18205: Mrapollon Re: 18197: Benson: Missions to Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Marlène Apollon <mrapollon@hotmail.com>


I've asked myself the same questions and my simple (simplistic?) answer is that
too many of us give the wrong "stuff" and help perpetuate the situation by
making the Haitian people dependent on our help.  I've often wondered whether
if would not be better, to have programs that would help communities grow
economicall. A few examples:

1) Give cows and goats, develop schools and communities gardens [send topsoil,
if necessary--a wild idea, I know], and build bakeries instead of distributing
imported milk and other food items.

2) Hire tailors and seamstresses to make clothes for orphanages instead of
shipping pepe clothes that are helpful in the short run but destroy the economy
in the long run.

3) Have work-study programs for young people:  The more advanced ones could
teach a course part-time...

4) Train people to fill Haiti's needs:  health care, education, agriculture and
other areas easily identifiable.  Its OK to give suggestions, not just assume
that people who are not exposed to the outside world and are not aware of
possibilities would automatically know better what their localities need. This
can be done while respecting their way of life and their opinions.

5)  Help people improve the infrastructures, including roads and bridges...Yes,
it's OK and possible for private organizations to get involved unless we want
to wait another 200 years...

You get the point. There are so many creative ways to do real good.  I am not
staying that we should stop our other kinds of help altogether considering the
dire situation in Haiti but we should start thinking of them as transitional
and gradually move towards real development. Just my opinion. I've been known
to have unconventional ideas....