Dignified Poverty

Over the past few days I have learn and scene things that no textbooks, no statistic could ever do justice. When I say 30,000 kids die each year can you really picture it. Every day here in Haiti is a survival for its citizens whom over 50% live on less than 1$ a day and 78% live on less than 2$ a day. People are everywhere trying to survive with what little they have. When we drive around town and I wave at people from the back of the truck and see people digging through garbage, washing in dirty water, and going to the bathroom wherever they can find privacy. What kind of life is this. This is injustice. These people work harder than anyone I have ever met, and at the end of the day come away with nothing.

On my trip we were able to visit Milot to see the dry toilets operating. Many people in the US are rather repulsed at the thought of talking about sanitation, but in countries like this it is a huge problem. Imagine not having anywhere to go the bathroom. That is what these people face every day and with people defecating in public areas they are exposed to many diseases. SOIL builds toilets that collect the waste and then transforms it into valuable fertilizer. It was amazing to see the toilets and fields where they plant a variety of plants.

What really disturbs me about Haiti is the amount of street kids. It is estimated that over half of Haiti’s kids are street kids who eke out a living on the streets begging. They are so vulnerable to terrible forces and often times resort to huffing paint thinner. I can’t blame them for doing so, but quite frankly that is the worst thing you can do because they kill brain cells. Also, many of the kids are exposed to a variety of diseases. For example, the other day the two boys who I helped brought a boy to me who was throwing up. He was about 8 years old so I had to refer them to a medical clinic in a nearby village called Shada. When they came back so that I could hold and give them their medicine periodically throughout the day I asked the boys where they get their water. They told me they drink whatever they can get which includes puddles which often is filled with bacteria and worms that live inside your intestine.

Another experience I had was going to the town limonade to inaugurate a toilet. Limonade is out in the country and I can surely conclude that it was the poorest rural city I have ever seen. A huge pile of trash lay right next to the river which had trash and livestock flanking either side. Human feces lay in the dirt road and the houses had holes all over the place. It was quite a sight. It was great though to see everyone so excited to have a place to go to the bathroom.

Also, we visited a village Shada which is the worst slum in Cap Haitien. It is by far the worst urban poverty I have ever seen. It was hard to image since I had lived in the US my whole life, but trash was everywhere. There was about 10 meters of trash piled up on either side of the river and algae was growing all over it. Houses were poorly made and mud and dirt filled the spaces in-between houses. The canals that existed had water that looked like water from a sewer plant. We were taken to a house where a mother took out her child which was 8 months old and weighed around 11 pounds. I could see the bones in the baby’s frail body and saw its ribs as the helpless child struggled with every breath.

I can’t explain everything that has happened to me, for it seems like another world here, yet I love these people with all my heart. Jean Bertrand Aristide said it best that all Haiti’s citizens ask for is to live in dignified poverty and I hope that one day no Haitian has to die of starvation or of easily curable diseases.