Breaking The Cycle Of Poverty In Haiti

A country I would like to discuss for this post is Haiti. I have not visited or studied this country, but thought of writing about Haiti after doing some research. A photovoice qualitative research methodology would be appropriate to study poverty in Haiti, because this country has the highest percentage of poverty in the urban and rural areas in Haiti. Poverty in the urban and rural areas affects many people in several ways. Poverty is present in those areas, due to natural disasters when weather conditions destroy crops; lack of income, unemployment, education, and etc. poverty is present in Haiti when children, adults, and families are not given the necessary resources they need in order to survive around the conditions where they live.

Another struggle is that, this country has yet to develop educationally or scientifically to a national level. But women are not the only ones affected by this epidemic. The average working class makes close to $660 a year. Also, 78% of Haitians are poor (less than US$2 a day), and more than half (54%) live in extreme poverty (less than US$1 a day) ("Haiti Statistics - Haiti Partners."). The average family consists of (a) working parent(s) (most don’t have the luxury of both) and ranging from three to four children. An American couldn’t even afford a Mcdouble at McDonalds for one dollar, let alone feed six people for one to two meals.

Haiti is one of the more indigent countries in the world; the country also holds a low economic status. Over time Haiti’s economy grew gradually at around 2.3

The Legacy of Colonization It is true that the effects of colonization, or the establishment, maintenance, and domination over a nation and its people, thus creating a political and economic domination and dependency between the colonizer and the colony, are in fact still felt centuries later in present day Haiti. This is the legacy of colonization. Haiti, a country well known for its political, economic, and social instability, began to face insurmountable odds not with the onset of an earthquake in 2010 or flooding in the years before that, or even

Think about this, we live in our own little world where we waste food and money is sometimes just a piece of paper that we just throw around like its nothing. There are people in this world who need that food that we just throw away and that money we

The French and their slaves populated the island of Haiti during the 18th century. In the late 1700’s, the slaves revolted against the French and began a thirteen-year war for their freedom. This war began the significant problems for Haiti. Today, Haiti suffers from malnutrition, low standards of living, and poor literacy, which Haiti still faces today.

When I was able to go to Haiti for a mission trip with my church. I saw so many people on the street and they looked like they were living out of boxes. Port-Au-Prince, Haiti is one of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. They also have very bad healthcare. Not many of the people there were living the life we are. Most of them are living on about 2 dollars per day. There isn’t much we could buy in Zeeland for 2 dollars. When I would walk down the streets. I see people and kids almost wearing rags for clothes. As I would walk down the street to the market it would smell like rotten food that is 2 months old. Haiti had a earthquake in 2010 that took them down. Almost everything was destroyed. It didn’t help with their poverty stats at all.

Poverty as a legacy. Poverty in Haiti is mainly due to the slave population brought in by the French for labor during its colonial rule (they accounted for a third of the whole Atlantic slave trade (1)). How is this so? Well, because

Unlike most of Latin America, Haiti’s main colonizing power was France, not Spain or Portugal, after France was given one-third of Hispaniola. To this day you can see the lasting effects of colonialism in Haiti especially in comparison to the Dominican Republic which shares the same island. While Haiti, formerly

Most Haitians were slaves brought by the French. The slaves rebelled and in 1804 declared independence. In exchange of their freedom, they had to pay a 23 billion dollar debt. They were still paying the debt even after world war two. The pressure of paying off the debt kept Haiti from investing in building the country. The Haitians also have had no president since February, 2015. ``Corruption and violence caused the postponement of the election to October 9, but hurricane Matthews hit Haiti and the election was further postponed to November 20’’ says the junior scholastic . The scholastic further says, ``Not having a president can increase the government’s inability to provide basic services’’. The Haitians have to do something before Haiti becomes a failed

(Country Map." Haiti Country Review (2001): 7. Business Source Complete. Web. 13 Aug. 2015.) Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Nearly 80 percent of the Haitian population live below the international poverty line of 2.00 a day. Poverty levels are also based on their literacy statistics. Around 47% of Haitians are illiterate (idvolunteers.org). This problem stems from there not being enough public schools to accommodate Haiti's children. For the children that can afford the funds, they attend private schools that cost between $100 and $200 a year. For the children in poverty, the fees are out of reach, so they are forced to not attend schools.

Victor Alvarez Mr. Nordlund Honors English I May 21, 2015 Haiti: The Starving Country “Over 100,000 children under five suffer from acute malnutrition while one child out of three is stunted, or irreversibly short for their age.”(“Hunger”) This staggering statistic is due to one of the world’s biggest problems, hunger. Hunger is a problem that many developing countries face, one of the biggest victims to hunger is the small Caribbean country of Haiti. Hunger in Haiti affects the entire country, from the rural countrysides to the major cities. Though hunger is already a big issue for Haiti, it has gotten worse in the past decade due to the extreme poverty, heavy storms, and natural disasters that the country has faced. “In 1997 some 1.2 million Haitians didn 't have enough food to eat. A decade later the number had more than doubled. Today, that figure is 6.7 million, that goes without food some days, can 't afford a balanced diet or has limited access to food.”(“Goldberg”) Natural disasters and extreme poverty have played large roles in Haiti’s growing hunger problem.

Over 75% of people in Haiti are in poverty due to many reasons including a lack in education. Why don’t they go to school? Well they have to walk to school, which is 2 miles to and 2 miles back most of the time(Not to mention without good water or food). Adding buses would be amazing for Haiti since it erases the long walk, and many kids can get to school faster and easier. That will make it so more kids can go to school. So, in the long run, this will create more jobs, hopefully sparking the economy and possibly getting Haiti back to being a functional country. This is a long shot, but even if it doesn’t work, this it will at least get more kids in school.

Their GDP and unemployment have never been at the top of the economic chart, even before the disastrous earthquake in 2010. Although natural disasters are not the only contribute to this nations terrible luck; dangerous diseases such as AIDS are spreading distressingly among the inhabitants, and unemployment is a mass marvel that affects more than two thirds of the country’s population. Haiti’s citizens have never been financially stable, with about eighty percent of its population below the poverty line (haitiearthquake).

Direct and Indirect Suffering of Silenced Voices Haiti is described as the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Most people are not aware of Haiti's long history nor do they know the reasoning behind Haiti’s current state, when in fact, Haiti was once one of the richest countries in the western hemisphere. However, the international community has played a key role in continuously ensuring the destruction of Haiti's colonial wealth and creation and continuance of their suffering. “French colonialists brought hundreds of thousands of slaves from Africa, many of whom were literally worked to death. But in 1789, word of revolution in France made its way to the Caribbean colony” (Clemens, 2010).