Hunger: Mud-pies for Haiti’s poor
10. Juni 2009 | Von atsil2 | Kategorie:English feature_EHaiti is America’s poorest country. Three quarters of its 8.5 million inhabitants is living in abject poverty. Political uprisings and the atrocities of brutal dictators has shaped Haitian history. Four hurricanes had devastated the country in the autumn 2008. More than 50% of the population has a per capita income of less than 150 US-dollar. Four fifths of the rural population in Haiti is living far beyond the level of absolute poverty. Hunger, unimployment and the most wretched infrastructure of the Western hemisphere as well as the consequences of the global crisis cut the stream of cash from the Haitian men abroad and let the food prices rise by 40%. Children are sold by their mothers as “Restavecs” (labour- and sex-slaves). The poorest of the poor – women and children – try to fill their bellies with mud-pies.
Nicholas Kristof, columnist for the New York Times is reporting about individual fortunes:
“One of the newest street children is a 10-year-old boy who found refuge in an abandoned wreck of a car. His family lost their home, the mother and children went separate ways to improve their odds of finding shelter.”
from: A Boy Living in a Car by Nicholas Kristof (New York Times)
“Nahomie is emblematic both of the lost momentum and of the poverty that results. She is an intelligent 30-year-old woman who wanted only two children, yet now she is eight months pregnant with her 10th “
from: Pregnant (Again) and Poor by Nicholas Kristof (New York Times)
UN secretary-general Ban Ki Moon and former president Bill Clinton are activ in UN promotional programs:
“President René Préval told us: “Haiti is at a turning point.” It can slide backwards into darkness and deeper misery, sacrificing all the country’s progress and hard work with the United Nations and international community. Or it can break out, into the light toward a brighter and more hopeful future.
from: Haiti’s Big Chance by Ban Ki Moon (New York Times)
“The United Nations has named two-time US president Bill Clinton as the international body’s special envoy to Haiti.
The nomination comes after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Clinton visited Haiti together in March and called on the international community for sustained aid to the western hemisphere’s poorest nation.
from: Bill Clinton tapped for UN mission in Haiti (upi)
Direct and structural support in Haiti is given by organisations listed below:
Haiti Foundation Against Poverty
Haiti Foundation Against Poverty was brought to the United States in June of 2006. HFAP was opened as a 501c3 nonprofit organization to help raise awareness and funds for the poverty Haitians suffer from. Our main areas of focus include; education, health care, and providing the basic necessities of life – food, clothing, and shelter.
Help the people in Haiti: Get involved! Sponsor! Donate!
[...] that is unprecedented in human history. Those that lived now get to finally escape having to eat mud pies for breakfast lunch and dinner. It took a disaster of unprecedented proportions to finally get [...]