unemployment, etc. in this country need help?…yes..but that is an ungoing problem, not a disaster. I’m not a big fan of government support, except in the case of disasters, I feel that should be the burden of countless charities, billionaires and philanthropists in the United States. If they choose to give to the organizations that help in the cities around the country or give to a organizations that help 7,000 miles across the waters is their decision. We have the private resources to help the homeless(if they choose to be helped), poor and suffering in our own country if we choose. A lot of philanthropists don’t see the suffering in our own country..they see it in Danfur, Somalia, etc.
There is suffering in those countries and they need help, but, except for disasters like Haiti we should do what I call the “neighbor policy”.
I coined the “neighbor policy” several years back and it is simply that you help those in your own house first, then your neighbors and then those in another city(ie. country). When say your sister needs help..don’t you help her before you help your neighbor or someone across the country in California? So shouldn’t we, again except for disasters, help those in the United States first, then Mexico, Canada, Haiti, Guatemala(our neighbors) secondly and then those across the seas? Just a though. I’m big into private philanthropy..not a fan of government support, sans a few programs. I’m a social liberal thats a fiscal conservative.
If we helped the bordering countries in South America after helping our own poor they wouldn’t need to leave their country to better themselves.
Anyhow just for the record I’m all for the help for Haiti as well as forgiving their debt.
My question isn’t why are we helping, especially with private donations. My question is what difference are we making? I only hope that the U.S. and its citizens are not once again ‘throwing money’ at a problem instead of REALLY making a true difference.
It’s the same kind of people that wonder “Why hasn’y Angelina adopted a child from the U.S.?” Why not consider ourselves citizens of the world and help out whenever we can?
First off I want to say that this is a human tragedy and should be treated as so. It isn’t about politics it is about a level of human decency on a tragedy that we can barely wrap our heads around. If people that Katrina was so awful (around 2k) they need to reexamine what they think about Haiti which is going to be around 200K. I think people should give and give often. I have.
However donations and reform in Haiti needed to come long before the earthquake.
I think one thing that has been brought up in the tragedy is how we approach aid to poor nations and even how we should approach aid at home. This post brought up an interesting point. While I disagree with 99% of this post and think a lot of the points he made are ignorant the one that sticks with me is, “poor people when fed, breed… and breed often.” Should our foreign aid and even domestic welfare have birth control attached to it? It is easier to feed a starving area when there aren’t seven kids per family to feed. Also it makes relief, reform, and rebuilding easier. I think it is an interesting issue because people on the right are going to play the religion card that we should teach abstinence (really what else are poor people going to do for entertainment?) or that government should not invade into the home. People on the left are going to play the culturally insensitive card. But is this a logical solution to aiding poorer nations and poorer communities in the US?
Who are you and what have you done with Kevin?
I am here I just think it is an interesting question to bring up to debate.
If you continue to feed a system that is bent on failure shouldn’t you look at how to correct it.
Well I guess if we follow Kevin’s line of thinking it is time to start sterilizing men to keep all that nasty baby making sperm out of these poor women.
How long do you think that line up would be?
How is giving someone a pill or a shot or educating them to use a condom the equivalent of having a man get sterilized?
Because a woman could sleep with a hundred guys and still only have one child (except in cases of multiple births), but a man can sleep with a hundred women and have a hundred babies. It’s not really equivalent, but just a thought.
Consider that the infant mortality and maternal mortality are MUCH higher in Haiti. People live much shorter lives as well. Yes, their are more births, but there are significantly more deaths. It kinda evens out a bit. Also, women are more likely to use birth control when they have access to education, food, and work. Improving their quality of live and opportunities will likely LOWER the birth rate.
Haiti’s Stats, from CIA World Factbook:
Fertility Rate – 3.81 births per woman
Infant Mortality – 59.69 deaths per 1000 births
Life Expectancy – 60 years
Maternal Mortality is the highest in the western world.
US Stats, for comparison:
Fertility Rate – 2.05 births per woman
Infant Mortality – 6.22 deaths per 1000 births
Life Expectancy – 78 years
“Also, women are more likely to use birth control when they have access to education, food, and work.”
No doubt but to spur that change on and make it feasible don’t you need to shock the system? Building schools, creating some level of educated class, etc… That could take multiple generations. Over that same period of time you aren’t curbing growth and getting to that educated class becomes harder and harder.
Think that says it all.
I can definitely say that one thing that might be lost from that post is that there is no mention of America’s lack of education. I say this jokingly and in all seriousness. And yes, I am a walking oxymoron. Education to me is the root of all of these problems near and far. And, I don’t just mean institutionalized education. I mean education in general. If people in the US were able to realize that their homeless are the privileged in third world countries, we might be more willing to give. We don’t have telethons to take care of our own, because we already have governmental assistance and charities in place. When we have a natural or unnatural disaster (Katrina and 911), we have agencies here to help us. Not very many countries can say that. And it is up to the countries that have these capablitlies to be there to help however they can when a country that is truly “in need” faces situations beyond their control.
This aid can be anything from medicine, to food, to money, and to me, most importantly, education. We need to be able to help these countries help themselves. And that starts with passing on our knowledge, both informally and formally. We also need to educate ourselves in the process and learn these people’s beliefs, customs, and general way of thinking in order to be more efficient in our assistance. We can’t send computers and textbooks to a nation of farmers and fisherman and think that’s doing any good. Instead, we should focus on how they live. How can we assist in helping them be more efficient fisherman and farmers? We keep focusing on getting these countries “caught up with the rest of the world” when what we should concentrate on is how we can make them better at what they do. If we can show a country how to feed itself, then we’ve taken care of a majority of their problems.
What I’m basically getting at is that in order for us to be actual assistance and not just a crutch, we need to find out what these people truly need. And in order for them to know what they need, they need to be properly educated. That doesn’t mean bringing the Western world to them. It simply means using what we know best to help them find what they know best. And in order to do that, both sides need to know each other. We can’t simply force our way of life onto someone and expect that to be enough.
I remember a story I once read about a group that was sent to a town in Africa to help quash their swelling population. They thought it would be the solution to all their problems. Less people or at least a curb in rapid expansion would allow them to be able to keep up with the village’s needs. So instead of teaching the people how to provide for their needs, they brought condoms and held classes on how to use a condom by placing it on a stick. Months went by and nothing had changed. The birth control was not working and they couldn’t feed their people. So, the same group headed back confused as to how the pregnancy rate had not dropped. When they arrived, they saw huts surrounded by sticks covered in condoms. The villagers thought that they were supposed to use the stick condom whenever they had sex, so that instead of a couple creating a child, they would be transferring that fertility to the soil.
I guess what I’m getting at is that we have a responsibility to help those less fortunate than us, but we also have a responsibility to learn the best way to go about doing that. Sending food and medicine is not enough. If a country needs infrastructure, show them how to accomplish that and then send the supplies they cannot get for themselves. Don’t be a caretaker. Be a guide. And most improtantly, a neighbor.
I think it is important to help those in actual need.
I do not think it is my or my governments responsibility to set Haiti up in a life of luxury. I do think that if we have the resources to help feed them or rebuild their homes (as modest as they were)or to provide security while they are recovering from a tragedy then we can and should do it.
I am more empathetic to the situation in Haiti than I am to the homeless and hungry in this country.
While I am well aware that we have homeless and hungry in the USA we also have built a society where our weakest members have become accustomed to living off of the government and never having the desire to take care of themselves. Hand ups not hand outs. When you help someone learn to take care of themselves, when they get an education to further their own lives and their offspring we strengthen our countries future.
The Mayor of our city said on Twitter a month ago that 25% of the children in my city received food stamps. The overwhelming response to that was the new question. How many of those kids that live off of food stamps also wear Nikes, have Ipods and cell phones?
If we help in Haiti it is actually going to help them. They are not going to take the help as a way to make a profit and dig themselves further into poverty.
I agree with all of this! And have nothing else to add.
Helping Haiti is clearly the compassionate thing to do, but it’s also in the United States’ self-interest. Perhaps that would make the meme folks feel better. As someone pointed out, stabilizing this country will mean less aid will be necessary in the future. Also, we’ve learned the hard way what happens in poor countries with very little in the way of government or infrastructure. Sometimes angry people who grow up there decide to blame Americans for their woes. They get on planes with exploding pants.
Oh disgruntled Facebook memers, look at it this way: helping a starving Haitian baby is yet another way of keeping our country secure. Go, Team America!
I can’t agree more, Nina. What a lot of people need to remember is that America DOESN’T ignore the problem… Billions of dollars every year go to Medicare, Medicaid, WIC, shelters, the list goes on and on. Some folks are also there in their situation because of their own personal choices and consequences, whether people choose to acknowledge that or not…
The only thing I wonder is just how much the people reposting that are actually DOING here at home to help. I listened to an interview with a single parent making 35k a year who makes 50 lunches a weekend to bring to the streets. Not only is she spending cash she can ill afford, but her TIME on a weekend, to search out people who are hungry. I’m betting that she was also one of the first to donate to Haiti.
The reality is that we don’t give nearly enough in this country privately because we expect our government to deal with the issues. We assume that because we pay taxes, we are taking care of the social ills here. There is no such assumption when it comes to other countries. So we dig deep and give.
As I noted on the last debate about whether or not posting your bra color was causing awareness about breast cancer, it matters not who we support as long as the support goes beyond a fucking status update on Facebook. I’m just saying. Maybe if we all donated the equivalent of our internet access cost each month to a food bank, a woman’s shelter, etc?
And by the way…the single BEST thing an American can give in this country is the gift of time to a child. Please mentor. Coming directly from the trenches, I can tell you that some kid somewhere near you REALLY, REALLY needs you.
Thank you for the use of your soapbox.
I agree. We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of lives either lost or gravely affected.
eh usually the people I see that comment from are ones I know rarely get off their butt to help anyone. You are really worried about the poor in this country then do something about it.
A guy in my dorm said the same thing, and it made me so mad. America is not the only country with orphans, homeless, and mentally ill. And as bad as these problems are in America, those groups of people can still get water. If America just sat back and let the Haitians die from starvation and dehydration, we couldn’t call ourselves humans. Just be kind to your fellow man regardless of where he’s from!