#3562: Ruckle replies to Poincy

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: James R. Ruckle <jruckle@citynet.net>


> In fact it is economically feasible that Ayiti pulls itself away from
> globalization to become an economic success with great wealth. Yes
> Aristide can avoid dealing with the international financial system and
> make it happen. However, it remains to know how he would do it. Tying
> Ayiti's economic development to the international financial system as a
> must element is what renders development impossible.

Exactemente! Dependency is a combination of an externally driven economy and
an internally unjust one. Simply put, if your fellow countrymen don't have
enough money to buy your products or invest in your factories, you have to
turn to countries like the United States for cash. And why don't your fellow
countrymen have money to buy and invest? Economic inequality, a polite name
for backbreaking poverty. It is an interaction that makes development
difficult to achieve.
        As to how to achieve it, my #1 suggestion is terraced farming. Haiti
could be the breadbasket of the Caribbean if Haitians could keep their 
topsoil in one place! (And stop using night soil to fertilize it; it is rich
the way it is.)
        Suggestion #2 is to expand the work of Dr. Boulos, who reduced infant 
and child mortality by 80% in the neighborhoods he served by 1987, when I was 
there. I gather from another message that he was denounced by Jean Dominique; 
I hope he hasn't done anything to tarnish his record. In any case, there is 
no reason not to build on his successes when he has clearly done a lot of good.
    Suggestion #3 is to build on existing "infrastructure". Guatemala has one 
hospital, less than a dozen clinics, and a folk healer in every village. The 
healers do midwifery and triage in addition to using local remedies, taking 
care of what they can and sending people to the clinics for more technical 
care. The clinics fly the most serious cases to the hospital. Something similar 
could be done in Haiti, not just in health care but in other fields. The mambo 
families strike me as an excellent building block.
    Those three suggestions are based on barely 30 days' observation of Haiti 
plus some grad school and following this list. I'll bet you guys can think of 
other ways for Haiti to empower itself without dollars.

-------------------------------------
James R. Ruckle
http://members.citynet.net/ruckle/
"Defeat the enmity, not the enemy."