Haiti Struggles With Death And Destruction After Catastrophic Earthquake

We are all aware of the shocking events which have happened in Haiti. The events should make us realise that what happened in Haiti could happen to us tomorrow and we would want the worlds help, support and assistance to get our lives back on track. With all the news about Haiti’s death toll and the many thousands who are now homeless and the aid that is helping where it can, I did not really know about anything else concerning Haiti, I mean what more is there to know about this shocking event.

Well thanks to a business email (from www.caribbean4life.com) it was brought to my attention that Haiti is also in debt to the sum of $890 million to International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, and a handful of others.

From reading they classed Haiti as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Once called The Jewel of the Antilles, Haiti’s was the richest colony in the entire world. Economists estimate that in the 1750s Haiti provided as much as 50% of the Gross National Product of France. The French imported sugar, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, cotton, the dye indigo and other exotic products. In France they were refined, packaged and sold all over Europe. Incredible fortunes were made from this tiny colony on the island of Hispaniola. How could this land that was once so productive today be semi-barren? How did “The Jewel of the Antilles” become the Caribbean’s hell-hole? to read more on why Haiti is so poor click here..

Haiti Struggles With Death And Destruction After Catastrophic Earthquake HAITI-EARTHQUAKE

Back to the point of this post, as I stated above I did not know Haiti had a debt in the first place, considering it is such poor country to begin with. Then we have so many countries around the world that are pulling together and forwarding everything possible to help them especially funds (meaning cash). What would burn my soul would be to find out that instead of the cash being sent to help those who really need it i.e.: the VICTIMS, we find out that its going to this ridiculous debt as re-payments. I hope and pray to god that this does not happen. However as we already know that when it come to politics nothing is straight forward. The only logical solution would be to clear the debt completely, that way whatever aid or funds that is sent to Haiti’s victims it is use for them and nothing else. It is going to take a long time to rebuild Haiti’s lives, and the aid given is going to be an ongoing support, so clearly to cancel the debt now would be a great start to helping Haiti’s survivors see a glitter of hope and a better way of life to look forward to.

We need to have a voice for Haiti’s victims, so please share this post or write your own post and use the links below they are important, they need to be SHARED and they need to be ACTED UPON.

We can help in 2 DIRECT ACTION ways:

1. Donate whatever you can to the Haiti Earthquake Appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committe. Just go to

http://www.dec.org.uk for details and to make a donation.

2. Sign the petition below to ask Haiti’s creditors to act quickly and cancel Haiti’s debts – Help Haiti – Drop the debt :

http://one.org/international/ actnow/haiti/index.html?rc= haitipaste

Haitis Petition

Haiti's Petition

Haiti Update 08.02.2010:

haitis-petition-deliveredFor those of you who took the time to fill in the Haiti’s petition, like me you should have received an email today. If you don’t know what I am talking about, you can read the above post and then conclude down here. For those who did, what an achievement to be part of such an important cause. I hope and pray that those who have the power to do the right right, will do so. To those who actioned, you made a difference, be proud.