The Pangs of Hunger Not Eased by Millions in Aid & Loans
By Michelle Karshan | laughingmaze.blogspot.com
In Part One
of my blog I said it would not be difficult to begin my fast but by 9:30 a.m. I
had already started experiencing actual hunger pains.
At first I
reflected on why I was feeling so intensely hungry after such a short period of
time. I thought perhaps it was because I was starting to feel deprived, but
then also realized that I had eaten very little the day before — very similar
to how most Haitians actually live.
I
thought of the homeless children who hang out in downtown Port-au-Prince or
hide behind tombstones at the main cemetery while keeping an iron grip on plastic
bottles filled with glue which they keep at their noses all day.
Apparently,
glue sniffing not only gives one a dangerous buzz, but more importantly it
eases the pains of hunger.
And there
are the street children, boys and girls, forced to sell their bodies, risk
contracting HIV/AIDS, and are subjected to brutality, just to buy a meal to
eat. Other children, live in domestic servitude — as slaves — serve hefty meals
to their masters, and pray that a few scraps will be made available to them.
And what of
those who wear their hunger like a billboard?! The children with orange hair and distended
stomachs , the prisoners with swollen bodies dying from Beri Beri, a fatal and painful
illness from B vitamin deficiency,
children with stunted growth, or even the average Haitian so thin that the
bones in their faces protrude and many people collapse in the street from
weakness and dehydration.
Why is
there still hunger in Haiti if millions of dollars are pouring into the
country, as the press would have us believe? In fact, contrary to press
releases issued by various donors, and press stories to back them up, much of
the funds we read about don’t actually get to Haiti when they say, if ever.
And, as a
USAID representative testified before Congress some years ago, 84 cents on
every dollar of USAID monies to developing countries actually goes to U.S.
workers, consultants, companies, or materials. That means only 16 cents on
every dollar actually goes to the receiving country.
Written in
the early 1990s, but still relevant today, this extraordinary breakdown and
analysis by the Washington Office on Haiti entitled Where Did the Money
Go? “AID” Received by Haiti:
October 94 – October 1995,
explains:
It is not difficult to see how the
large infusion of foreign “aid” had relatively little impact on most people’s
lives. The economy did recover from the severe negative growth of the embargo
years to a positive 4.5 percent real growth rate, but this is still quite slow
a rebound from such a deep slump. The influx of foreign exchange has helped to
stabilize the currency and therefore inflation. But there was very little in
the way of investment in infrastructure, agriculture, soil conservation,
education, credit to small farmers and employment creation – the most pressing
needs that might improve the economic opportunities of the vast majority. And
this is primarily because the money has not been allocated for these purposes.
Also, to
understand the extent of the theft of monies and the creation of the debt
accumulated by the Duvalier regime, which Haiti is still struggling to pay back
today, please see the story of Duvalier, Haiti’s former dictator, and the
monies he stole from the Haitian people.
The best piece for an overview and analysis on the imposition of structural adjustment on Haiti, as well as an in depth look at Haiti’s debt, is Democracy Undermined, Economic Justice Denied: Structural Adjustment and The Aid Juggernaut in Haiti by Lisa McGowan for The Development Gap.
Michelle Karshan is the former Foreign Press Liaison for
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti’s president in 1991, then from 1994 to
1996 and from 2001 to 2004. Aristide was the second elected leader of
Haiti.
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