I remember when I was in grade school the country of Haiti was mentioned as being the poorest country in the world.  I mean it was so poor it was already a natural disaster and  it has been this way long before I was born.  If you read about Haiti on wikipedia you’ll see that ever since 1492, when Christopher Columbus landed there and claimed this island for Spain it has been stomped on, mistreated, beatup and cheated so many times by so many different wealthy countries (US included) its so ridiculously sad.  The original natives were pretty much overrun and wiped out and replaced by a new population as a result of the influx of African slaves and European settlers.  But then even this new population continued to hold the tradition of being beatup, stomped on, cheated, and mistreated.  The per capita income of Haiti is below $500 a year and the average life expectancy has been 53 years old.

So this latest earthquake was a natural disaster tacked on top of a natural disaster.  But if you step back I wonder if this is a gift, curse, or just another ordinary bad day for Haiti.  It could be just another ordinary bad day for Haiti because if you’re already used to death and starvation for generations, if you’ve already reached rock bottom, can you really get that much worse?  It could be a curse as most of us are thinking because there is now going to a lot of major suffering, starvation, and dying and we just can’t bear it if we put ourselves in their place.  But then again it could be a gift, because this earthquake has put them into the badly needed spot light.

I just wonder how effectively will this outpouring of financial aid actually reach and benefit the Haitians.  Will corruption and or bureaucracy stifle much of this aid.  In several months will Haiti become forgotten once again and return to it’s normal natural disaster like plight?

Also, is it me or does it seems that the really bad disasters seem to hit poorer countries of the world?

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