Haiti (Catch all)

[davidbfpo]

An optimistic view on a "fix" for Haiti, if the diaspora instead of sending remittances return home to help:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...can_save_haiti


I say optimistic from a faraway "armchair" and having visited two other Caribbean islands, each with more living abroad than at home.

[marct]

An optimistic view on a "fix" for Haiti, if the diaspora instead of sending remittances return home to help:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...can_save_haiti


I say optimistic from a faraway "armchair" and having visited two other Caribbean islands, each with more living abroad than at home.

Interesting article, David. One thing caught my eye:

Remittances sent from Haitians living overseas surpass the value of the country's exports and are estimated to account for one-quarter of its GDP. Many have stepped up their contributions of cash and goods to their homeland following the earthquake, but an urgent priority going forward must be creating a more structured and smartly financed way to mobilize and engage them in the rebuilding effort. (A good start would be simply passing a law to grant dual nationality.)

One-quarter of the GDP? Scary....

The "dual nationality" law strikes me as somewhat odd, since we (Canada) already have it in place and a lot of our citizens maintain dual citizenship, so I have to assume it is a reference to US law.

Anyway, have to think about this one for a bit....

[Tom Kratman]

An optimistic view on a "fix" for Haiti, if the diaspora instead of sending remittances return home to help:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...can_save_haiti


I say optimistic from a faraway "armchair" and having visited two other Caribbean islands, each with more living abroad than at home.

One can't help but wonder what would keep them there, making a few hundred dollars a year, and living like dogs, when they could just pack up again. Perhaps if that hadn't, as the article pointed out, already been tried and then failed, hope could sustain them for a while. Now though? They should give up their families' welfare here and in Canada so that someday strangers who speak the same language can live about a quarter as well as Domincans do?

Just don't see it happening, really.

[marct]

One can't help but wonder what would keep them there, making a few hundred dollars a year, and living like dogs, when they could just pack up again. Perhaps if that hadn't, as the article pointed out, already been tried and then failed, hope could sustain them for a while. Now though? They should give up their families' welfare here and in Canada so that someday strangers who speak the same language can live about a quarter as well as Domincans do?

Just don't see it happening, really.

Or, even worse, adopting a "dual personality" depending on which country they were in . If they return, then that will diminish the countries hard currency, so that could be a problem.

What does make an amount of sense is having "twinned" NGOs with an office in Haiti and, say, Montreal. However, really good aid / development work operates best at the small, local level with a lot of "local" input and control. I've seen some of that in the DR, and it can be quite effective even though the problem set in the DR is quite different.

Tom, you were telling that story about the charcoal briquette idea and that got me to thinking about how it could be sustained. One possible way would be to use the tailings piles as the initial source while, at the same time, hitting up some of the environmentalist groups about tree planting. What I'm specifically thinking about is what's sometimes call "mixed" plantings of both long growth trees (aid in soil fixing and, later, selective, high value, harvesting) and very short growth trees that are pretty much "junk wood" (e.g. poplar). Use the latter for the raw material for charcoal after the tailings have been cleaned out. Obviously, needs work, but...

[Tom Kratman]

Or, even worse, adopting a "dual personality" depending on which country they were in . If they return, then that will diminish the countries hard currency, so that could be a problem.

What does make an amount of sense is having "twinned" NGOs with an office in Haiti and, say, Montreal. However, really good aid / development work operates best at the small, local level with a lot of "local" input and control. I've seen some of that in the DR, and it can be quite effective even though the problem set in the DR is quite different.

Tom, you were telling that story about the charcoal briquette idea and that got me to thinking about how it could be sustained. One possible way would be to use the tailings piles as the initial source while, at the same time, hitting up some of the environmentalist groups about tree planting. What I'm specifically thinking about is what's sometimes call "mixed" plantings of both long growth trees (aid in soil fixing and, later, selective, high value, harvesting) and very short growth trees that are pretty much "junk wood" (e.g. poplar). Use the latter for the raw material for charcoal after the tailings have been cleaned out. Obviously, needs work, but...

They'd never let the saplings last long enough to become trees. They couldn't; they must eat today.

Which reminds me of something. In Korea, once upon a time, the Army had to hire Koreans to guard our supply dumps. Why? Because our troops wouldn't shoot starving civilians while the Koreans _would_. Now picture for just a minute trying to guard the trees. Our troops are going to shoot? Not on your life. Neither would the Brazilians, and they're considerably more rough and ready than we are about such things. So we hire locals to guard them. And we can even enter the realm of fantasy for a moment and imagine they do, rather than selling the wood themselves. How long does funding for that particular program last? Until the Five O'Clock news, maybe?

[Stan]

Tom, you were telling that story about the charcoal briquette idea and that got me to thinking about how it could be sustained. One possible way would be to use the tailings piles as the initial source while, at the same time, hitting up some of the environmentalist groups about tree planting. What I'm specifically thinking about is what's sometimes call "mixed" plantings of both long growth trees (aid in soil fixing and, later, selective, high value, harvesting) and very short growth trees that are pretty much "junk wood" (e.g. poplar). Use the latter for the raw material for charcoal after the tailings have been cleaned out. Obviously, needs work, but...

Hey Marc,
The Ukrainians actually took that several steps farther and now solely import to Estonia for bagging, sorting and weighing before sending over 5 sea vans each month directly to Sweden. Even the sawdust is reused by pressing fireplace blocks, etc.

I just don't see that much motivation coming from the Haitians though. Some here ponder over the Haitians being on the AID breast feeding plan way too long

Regards, Stan

[davidbfpo]

A fascinating, short article on an open source mapping project that with lots of help produced maps to use:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8517057.stm The project's website:http://www.openstreetmap.org/

I'm sure Entropy will appreciate this, although I'm sure others here have a liking for mapping and maps.

[davidbfpo]

Certainly not reported in the UK, although we do get the odd good news story. The US military commitment in Haiti is winding down:

There are now about 11,000 troops, more than half of them on ships just off the coast, down from a peak of around 20,000 on Feb. 1. The total is expected to drop to about 8,000 in coming days as the withdrawal gathers steam.

Link:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100308/...iti_earthquake