Oct 23 2010

Haiti and does anyone REALLY care?

(11AM EST – promoted by Nightprowlkitty)

Is there any news these days that is not either heartbreaking or so totally disgusting, that you feel sickened inside, or a combination of both?

The “forgotten” people of Haiti, are dying of cholera — so far 150 deaths, and some 1,500 cases reported as of today.



A woman holds her young daughter while receiving medical attention at St. Nicholas

Hospital in St. Marc, Haiti, on Friday.

It amazes me, to some degree, that the Wall Street Journal seems to have been among the first to report this outbreak:

The area, north of the heavily damaged city of Port-au-Prince, was spared most of the wrath of the earthquake, which killed more than 300,000 people. But it did absorb many of the displaced and has long suffered from a lack of clean water. Purifying the water system is difficult in the area because homes are spread relatively widely geographically. [Emphasis mine]

Health officials said they had seen at least one report indicating that the epidemic may be spreading to the Port-au-Prince area, where about 1.3 million people are still living in crowded camps. [Emphasis mine]  A woman near Port-au-Prince was reported to have experienced severe diarrhea and vomiting after visiting a local market and died within the same day. . . . .

and, this, from Reuters

Haiti president confirms cholera outbreak, 138 dead

Fri Oct 22, 2010 7:42am EDT

PORT-AU-PRINCE Oct 22 (Reuters) – Haiti’s President Rene Preval said on Friday an outbreak of cholera had killed at least 138 people in the quake-hit country’s central region and his government was taking measures to try to stop the disease spreading.

“I can confirm it is cholera,” Preval told Reuters, as Haitian and international health officials confronted the poor Caribbean nation’s biggest medical crisis since the Jan. 12 earthquake. . . .

And this, received this afternoon from International Medical Corps.

Cholera Outbreak in Haiti

October 22, 2010

In response to a confirmed outbreak of cholera in Central Haiti, International Medical Corps’ local team has deployed with emergency medical supplies. The team will be conducting an assessment of health needs at local hospitals and clinics. International Medical Corps is also preparing to deploy an emergency medical team to the area . . . .

Wall Street Journal?  Glee?

Can you imagine yourself suffering “cholera” or any other disease, because YOU live in squalor, pathetic tents, laden with “mold,” inadequate/proper food, because of an earthquake and promised funds (particularly, those of the U.S.) that have never come through, with all the laden “bureaucratic” reasoning?  Can you just imagine yourself in these circumstances?  

I just don’t know anymore. What I do believe is there is a deliberate effort to “scrub” off the “poor” less fortunate souls of this earth, mostly, at our behest.  And, we will make sure they are “poor, if they aren’t already!”  Like “Katrina” maybe?  [And, BTW, believe it or not, I think, we, Americans, are headed in the same exact direction.]

~~~~~~

My greatest “religion” is that within my heart, not outside of it!  Yet, there are some mesmerisms  . . . . . !

This expression from Hillel probably resonates with many — at least I would hope so!  

A saying of Rabbi Hillel: “If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

9 comments

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  1. as I was putting this together.  I almost reach a point of speechlessness . . . . . !  

  2. for “uplift.”  

    You know if you just leave the “afflicted” linger long enough without help, they will simply just die!

  3. avalanche of collapsing moral accountability, the only hope for mankind. As individuals the world over now represent only material units, what means to be human is once again undergoing a transformation, a process that has become unpredictable and potentially lethal. We only have to focus on the last hundred years to see the tragic results that take place when human become objectified.

    They become expendable. We see the results right now in our own politics: The healthcare fiasco, war, the ruthless economic attacks on the poor and middle class and the turning away from equal rights in many different contexts.  

    • Diane G on October 23, 2010 at 21:45
    • #

    but as soon as the cameras stopped rolling and the photo-ops ended far too many governments stepped away; their PR moment done.

    They don’t care about people either, look at how many in NOLA still have no homes.

    I am torn between screaming and crying my heart out reading this essay and looking at the images.

    But I will be their witness, thank you for being their voice.

  5. …is geared to good old traditional high finance purposes in giving monies to microfinance institutions which have 50,000 clients or more.  Once again, bail out the biggies, leave the little people wallowing in the mud, getting sick, and dying.

    The policies of the U.S. elite class are simply caps-lock wrong.

    Monday, July 19, 2010

    “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Clinton Bush Haiti Fund (CBHF) Announces $1m in New Grants to Promote Economic Opportunities Including Microfinance” by Conner Brannan:


    The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund (CBHF), a nonprofit organization,… has announced USD 1 million in new grants aimed at creating new jobs and promoting economic opportunity… An unspecified proportion of the grant will be used to finance the Haiti Emergency Liquidity Program (HELP), which will give recovery grants to “key” microfinance institutions (MFIs), which are defined as those having approximately 50,000 clients or more. HELP will buy “earthquake-affected” loans from MFIs, which will provide them with fresh funds to maintain their lending operations and preserve their capital base. As previously reported by MicroCapital on June 29, 2010, HELP was created by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on June 2, 2010.

    Find it at Microcapital.

  6. In Haiti, cholera could heighten earthquake misery

    [Just the heading, alone, makes me want to scream — what do they mean “could heighten earthquake misery?]

    By JACOB KUSHNER, Associated Press Writer Jacob Kushner, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 28 mins ago

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – A cholera outbreak that already has left 250 people dead and more than 3,000 sickened is at the doorstep of an enormous potential breeding ground: the squalid camps in Port-au-Prince where 1.3 million earthquake survivors live. Health authorities and aid workers are scrambling to keep the tragedies from merging and the deaths from multiplying.

    Five cholera patients have been reported in Haiti’s capital, heightening worries that the disease could reach the sprawling tent slums where abysmal hygiene, poor sanitation, and widespread poverty could rapidly spread it. But government officials said Sunday that all five apparently got cholera outside Port-au-Prince, and they voiced hope that the deadly bacterial disease could be confined to the rural areas where the outbreak originated last week.

    “It’s not difficult to prevent the spread to Port-au-Prince. We can prevent it,” said Health Ministry director Gabriel Timothee. He said tightly limiting movement of patients and careful disposal of bodies [emphasis mine]can stave off a major medical disaster. . . .  

    “disposal of bodies?” — just so much “collateral damage?”

    Why do I have a strange sensation . . . . ?

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