There are not too many things left in this world that one can be sure of. One thing that I can be sure of is no matter what I do or where I go throughout the day, I will be asked to donate money to the relief effort in Haiti. I turn on my television, buy things at the market, log onto facebook; “please text 1234 to this number to donate 5 dollars.” I may sound annoyed by this, but actually, it’s quite the contrary.
Everyone knows that Haiti is an impoverished, undeveloped, and internally conflicted country, yet before this earthquake, very few of us cared. Before the quake, not once was I asked to donate money to Haiti. In fact, I never saw anything in our media about it.
How bad was the situation in Haiti before the January 12th earthquake? I went to the CIA’s world fact book to find out. Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere; 80% of the population lives below the poverty line. “Haiti suffers from high inflation, a lack of investment because of insecurity and limited infrastructure, and a severe trade deficit.” “More than two-thirds of the labor force do not have formal jobs;” unemployed by US standards. In 2008, Haiti was in $1.817 billion US dollars in debt and “the government relies on formal international economic assistance for fiscal sustainability.” On top of all this, South American narcotic traffickers favor Haiti for drug smuggling and financial activity due to the country’s “pervasive corruption.”
How long has Haiti been suffering this way? Since the early 1900′s, most noted in 1915 when the nation’s president was seized and murdered by an angry mob.
My point is that as horrible and wretched as the recovery from the earthquake is, it is providing Haiti with much needed media attention. I do not believe that the earthquake put Haiti in a better position than they were in before, but I do believe that if there is one positive, media attention is it. Bringing the Haitian situation to our media brings it to the attention of all the US, and to the rest of the world. Hopefully, we will continue to strive for a better Haiti after the earthquake relief effort has come to a close. Because if there is one thing that the media has proved to us, its that Haiti needs our help now, and will continue to in the future.
