Poor Haiti Needs Help

“What we lost we can’t get back. It is not the rich who have lost, or the poor, we are all together,” said Leon Sejour, a seminarian who traveled from Cap Haitien in the north.

The Haitian communities devastated by earthquakes may all be in this together now, but as banks reopen in Haiti on Saturday, the togetherness will once again become divided.  The rich will eat, the poor will starve.

Fruits and vegetables appeared plentiful in street stalls, but people said they had little cash to buy them and prices were much higher than before the quake.

This is a great example of how money is at the root of Our corruption.  In an area where everyone is suffering, where all are struggling just to survive, the rich will be able to afford the abundance of fruits and vegetables that appear ‘plentiful’ in street stalls.  The vendors who have the fruits and vegetables available to give, sit waiting for the rest of the world to save the starving people in their own streets while they hoard what help they could give to themselves.  In fact, not only do they withhold their abundance, they know the need for food is immense and so they also increase their prices so they can profit from scarcity and the suffering of others.

This is where relief efforts start to fall apart, this is where the people of Haiti become divided against themselves.  Situations like this have an opportunity to bring people together, to let Us know We are all the same.  The Haitian community should be working together to assess the amount of available resources like water, food and shelter in a priority sequence, then establish a way to evenly manage and distribute the resources amongst the people.  Allowing vendors to sell their available stocks of essential resources at ridiculous prices is extortion and will only promote further violence and uprising from the poor, suffering people of Haiti.  Furthermore, the global community is generously donating funds to help Haiti, primarily to get the help, water, food and shelter to the People of Haiti who have been left homeless.  What happens to the motivation of the global community when We begin to realize that the People of Haiti are not even willing to share what they have with other Haitians?

Police have asked citizens to take the law into their own hands, to ‘kill the criminals or they will all come back’, yet I think if I were a Haitian and saw a street vendor selling food others desperately needed to survive, I would be the one inciting the people to take down the vendor and distribute the food to those who need it most.

If We do not recognize the immediately problems the difficult task of rebuilding Haiti will become even more difficult.  Already relief efforts complain supply convoys are under attack and that increased security is needed.  But Our will to survive is incredible.  So long as the distribution of resources is limited to those who have the wealth to buy them, the less fortunate will continue to fight for their right to obtain them.  Find out how a proposed Fantasy Fund would provide the foundation for a prosperous, sustainable community.