Diabetic foot ulcer.
White count is 38 thousand with cellulits extending up leg.
Patient had a below knee amputation two days ago.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Gas Gangrene
Diabetic foot ulcer.
White count is 38 thousand with cellulits extending up leg.
Patient had a below knee amputation two days ago.
Charles Needs His Heart Fixed
Charles has tight pulmonary stenosis with a right ventricular-pulmonary artery pressure gradient of 124 mm Hg.
This is a very fixable lesion, maybe even in the cath lab.
Haitian Hearts will bring him to the States and return him to Haiti. I know just where he lives.
Any takers?
Please.
Southern Haiti
This hardy lady was born 100 years before Papa Doc became "president for life" of Haiti.
What would Elenioe think of her Haiti today?
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Hard Work in Haiti
This arm is the arm of a 76 year old Haitian man.
His bicep tells me something about his life.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Thems
This is 13 year old Thems.
Haitian Hearts brought him to the States in 2002 and he had heart surgery for a ventricular septal defect and a subaortic membrane.
Thems stayed with Wendy and her family and says hi to her.
He is doing great.
Haitians Have Bad Teeth
More basic health care neglect leads to this and more serious dental problems.
New Haitian Hearts Patient
This is Naika.
Naika is 7 years old and has a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA).
This congenital heart defect routes blood from her aorta back to her lungs where it just came from. So this is not good because it is hard on her lungs and her left heart stretches due to volume overload.
Her heart functions well besides this.
Naika needs her PDA closed with a device to occlude it or an open procedure to tie it off.
Any one interested in helping her?
Tetanus
This man underwent a leg amputation for an open fracture.
He did not receive tetanus toxoid or immunoglobulin.
When checked this man for the first time early in the week, he looked like this-- unable to open his mouth much and barely able to swallow liquids.
I started him on metronidazole and gave him a tetanus toxoid.
He continues to pull out his IV, but at the end of this week, he is now able to open his mouth and take water with a straw.
We will see what happens.
Lack of basics in Haiti is a big killer.
Haiti's Rubble (Continued...)
Just 2 percent of quake debris in Haiti cleared
By TAMARA LUSH (AP) Sept 11, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti ‹ From the dusty rock mounds lining the streets to a
National Palace that looks like it's vomiting concrete from its core, rubble
is one of the most visible reminders of Haiti's devastating earthquake.
Rubble is everywhere in this capital city: cracked slabs, busted-up cinder
blocks, half-destroyed buildings that still spill bricks and pulverized
concrete onto the sidewalks. Some places look as though they have been
flipped upside down, or are sinking to the ground, or listing precariously
to one side.
By some estimates, the quake left about 33 million cubic yards of debris in
Port-au-Prince ‹ more than seven times the amount of concrete used to build
the Hoover Dam. So far, only about 2 percent has been cleared, which means
the city looks pretty much as it did a month after the Jan. 12 quake.
Government officials and outside aid groups say rubble removal is the
priority before Haiti can rebuild. But the reasons why so little has been
cleared are complex. And frustrating.
Heavy equipment has to be shipped in by sea. Dump trucks have difficulty
navigating narrow and mountainous dirt roads. An abysmal records system
makes it hard for the government to determine who owns a dilapidated
property. And there are few sites on which to dump the rubble, which often
contains human remains.
Also, no single person in the Haitian government has been declared in charge
of the rubble, prompting foreign nongovernmental organizations to take on
the task themselves. The groups are often forced to fight for a small pool
of available money and contracts ‹ which in turn means the work is done
piecemeal, with little coordination.
Projects funded by USAID and the U.S. Department of Defense have spent more
than $98.5 million to remove 1.2 million cubic yards of rubble.
"There's not a master plan," Eric Overvest, country director for the U.N.
Development Program, said with a sigh. "After the earthquake, the first
priority was clearing the roads. That was the easiest part."
Overvest said the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission ‹ created after the
earthquake to coordinate billions of dollars in aid ‹ has approved a $17
million plan to clear rubble from six neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince. The
neighborhoods have not yet been selected, however, and it's unclear when
debris will be removed from other areas.
Leslie Voltaire, a Haitian architect, urban planner and presidential
candidate, says his country needs a "rubble czar."
"Everybody is passing the blame on why things haven't happened yet," he
said. "There should be one person in charge. Resettlement has not even begun
yet, and it can't until the city has been cleared."
Voltaire maintains that there are enough crushers, dump trucks and other
heavy equipment for the job; others say that more machinery is needed. But
everyone agrees that recovery will take decades ‹ and the slower the rubble
removal, the longer the recovery.
Most Haitians are simply living with the rubble, working and walking around
it. After a while, the gray heaps and cockeyed buildings just blend into the
tattered background of the city.
"It will take many, many years to fix," Overvest acknowledged. "We can't
just go with wheelbarrows to remove it."
But that's exactly what some Haitians are doing: using shovels and
wheelbarrows to clear properties ‹ a Sisyphean task if there ever was one.
"Personally, I don't think Port-au-Prince will ever be cleared," said
47-year-old Yvon Clerisier, an artist working a temporary job clearing
rubble with a rusty shovel for a private homeowner. He wore torn jeans, a
sweaty T-shirt and sandals, and was covered in a fine dust.
Clerisier was one of a dozen men working in temperatures higher than 100
degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius). The property owner, Gregory Antoine, said
he paid the crew $1,200 for three weeks of work.
"People want to work," Antoine said. "If you get a good organization to put
people to work and give them direction, things will get done. But right now,
nothing is getting done."
It's not for lack of trying. The nonprofit organization CHF International
spent about $5 million of USAID money on heavy machinery and paying Haitians
to remove rubble from specific sites.
Dan Strode was the rubble-removal operations manager for CHF for three
months; some dubbed him "the rubble guy" because of his enthusiasm for the
job.
"Rubble isn't sexy," the Californian said. "And clearing it is not as simple
as people think."
Strode's big worry: that debris won't be cleared fast enough and that the
piles of rocks and garbage and dirt will be overtaken by tropical growth.
"If we don't clear it, what we will leave behind is something that is worse
than before," he said. "If you come back in a year, and the rubble hasn't
been cleared, it will be grown over, subject to landslides and unstable."
Strode, who coordinated the removal of nearly 290,000 cubic yards of
material in three months, said a major obstacle to demolishing buildings has
been the lack of property records, which either were destroyed in the quake
or never existed at all.
Without an owner's consent, it is difficult to remove debris, he said.
Another problem: Strode often received approval to demolish a building such
as a hospital or a school ‹ even when nearby homes were at risk.
"You cannot wantonly go in and demolish," he said. "There's a liability
issue."
Strode is no longer doing rubble removal. The grant money ran out, and has
not yet been renewed.
Another hurdle: dumping the debris.
While many private landowners and others are dumping the rubble in the
streets, canals or countryside, there's only one place in all of Haiti where
NGOs using U.S. money can take contaminated rubble: an approved and
environmentally surveyed site.
"Not all rubble is the same," said Michael Zamba, the spokesman for the Pan
American Development Foundation. "There's a lot of contaminated rubble with
human remains in it. It can't go in a standard landfill."
Zamba points out that before the earthquake, Haiti was the least-developed
country in the Western Hemisphere ‹ so it's not that surprising recovery is
slow.
"Haiti is a really expensive place to work: You have to ship in gas,
vehicles, people," he said. "But you clean up the rubble in a neighborhood,
and it transforms it. Life comes back."
By TAMARA LUSH (AP) Sept 11, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti ‹ From the dusty rock mounds lining the streets to a
National Palace that looks like it's vomiting concrete from its core, rubble
is one of the most visible reminders of Haiti's devastating earthquake.
Rubble is everywhere in this capital city: cracked slabs, busted-up cinder
blocks, half-destroyed buildings that still spill bricks and pulverized
concrete onto the sidewalks. Some places look as though they have been
flipped upside down, or are sinking to the ground, or listing precariously
to one side.
By some estimates, the quake left about 33 million cubic yards of debris in
Port-au-Prince ‹ more than seven times the amount of concrete used to build
the Hoover Dam. So far, only about 2 percent has been cleared, which means
the city looks pretty much as it did a month after the Jan. 12 quake.
Government officials and outside aid groups say rubble removal is the
priority before Haiti can rebuild. But the reasons why so little has been
cleared are complex. And frustrating.
Heavy equipment has to be shipped in by sea. Dump trucks have difficulty
navigating narrow and mountainous dirt roads. An abysmal records system
makes it hard for the government to determine who owns a dilapidated
property. And there are few sites on which to dump the rubble, which often
contains human remains.
Also, no single person in the Haitian government has been declared in charge
of the rubble, prompting foreign nongovernmental organizations to take on
the task themselves. The groups are often forced to fight for a small pool
of available money and contracts ‹ which in turn means the work is done
piecemeal, with little coordination.
Projects funded by USAID and the U.S. Department of Defense have spent more
than $98.5 million to remove 1.2 million cubic yards of rubble.
"There's not a master plan," Eric Overvest, country director for the U.N.
Development Program, said with a sigh. "After the earthquake, the first
priority was clearing the roads. That was the easiest part."
Overvest said the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission ‹ created after the
earthquake to coordinate billions of dollars in aid ‹ has approved a $17
million plan to clear rubble from six neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince. The
neighborhoods have not yet been selected, however, and it's unclear when
debris will be removed from other areas.
Leslie Voltaire, a Haitian architect, urban planner and presidential
candidate, says his country needs a "rubble czar."
"Everybody is passing the blame on why things haven't happened yet," he
said. "There should be one person in charge. Resettlement has not even begun
yet, and it can't until the city has been cleared."
Voltaire maintains that there are enough crushers, dump trucks and other
heavy equipment for the job; others say that more machinery is needed. But
everyone agrees that recovery will take decades ‹ and the slower the rubble
removal, the longer the recovery.
Most Haitians are simply living with the rubble, working and walking around
it. After a while, the gray heaps and cockeyed buildings just blend into the
tattered background of the city.
"It will take many, many years to fix," Overvest acknowledged. "We can't
just go with wheelbarrows to remove it."
But that's exactly what some Haitians are doing: using shovels and
wheelbarrows to clear properties ‹ a Sisyphean task if there ever was one.
"Personally, I don't think Port-au-Prince will ever be cleared," said
47-year-old Yvon Clerisier, an artist working a temporary job clearing
rubble with a rusty shovel for a private homeowner. He wore torn jeans, a
sweaty T-shirt and sandals, and was covered in a fine dust.
Clerisier was one of a dozen men working in temperatures higher than 100
degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius). The property owner, Gregory Antoine, said
he paid the crew $1,200 for three weeks of work.
"People want to work," Antoine said. "If you get a good organization to put
people to work and give them direction, things will get done. But right now,
nothing is getting done."
It's not for lack of trying. The nonprofit organization CHF International
spent about $5 million of USAID money on heavy machinery and paying Haitians
to remove rubble from specific sites.
Dan Strode was the rubble-removal operations manager for CHF for three
months; some dubbed him "the rubble guy" because of his enthusiasm for the
job.
"Rubble isn't sexy," the Californian said. "And clearing it is not as simple
as people think."
Strode's big worry: that debris won't be cleared fast enough and that the
piles of rocks and garbage and dirt will be overtaken by tropical growth.
"If we don't clear it, what we will leave behind is something that is worse
than before," he said. "If you come back in a year, and the rubble hasn't
been cleared, it will be grown over, subject to landslides and unstable."
Strode, who coordinated the removal of nearly 290,000 cubic yards of
material in three months, said a major obstacle to demolishing buildings has
been the lack of property records, which either were destroyed in the quake
or never existed at all.
Without an owner's consent, it is difficult to remove debris, he said.
Another problem: Strode often received approval to demolish a building such
as a hospital or a school ‹ even when nearby homes were at risk.
"You cannot wantonly go in and demolish," he said. "There's a liability
issue."
Strode is no longer doing rubble removal. The grant money ran out, and has
not yet been renewed.
Another hurdle: dumping the debris.
While many private landowners and others are dumping the rubble in the
streets, canals or countryside, there's only one place in all of Haiti where
NGOs using U.S. money can take contaminated rubble: an approved and
environmentally surveyed site.
"Not all rubble is the same," said Michael Zamba, the spokesman for the Pan
American Development Foundation. "There's a lot of contaminated rubble with
human remains in it. It can't go in a standard landfill."
Zamba points out that before the earthquake, Haiti was the least-developed
country in the Western Hemisphere ‹ so it's not that surprising recovery is
slow.
"Haiti is a really expensive place to work: You have to ship in gas,
vehicles, people," he said. "But you clean up the rubble in a neighborhood,
and it transforms it. Life comes back."
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Haiti Plus Diabetes Equals Bad
This is the left foot of a 54 year old lady who came to clinic today.
She lives in the mountains and she has uncontrolled diabetes. She has been vomiting for weeks and her glucose is greater than 500.
Diabetics can have sensory neuropathies and with poor glucose control they can develop diabetic foot ulcers, gangrene, and osteomyelits.
Her dressing change pictured above reveals some of the extent of her pathology.
The smell in the clinic was and is terrible as the dressing was removed...and she and her son live with this medical and social and economic tragedy everyday.
Her white blood cell count is 38 thousand (normal is 5-10 thousand) and I believe she is septic from the infection in her foot.
She is now on two antibiotics and if she survives sepsis, she will have a partial foot amputation.
Thursday, September 09, 2010
Sickle Cell Anemia and Tap Tap Drivers
This 15 year old boy has sickle cell disease.
Both his parents are dead and he lives with his grandmother.
Two days ago he came to the hospital for fever and cough.
He took a tap tap up the mountain alone to the hospital and the tap tap driver stole 250 gourdes from this young man and quickly drove off.
I started him on antibiotics and he is holding a bottle of folic acid from my beautiful mom. Folic acid will help him form new blood cells while sickle cell disease destroys them.
He is a great kid.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
While the Politicians Argue....
While the politicians argue cancer of tongue goes untreated and spreads.
This 41 year old man cannot swallow food and barely can swallow water. Nothing definitive has been done for him since this mass started 11 months ago.
He is in chronic pain and his upper airway is compromised.
In 2010 don't human beings deserve better?
Friday, September 03, 2010
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Violence in Haiti
Posted on Wed, Sep. 01, 2010
Violence mars Haiti's recovery
BY TRENTON DANIEL
tdaniel@MiamiHerald.com
A trio of gunmen stormed a gated home in the well-to-do Pelerin neighborhood, shot dead a Sunrise man and kidnapped a 16-year-old relative. Gregoire-Ronald Chery, 56, died of a single shot to the head. Nadege Charlot, his cousin, continued to be held Tuesday as kidnappers demanded a $100,000 ransom.
Nadege's abduction on Friday was the latest in a string of kidnappings in the hillside neighborhoods above Port-au-Prince, and it is raising fears that more could follow this election season.
Almost eight months after the Jan. 12 earthquake killed an estimated 300,000 people, crime trends show an increase in kidnappings compared to this time last year. U.N. police have documented 68 abductions so far this year, compared to 51 a year ago.
The winner of the Nov. 28 presidential election will be faced with the task of sheltering 1.5 million people made homeless by the January earthquake and removing 20 million cubic meters of rubble -- and reducing the growing numbers of kidnappings.
A recent U.S. travel advisory noted that bandits have attacked travelers leaving the Port-au-Prince international airport, and that at least two U.S. citizens were killed in recent months. Five have been kidnapped.
Even relief workers have been targeted. In March, bandits abducted -- and released -- two staff members of Doctors Without Borders in Port-au-Prince. Two months later, kidnappers grabbed a British national from the Pan-American Development Foundation and his Haitian driver. The Brit was released. The driver was killed.
``After Jan. 12, it looks like the good targets would be the NGOs,'' said Reginald Delva, the head of a security consulting firm. ``And I'm pretty sure they don't have ransoms planned into their budgets.''
Delva said about 30 private security firms work in Haiti, each with about 1,500 guards.
Kidnappings in Port-au-Prince are down significantly from record highs of previous years -- there were more than 800 in 2005. But the U.N. and others say they're concerned about the 33 percent uptick they've seen so far this year over the same time in 2009. Many say they suspect politicians are tapping gang leaders to instigate unrest and carry out kidnappings to collect money to hire street protesters during the election.
``I'm not afraid of gangs and insecurity,'' said Haitian National Police General Director Mario Andresol. ``I'm afraid of political turmoil. Anything can happen -- trouble on the streets, big riots, big demonstrations. This is when a government gets sent away.''
Rumors of an outbreak in violent demonstrations were abuzz in mid-August as prospective candidates and their supporters awaited the electoral council's announcement on who would make the final cut.
A delay in an announcement made some to wonder if the council was trying to avert the possibility of violence.
INSECURITY
Although the elections are the topic du jour, general insecurity is a close second.
On Jan. 12, about 4,000 prisoners escaped the national penitentiary. Police officials believe some of the escaped prisoners have organized into gangs in neighborhoods such as Martissant, just outside Port-au-Prince.
``These guys on the streets could create an insecurity situation,'' Andresol said. ``We're after them. We arrested them before. We'll arrest them again.''
The majority of the abductions have focused solely on Haitians, especially those living in Pelerin, Thomassin and other relatively affluent areas.
So far this year, 83 percent of the kidnappings have involved Haitians compared to 17 percent that involved foreigners, said André Leclerc, a spokesman for the U.N. policing unit.
Kidnappers may be following the affluent to their neighborhoods under the guise of holding everyday discussions and conducting business deals, said Frantz Lerebours, a Haitian police spokesman.
``Because the downtown area is broken, a lot of activity has gone up to Petionville,'' Lerebours said. ``Naturally, the criminals have followed.''
Kidnappings are not the only violent crime worrying police.
Chery, a Haitian fraud investigator with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was gunned down at his cousin's home in Petionville. Family members say the middle-class host family was targeted because there were relatives visiting from the United States.
On Aug. 3, a doctor and opposition leader was shot dead after bandits stole his necklace and tried to take his wallet. A colleague said the killing was politically motivated; police say the case is under investigation.
Other security concerns include a turf battle in the seaside slum of Cité Soleil that injured even bystanders -- including four children -- and protests that have demanded President René Préval's departure. In June, unknown gunmen fired shots outside his home.
And then there are rapes of women in some of the 1,300 camps scattered around the city. In the first two months after the quake, the Haitian grass-roots women's organization KOFAVIV documented 230 rapes. The medical humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders has treated more than 200 victims of sexual violence.
FRUSTRATION
Even as observers say kidnapping remains troublesome, they also say Haiti's ratio of crime to population is low compared to Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia. But observers also say they worry that the Caribbean nation could see a surge as the population grows frustrated with what they see as an unresponsive administration and inadequate relief effort from abroad.
``There are more violent places than Haiti,'' said Bruce Bagley, chair and professor of the University of Miami's Department of International Studies.
``But I would expect crime, gang-related activity, and kidnappings to continue to rise as people become increasingly disaffected with the government and the international response.''
Miami Herald staff writers Jim Wyss and Nadege Charles contributed to this report.
Violence mars Haiti's recovery
BY TRENTON DANIEL
tdaniel@MiamiHerald.com
A trio of gunmen stormed a gated home in the well-to-do Pelerin neighborhood, shot dead a Sunrise man and kidnapped a 16-year-old relative. Gregoire-Ronald Chery, 56, died of a single shot to the head. Nadege Charlot, his cousin, continued to be held Tuesday as kidnappers demanded a $100,000 ransom.
Nadege's abduction on Friday was the latest in a string of kidnappings in the hillside neighborhoods above Port-au-Prince, and it is raising fears that more could follow this election season.
Almost eight months after the Jan. 12 earthquake killed an estimated 300,000 people, crime trends show an increase in kidnappings compared to this time last year. U.N. police have documented 68 abductions so far this year, compared to 51 a year ago.
The winner of the Nov. 28 presidential election will be faced with the task of sheltering 1.5 million people made homeless by the January earthquake and removing 20 million cubic meters of rubble -- and reducing the growing numbers of kidnappings.
A recent U.S. travel advisory noted that bandits have attacked travelers leaving the Port-au-Prince international airport, and that at least two U.S. citizens were killed in recent months. Five have been kidnapped.
Even relief workers have been targeted. In March, bandits abducted -- and released -- two staff members of Doctors Without Borders in Port-au-Prince. Two months later, kidnappers grabbed a British national from the Pan-American Development Foundation and his Haitian driver. The Brit was released. The driver was killed.
``After Jan. 12, it looks like the good targets would be the NGOs,'' said Reginald Delva, the head of a security consulting firm. ``And I'm pretty sure they don't have ransoms planned into their budgets.''
Delva said about 30 private security firms work in Haiti, each with about 1,500 guards.
Kidnappings in Port-au-Prince are down significantly from record highs of previous years -- there were more than 800 in 2005. But the U.N. and others say they're concerned about the 33 percent uptick they've seen so far this year over the same time in 2009. Many say they suspect politicians are tapping gang leaders to instigate unrest and carry out kidnappings to collect money to hire street protesters during the election.
``I'm not afraid of gangs and insecurity,'' said Haitian National Police General Director Mario Andresol. ``I'm afraid of political turmoil. Anything can happen -- trouble on the streets, big riots, big demonstrations. This is when a government gets sent away.''
Rumors of an outbreak in violent demonstrations were abuzz in mid-August as prospective candidates and their supporters awaited the electoral council's announcement on who would make the final cut.
A delay in an announcement made some to wonder if the council was trying to avert the possibility of violence.
INSECURITY
Although the elections are the topic du jour, general insecurity is a close second.
On Jan. 12, about 4,000 prisoners escaped the national penitentiary. Police officials believe some of the escaped prisoners have organized into gangs in neighborhoods such as Martissant, just outside Port-au-Prince.
``These guys on the streets could create an insecurity situation,'' Andresol said. ``We're after them. We arrested them before. We'll arrest them again.''
The majority of the abductions have focused solely on Haitians, especially those living in Pelerin, Thomassin and other relatively affluent areas.
So far this year, 83 percent of the kidnappings have involved Haitians compared to 17 percent that involved foreigners, said André Leclerc, a spokesman for the U.N. policing unit.
Kidnappers may be following the affluent to their neighborhoods under the guise of holding everyday discussions and conducting business deals, said Frantz Lerebours, a Haitian police spokesman.
``Because the downtown area is broken, a lot of activity has gone up to Petionville,'' Lerebours said. ``Naturally, the criminals have followed.''
Kidnappings are not the only violent crime worrying police.
Chery, a Haitian fraud investigator with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was gunned down at his cousin's home in Petionville. Family members say the middle-class host family was targeted because there were relatives visiting from the United States.
On Aug. 3, a doctor and opposition leader was shot dead after bandits stole his necklace and tried to take his wallet. A colleague said the killing was politically motivated; police say the case is under investigation.
Other security concerns include a turf battle in the seaside slum of Cité Soleil that injured even bystanders -- including four children -- and protests that have demanded President René Préval's departure. In June, unknown gunmen fired shots outside his home.
And then there are rapes of women in some of the 1,300 camps scattered around the city. In the first two months after the quake, the Haitian grass-roots women's organization KOFAVIV documented 230 rapes. The medical humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders has treated more than 200 victims of sexual violence.
FRUSTRATION
Even as observers say kidnapping remains troublesome, they also say Haiti's ratio of crime to population is low compared to Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia. But observers also say they worry that the Caribbean nation could see a surge as the population grows frustrated with what they see as an unresponsive administration and inadequate relief effort from abroad.
``There are more violent places than Haiti,'' said Bruce Bagley, chair and professor of the University of Miami's Department of International Studies.
``But I would expect crime, gang-related activity, and kidnappings to continue to rise as people become increasingly disaffected with the government and the international response.''
Miami Herald staff writers Jim Wyss and Nadege Charles contributed to this report.
Corruption at Haiti's Wharf Continues
Corruption at Haitian Customs in Port-au-Prince is so bad. Not that the international community is immune to corruption, but Haiti needs to get their act together at the wharf in Port-au-Prince.
Officials at the wharf holding up containers for money need to go to jail.
See Lance Durban's comment below from the Bob Corbett list.
Lance Durban commenting on Ilio's sense of urgency...
I have no quibble with Ilio's post other than to note that the "time to get serious" in Haiti has been any time since the departure of J.C. Duvalier in 1986. Haiti has never gotten on track, and frankly I see no real evidence that it will get on track now.
Yesterday, I spent a good part of the day attempting, vainly, to get some urgently needed parts out of customs at the PAP airport... needed for samples so that our company could compete on a new contract. The customs official was far more concerned with blocking the release as a way of showing that he was indeed the boss than in helping our company, even though we import some 2000 lbs of air cargo thru his terminal each week which keeps over 500 Haitians employed. How can one begin to explain the bigger issues to anyone working in today's Haitian government?
Contrast that to the Dominican Republic, where my current Haitian partner had invested in a business some 20 years and received a special "Foreign Investor's Card" that got him instant access to high-level assistance in key ministries. (He still carries the card, no doubt as a pleasant memory of that warm welcome).
Let me offer a prediction on the upcoming election... if it comes off at all. None of the candidates will ignite much excitement and the resulting vote will yield no overwhelming winner. The losers will all claim to have been cheated (and perhaps will have been), so any winner will have to make accomodations just to be inaugurated. The necessary change will not happen and the status quo will prevail... until, social pressures create the next inevitable explosion.
The possibility of some dramatic change with massive popular support was why I was at least receptive to a Wyclef Jean candidacy. Granted, this would have required a CEP able to see beyond the legalisms that they used to bar this outsider. But, it's back to the question at the end of paragraph 2 above, namely: How could one seriously expect the CEP to understand the larger picture?
Of course, Wyclef would be a huge gamble, but one does need to break eggs to make an omelette! If Wyclef is truly interested in effecting change in Haiti, I would suggest a different tactic than the one he appears to be taking. Rather...
Interview in depth all of the candidates, Wyclef, and find (1) the one that you can work best with, one who is hopefully also (2) the one you feel is best able to lead Haiti out of the wilderness. Back this individual and campaign vigorously for him/her, recognizing that your support can help swing the contest. Post election, you should establish residency in Haiti and roll up your sleeves. (As Sean Penn is demonstrating this month, you can work in Haiti while "moonlighting" on your Hollywood job. Indeed, the latter is important in support of the former). As others have pointed out, 5 years is not a very long time, and by 2015 you would have not only a better understanding of what Haiti needs, but more importantly, a better idea of how to move the ball in the right direction. Uh, and good luck.
Lance Durban
Officials at the wharf holding up containers for money need to go to jail.
See Lance Durban's comment below from the Bob Corbett list.
Lance Durban
I have no quibble with Ilio's post other than to note that the "time to get serious" in Haiti has been any time since the departure of J.C. Duvalier in 1986. Haiti has never gotten on track, and frankly I see no real evidence that it will get on track now.
Yesterday, I spent a good part of the day attempting, vainly, to get some urgently needed parts out of customs at the PAP airport... needed for samples so that our company could compete on a new contract. The customs official was far more concerned with blocking the release as a way of showing that he was indeed the boss than in helping our company, even though we import some 2000 lbs of air cargo thru his terminal each week which keeps over 500 Haitians employed. How can one begin to explain the bigger issues to anyone working in today's Haitian government?
Contrast that to the Dominican Republic, where my current Haitian partner had invested in a business some 20 years and received a special "Foreign Investor's Card" that got him instant access to high-level assistance in key ministries. (He still carries the card, no doubt as a pleasant memory of that warm welcome).
Let me offer a prediction on the upcoming election... if it comes off at all. None of the candidates will ignite much excitement and the resulting vote will yield no overwhelming winner. The losers will all claim to have been cheated (and perhaps will have been), so any winner will have to make accomodations just to be inaugurated. The necessary change will not happen and the status quo will prevail... until, social pressures create the next inevitable explosion.
The possibility of some dramatic change with massive popular support was why I was at least receptive to a Wyclef Jean candidacy. Granted, this would have required a CEP able to see beyond the legalisms that they used to bar this outsider. But, it's back to the question at the end of paragraph 2 above, namely: How could one seriously expect the CEP to understand the larger picture?
Of course, Wyclef would be a huge gamble, but one does need to break eggs to make an omelette! If Wyclef is truly interested in effecting change in Haiti, I would suggest a different tactic than the one he appears to be taking. Rather...
Interview in depth all of the candidates, Wyclef, and find (1) the one that you can work best with, one who is hopefully also (2) the one you feel is best able to lead Haiti out of the wilderness. Back this individual and campaign vigorously for him/her, recognizing that your support can help swing the contest. Post election, you should establish residency in Haiti and roll up your sleeves. (As Sean Penn is demonstrating this month, you can work in Haiti while "moonlighting" on your Hollywood job. Indeed, the latter is important in support of the former). As others have pointed out, 5 years is not a very long time, and by 2015 you would have not only a better understanding of what Haiti needs, but more importantly, a better idea of how to move the ball in the right direction. Uh, and good luck.
Lance Durban
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