Its a year later, and nothing has changed

[dennishoddy]

Haiti.
A year later, billions of dollars sent to that hellhole, and nothing has changed. The people are still living in tent cities, the capitol building is still collapsed, not one rock of debris has been removed.
The people go in front of the church they have worshipped in for 20 years, pray, but they don't pick up a rock to clear the debris.
They sit in their tent cities, and scream for help.
One of the churches in the area gathered up money to set up a soup kitchen, and a team to take it to Haiti. Full of the spirit, they went down there, and found that they couldn't even pay some of the locals to wash dishes or whatever. Just line up for free food.
The only people making money for themselves are those that are making trinkets for the aid workers.

What do we do? Keep dumping money for moochers, or provide a method for them to make a living for themselves.
I'm getting tired of seeing this charity crap for those that make a living from charity.

the US has been sending billions upon billons of dollars to that country for many years and it was the same before the earthquake, as it is now.........Moochers

 

[RickN]

Unfortunately it is that way in many parts of the world and even in some places in the USA.

 

[ez bake]

Haiti.
A year later, billions of dollars sent to that hellhole, and nothing has changed. The people are still living in tent cities, the capitol building is still collapsed, not one rock of debris has been removed.
The people go in front of the church they have worshipped in for 20 years, pray, but they don't pick up a rock to clear the debris.
They sit in their tent cities, and scream for help.
One of the churches in the area gathered up money to set up a soup kitchen, and a team to take it to Haiti. Full of the spirit, they went down there, and found that they couldn't even pay some of the locals to wash dishes or whatever. Just line up for free food.
The only people making money for themselves are those that are making trinkets for the aid workers.

What do we do? Keep dumping money for moochers, or provide a method for them to make a living for themselves.
I'm getting tired of seeing this charity crap for those that make a living from charity.

the US has been sending billions upon billons of dollars to that country for many years and it was the same before the earthquake, as it is now.........Moochers

If you've never been to Haiti, then you don't know how truly bad it is. They're not all moochers (I'd say we've got plenty more here than they do).

I've got a couple of friends over there from a mission/humanitarian trip a while back and Haiti's biggest problem is that the richest 5% take all of the money and give nothing to the people (the richest 5% are not self-made businessmen/women, but rather corrupt government officials, drug cartels, and the like who are basically stealing money from the people).

It creates a sort of hustler atmosphere where everyone on the island is willing to screw everyone else because no one has ever given them a helping hand (and everyone else is trying to screw them). I saw it time and time again when over there - if a group of folks did a job, you didn't pay one of them because they wouldn't share the money with the others - but to be fair, their family was starving just like the others and its dog-eat-dog everywhere over there.

We got shaken down by local authorities on more than one occassion. They are nearly all corrupt from the lowliest port-authority worker to nearly every cop I met. You have no rights on that island.

If you've never lost all hope because you don't have access to (anywhere on the island that you live) clean drinking water, medicine, food, a job, education, clothing, decent shelter, a sewer system, electricity, etc... you really can't judge.

Their political system turns on them no matter who ends up in charge and the rest of the world fails to step in and get the evil dictators out of office (because they have nothing of value to the rest of the world). They've had leaders on-par with Sadaam in the recent past and no one helped free them.

Mix in one of the largest AIDS outbreaks on the planet per capita and a dis-armed population with government-armed thugs and a drug-cartel who is allowed to operate freely anywhere they wish, and you've got a very bad environment full of folks who actually have a reason to give up on life.

I've seen worse attitudes in the US, but never worse conditions than Haiti. When I left that place, I had a very good friend who took care of me while I was there and showed me around the local population - I gave him nearly all my clothes, medicine, food, and cash I could spare before I left and still felt like I was leaving him in hell.

I was playing basketball on one of my few down-afternoons there and the entire game stopped when a fruit fell from a tree hanging over the dirt-court - those guys literally fought over it and when I asked my friend why all the commotion, he said that most of those guys had no ability to go to school, and no one would hire them to work, so they just went without food for days at a time.

 

[dennishoddy]

I don't disagree with a word your saying except for the group that left from our area that came back with a really bad attitude about those that won't work as the aid is free. Moocher attitude.
The government of Haiti has always been corrupt, and always will be as they still are.
So, do we as taxpayers have to subsidize this corruption?
I don't want to. I work for my money. I have big issues about those that don't.
Some people need aid. Haiti has proved that they are not worthy of aid.
Call me a hard a$$ if you want, but if my money is going to a country that needs aid, then by God, the people in that country had better be on board to help themselves, or suffer the consequences by their own choice.

 

[flatwins]

Right with you, Dennis. I guess I'm a hard@55 too. I don't mind helping people who want to help themselves.

A professor of mine (way back when) said that he had never seen poverty until he went to Haiti. He saw people renting scraps of cardboard to sleep on.

 

[Glocktogo]

So what's the point of sending billions of dollars there if it all goes to corruption? We could go in there and weed it out, but that would do no good. The minute we left, the next set of tinpot dictators would take over again.

If they want help bad enough, they'll stand up on their own two legs and rebel against their tyrants. Only then should we help them. All we're currently doing is filling the role of the enabler in a co-dependent relationship.

 

[CamaroMan]

We need to send a few hundred thousand "liberator" pistols and be done with it. Tell them this is all your getting for a while now make a future.

 

[flatwins]

GTG, you're a hard@55 too. Welcome to the club!

 

[crg1372]

I don't disagree with a word your saying except for the group that left from our area that came back with a really bad attitude about those that won't work as the aid is free. Moocher attitude.
The government of Haiti has always been corrupt, and always will be as they still are.
So, do we as taxpayers have to subsidize this corruption?
I don't want to. I work for my money. I have big issues about those that don't.
Some people need aid. Haiti has proved that they are not worthy of aid.
Call me a hard a$$ if you want, but if my money is going to a country that needs aid, then by God, the people in that country had better be on board to help themselves, or suffer the consequences by their own choice.

Thats hitting the nail squarely on the head. We need to take care of our own here in the U.S. first and foremost.

 

[radarmonkey]

I don't disagree with a word your saying except for the group that left from our area that came back with a really bad attitude about those that won't work as the aid is free. Moocher attitude.
The government of Haiti has always been corrupt, and always will be as they still are.
So, do we as taxpayers have to subsidize this corruption?I don't want to. I work for my money. I have big issues about those that don't.
Some people need aid. Haiti has proved that they are not worthy of aid.
Call me a hard a$$ if you want, but if my money is going to a country that needs aid, then by God, the people in that country had better be on board to help themselves, or suffer the consequences by their own choice.

A wonderful argument for the privatization of all charity work. IMO anyway.