Current Events > The DUmpster
Poor Haitians resort to eating dirt
bijou:
--- Quote ---Judi Lynn (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-30-08 12:45 AM
Original message
Poor Haitians resort to eating dirt
Source: Miami Herald
Poor Haitians resort to eating dirt
Posted on Tue, Jan. 29, 2008Digg del.icio.us AIM print email
By JONATHAN M. KATZ
Associated Press Writer
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- It was lunchtime in one of Haiti's worst slums, and Charlene Dumas was eating mud. With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some take desperate measures to fill their bellies. Charlene, 16 with a 1-month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau.
The mud has long been prized by pregnant women and children here as an antacid and source of calcium. But in places like Cite Soleil, the oceanside slum where Charlene shares a two-room house with her baby, five siblings and two unemployed parents, cookies made of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening have become a regular meal.
(snip)
Food prices around the world have spiked because of higher oil prices, needed for fertilizer, irrigation and transportation. Prices for basic ingredients such as corn and wheat are also up sharply, and the increasing global demand for biofuels is pressuring food markets as well.
The problem is particularly dire in the Caribbean, where island nations depend on imports and food prices are up 40 percent in places.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/915/story/398193.html
--- End quote ---
Long thread lots of this:
--- Quote ---babylonsister (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-30-08 12:56 AM
Response to Original message
1. Gawd, this is sick. Not even rice for these people? The mighty US
can't afford it? Or anyone??
How about corn? Are we killing people with ethanol?
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a bizarre discussion as to whether fast food is worse than eating dirt
--- Quote ---DUlover2909 (118 posts) Wed Jan-30-08 04:51 AM
Response to Reply #6
17. I hear what your saying, but...
that food isn't nutritious either and would kill the people of Haiti as fast as dirt too.
--- End quote ---
Moonbattery:
--- Quote ---sfexpat2000 (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-30-08 01:38 AM
Response to Reply #1
8. Haiti is starving because the US has made war on their democracy.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote ---Demeter (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-30-08 06:12 AM
Response to Reply #1
22. Haiti Is the Bush Whipping Boy
The damn fool nation objected to being sold to the highest bidder when Bush was collecting campaign donations. So of course the people must be punished for their revolt....I hate that man and everyone who supported him in any way, shape or form.
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and the odd bit of common sense:
--- Quote ---Mike Daniels (1000+ posts) Wed Jan-30-08 12:26 PM
Response to Reply #1
46. Well, how about any other country putting forth an effort?
Haiti is an independent country not a US territory.
Why can't the greate hero Chavez send some food over?
--- End quote ---
link
Lord Undies:
--- Quote ---U.S. Assistance to Haiti
The U.S. Government is Haiti’s largest donor. The U.S. is working with the island nation to reduce poverty, illiteracy, and malnutrition. U.S. aid also promotes the rule of law and respect for human rights. In spite of Haiti’s deteriorating economy, social indicators clearly show improvement in the areas of intervention.
During fiscal years 1995 to 2003, the U.S. gave Haiti more than $850 million in direct bilateral assistance, and the U.S. is seeking $55 million for fiscal year 2004, to provide the following:
Food Security ($24 million sought): for food assistance under P.L. 480 Title II, for nutritional well-being and food security, particularly for nursing mothers and for children under age 5.
Health ($21.8 million): A U.S.-supported network of over 30 local organizations serves 2.5 million Haitians. In U.S.-assisted areas, child immunization rates are nearly double the national average, and have increased by 85% in some areas. Thanks to U.S. aid, child malnutrition rates fell from 32% to 22% in 1995-2000; the national percentage of women seeking prenatal consultation increased from 68% to 79%; and the national contraceptive use rate increased, as part of the expanded AIDS prevention program. Haiti may also benefit from United States support for the Global Fund against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
Democracy ($2.9 million): U.S. programs increase political party professionalism, strengthen independent media and civil society organizations, promote judicial reform and human rights, and support independent election observation groups. U.S. public diplomacy programs bring Haitian Government officials, journalists, and academics to the United States to learn about public policies and programs.
Education ($2.5 million): U.S. aid resulted in a pass rate increase for third and fourth grade students through improved training for 4,000 teachers and school directors; radio education in math and Creole; and books, teaching aids, and curriculum guides.
Economic Growth ($1.75 million): Income for the poor through small business loans to urban micro-entrepreneurs is on the rise, due to U.S. aid. Programs also offer assistance to small farmers in marketing valuable export crops such as coffee, cacao, and mangos; and help Haitian artisans to find niche export markets. Beneficiaries include small entrepreneurs (80% women), 25,000 hillside farmers, and 2,000 artisans.
2003/1297
Released on December 29, 2003
--- End quote ---
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2003/27564.htm
The kindest aid to Haiti would be carpet bombs and then make it a US territory. It is a stinking hellhole. No amount of aid has ever made a difference there.
ReardenSteel:
Hey. We are hurting in America too.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2008/01/30/cnn-gives-unemployed-woman-pass-buying-flat-screen-television
bijou:
--- Quote from: ReardenSteel on January 30, 2008, 04:27:35 PM ---Hey. We are hurting in America too.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2008/01/30/cnn-gives-unemployed-woman-pass-buying-flat-screen-television
--- End quote ---
Hey! :angryvillagers: She deserved that TV. She has a Constitutional right to a flat screen TV.
DixieBelle:
^where the heck is mine then??? :-)
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