Through friends with common interests and various searches, I've located several books on Haitian history, policy, culture, etc. that have thus far provided priceless information. I commented several weeks ago that a post was in the making which would share something that caught my attention early on in my study and infatuation of Haiti. I've continually noticed that Haiti, throughout its history, has been subject to a series of underminings, both deliberate and unintentional. While I know that my knowledge on such a subject and any subsequent help or assistance I could provide is grossly limited, this subject as been a driving force for my desire to return to Haiti. I can't help but what to immerse myself with a people who were for so long neglected by my own country, only to be abused and manipulated once we decided to take interest.

For time's sake, I'm going to split up "The Undermining of Haiti" into 3-4 segments, with each segment covering what I've gathered from a particular source, such as a book, person, personal experience, etc. For this post, I'll be covering what I've gleaned from Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure The World. Kidder's biography of Dr. Farmer is, by far, one of the best books I've read this last year. You dive right into the life of a man who is compelled by nothing other than love and hate. Love for a people who have suffered enough for the entire world. And a hatred toward the abuses and neglect they've been subject to. I plunged into the book not knowing what to expect. In fact, I simply borrowed it from a friend who was travelling through Haiti at the time and only decided to read it because I had heard Farmer was a doctor living in Haiti. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is literate!

Tracy Kidder found himself shadowing Dr. Farmer off and on for several years throughout Haiti and, eventually, across the world. What he learns and shares with the reader is invaluable and I would do the book injustice to try to even capture it in this poor excuse for a blog. However, Farmer did share some convicting information concerning the mistreatment of Haiti.

For example, Paul Farmer serves a village named Cange and its outlying areas in Haiti's central plateau. Haiti's largest river, the Artibonite runs through the area and is stopped up by a dam which was planned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and built by Brown and Root of Texas and other U.S. agencies/businesses. The idea behind the dam was "noble", at least on the surface. It was considered a "development project" to provide energry to Port Au-Prince, which was several hours away. However, the dam would also benefit many American-owned agribusinesses downstream while really only servicing the elite within Port Au-Prince.

With little or no notice, the Haitians who for generations had lived along the river living very nice and abundant lives suddenly found their land and homes going underwater. As a result, they were forced to scramble up the mountainsides and fight for less and poorer land, while at the same time stripping whatever land they could find of its resources. Many of those who lived downstream of the dam soon found their land to be too dry to live on and decided to look for work in Port Au-Prince, where many found work cooking, cleaning, stitching up baseballs and American dolls for little or no money. Many of them came back from the capital with AIDS.

Farmer shared that in the 1980's, there was an African swine fever outbreak next door to Haiti in the Dominican Republic. Afraid that this might affect the American pork industry, the U.S. led an effort to destroy all the Creole pigs in Haiti. They then replaced them with pigs purchased from Iowan farmers. However, a big problem was that these pigs were much more delicate and much more expensive to house and feed. While many died off, the ones that did survive, tended to multiply too rapidly for Haitian agriculture and environment. So many Haitian farmers ended up without any pigs. In case this doesn't sound like a big deal, pigs (and any livestock for that matter) are invaluable to a Haitian family, for they were virtually used as bank accounts. At the end of a year, a family would pay for a child's school tuition with a pig. So, no pig means no school for the children.

Thanks to some quick thinking by America, Iowan swine like this either die off rapidly or consume more than a Haitian family can afford.

So what does this mean? How does one who had no say or involvement whatsoever in such measures walk away from such history? America has gotten on the kick of requiring apologies for past sins. For example, banks, churches, and other organizations have offered up repeated apologies and, at times, compensation for supporting/practicing slavery 150 years ago.

While this may work for many a person's conscience here in the States, I doubt an apology will mean much to the average Haitian struggling to make $1/day.

Again, so what does this mean? How does one walk away from such history?

Where does run to?