This is the Justice, Not Charity! Haiti book diary. Allie123 and I are writing these book diaries because we became shocked by the truth of Haiti’s history and what really is needed to help the Haitians after the earthquake.
"It's as if Aristide was put in charge of a house that was falling apart and was expected to fix it. But then his enemies start setting fire to the back door, they send people with guns to attack the front door, and when these people finally manage to break in they said 'Look! He didn't wash the dishes in the sink! He never repaired the leak in the roof!' They made him spend all his time trying to put out the fire and to protect the door, and then once they got rid of him they said he was pushed out because he'd failed to repair the house." (Damming The Flood,
p 131.)
And a reminder of the NFTT challenge: See Meteor Blades' diary for details.
Chapter Six: Care International: Dedicated to serving itself
In this chapter Timothy Schwarz is hired by Care to evaluate the effectiveness of their food distribution system. He makes an effective use of the landscape by describing his motorcycle ride through the country, to Port-au-Prince, and then up from the crowded slums to the elite mountainside district of Petionville, where Care International has its headquarters in a palatial building. The directors there try to impress on him the importance of the food distribution program, telling him about the large number of school children they feed, the deteriorating condition of the provinces, the need to help the most vulnerable people out there. At this point he already considers what they say to be largely bullshit, but this is his job, and he sets out to do it.
He starts with the warehouse facility in Gonaives, where he sees towering aisles of food, grain, cooking oil, and so forth. Then he goes to visit the charitable institutions that he figures should be recipients of this aid. Hospitals, schools, they tell him they used to get Care food, but they don't anymore, and both Gonaives and Petionville give them a runaround whenever they try to find out why, and start getting food again.
He discusses this with Seraphin, the Haitian director at Gonaives, and finds that they had suddenly been instructed to increase from 585 schools to 1,287, they weren't even sure all those schools existed, and the checking process on the schools is mostly fictional.
I asked a different question. "How did you guys decide what region should be getting food?" "The only criteria for providing food to an area is the ability to receive the food. It has nothing to do with whether one area is worse off than another." "This means whether or not there is an institution with a warehouse?" "That's right. It is not based on population nor is it based on the poverty. In fact, the poorest areas are those least likely to get any food because they have no infrastructure."
Father Olivier, who runs a home for the dying in Gonaives, directs him to the market, telling him that there he will find the food. Sure enough, it's being sold there, but marked USA, not Care. As he discovers, Care gets its revenue from two sources: donations and food from USAID which must be sold on the market. Care is being supported by subsidised food from the US. And Care infrastructure aid is going to irrigated areas, not the poorest areas. A Care survey specialist, Helga, tells him "It is as if the poor in rich countries are giving charity to the rich in poor countries......"Am I working for Care to help people or simply trying to find a way to get rid of food?"
The timing of the food aid in Jean Makout County is interesting, as well. It doesn't arrive when there is a drought or an embargo, but when the farmers are producing a surplus. The effect of the food aid is to depress farm income and make more children go hungry and sick.
He discusses his conclusions with Niche Pierre, an assistant director. He says
"How can you guys ever hope to promote agricultural production when you are ruining the market with food?"
"Every consultant who works for us says the same thing."
"Wait. Every consultant who comes through here says that food aid is disruptive?"
"That's right."
"And you guys go right on delivering it?"
"I have told you, the problem is there is no money available to buy local produce and it is monetized food aid that keeps Care alive."
Switching from the depressing to the inspiring, here is info on the NFTT challenge from Meteor Blades' diary:
To help us meet our goal, we've designed a fund-raising challenge that takes full advantage of the multitude of groups on Daily Kos. Is your group up for the challenge? There is no monetary reward or trophy, just bragging rights, prestige and the good feeling you get from contributing. We recognize that all groups are not created equally, so below you’ll find suggested group sizes and goals per group.
Group I: 15 members, $500
Group II: 16-30 members, $750
Group II: 31-50 members, $1200
Group IV: 51-75 members, $2000
Group V: 75-100 members, $3000
Tracking will be done on the donation site based upon your group’s goal. Pop in there, join a group team (or if you're like me, set up your own group). Please choose your goal based on your group’s actual size. After all, we aren't Tea Party cheaters. The challenge runs from today, April 5 until May 10, 2011.
Around May 15,, we'll announce the group winners, showing what percentage of their goals they achieved. We hope everyone hits the 110 percent mark. Overall group winner will be determined by the highest percentage of goal reached. For example, if a Group I-size group raises $1000, that’s 200 percent of their goal.