Financial Instability, Nothing New for Haiti

Haiti seemed like an island getaway before last month’s earthquake, but devastation and financial woes fill the Caribbean nations history.

“I saw, on the State Department Web site, their Haiti page and the first thing you see is a cruise ship coming up to a very plush resort,” Tom Plaut said, a 72-year-old volunteer for Mission Manna. “This is the American impression of Haiti, and it’s not like that at all.”

According to Plaut, Haitian children play in burning garbage dumpsters, some without clothing.

“This is my Haiti, this is the Haiti that I saw half a mile from my hotel,” he said. “This (the cruise ship) is the Haiti that American’s want to see.”

Haiti represented great wealth in the Americas and operated one of the most successful ports of the new world, according to Historians. During the 19^th century, Haiti won its independence from France, and the United States placed an embargo around the Haitian colony.

Haiti fell into debt to France during its revolution because many slaves died in the war. Slaves that France said they should be compensated for, according to historical records.

“In payment of that debt, Haiti fell into permanent debt because they borrowed that money from the United States and France,” said Plaut, a retired lecturer of sociology at Mars Hill College.

Haiti never recovered from that debt and went from the wealthiest of colonies to one of the poorest. According to Plaut, the debt accrued went toward military installments that exploited human rights.

According to International Monetary Laws, officials consider the debt “odious” and should not need to be repaid. Recently, congressmen in Canada and the U.S. proposed bills excusing Haiti’s debt, but they did not pass.

“I think that’s going to be a major part in rebuilding Haiti. This recognition of this past debt to Haiti,” Plaut said. “The more people learn about this history, I don’t know how they can’t, with any good conscious, say they don’t owe us a thing. I think we owe them a chance.”

Haitians struggle through financial instability

Mission Manna’s original plan to build a hospital turned out financially infeasible and led them to build a facility focused on preventing illness, according to Plaut.

“Western Carolina couldn’t afford a hospital, Yancey County couldn’t afford one, how do you think you could build on in Haiti, staff it and maintain it?” he asked. “The people in Haiti agreed, and now we have a facility focusing more on nutrition and hiring more and more Haitian staff.”

According to Plaut, whenever people plan a trip to Haiti they call the Haitian staff on the ground to find out if it’s safe to travel. Another trip is planned for April.

“When Mission Manna began, everything was done by people in Asheville. Now, we have three Haitian members of the board,” he said. “The major change for us has been over the years developing trust with Haitian staff and having some really wonderful people there organize stuff for us.”

The average yearly Haitian income averages $1,700, according to Plaut. Comparatively, the U.S. averages $40 thousand or more per household, according to the U.S. census. People in Haiti do not make enough to feed their families and get by, Plaut said.

“People claim the corruption of Haiti. When you go through customs they ask for extra payment to approve your suitcases. Well, they don’t make enough to feed their families,” he said. “It’s very hard for people in America to understand that because we live in a country with enough wealth that we can rely on laws, and everybody plays by the rules, supposedly.”

Due to financial disparity, Mission Manna strives to provide financial stability to its Haitian staff, according to Plaut.

“We increasingly are able to pay them. We try to pay a greater and greater percent of their salary and it’s all part-time,” he said. “Mission Manna is very small and it’s all volunteer with no paid staff in the United States.”

Organizations pull through, no matter the cost

Mission Manna operates out of Grace Episcopal Church in Weaverville, forgoing the traditional infrastructure and focusing that money on the job at hand, according Plaut.

Mission Manna lacks a full-time fundraiser and official office, but they manage to perform their goals efficiently in Haiti.

“We have a treasurer and we have all the structure, but we found it’s a lot more efficient if you don’t have an overhead,” he said.

Money donated to Mission Manna buys medical supplies, pays the Haitian staff members and buys food products, according to Plaut. Food and medical supplies make up the primary goals for Mission Manna.

“When someone sends a check to our P.O. box it goes into our Mission Manna account. All of that money goes to programs,” he said. “If anybody from Asheville goes to Haiti we have to pay our own way. None of it comes from collected funds.”

The Red Cross utilizes donated funding based on how the donor dedicated the money and on the overhead expenses, according to officials.

“Basically, what we’re doing here, is accepting donations on behalf of our national organization,” Steve Dykes said, director of marketing and development at the Asheville Red Cross. “We ask people to either designate it for Haiti relief or to the International Disaster Relief Fund.”

Money marked for the International Disaster Relief Fund will primarily be used in Haiti, for the time being, though it could be used elsewhere if the need arose, according to Dykes. The Red Cross uses donations for the Haiti relief fund exclusively for Haitian projects.

“We have teams on the ground in Haiti who are assessing constantly what is most needed,” he said. “It’s purchased under the best terms possible and transported as best we can right now.”

The Red Cross purchases medical supplies, food, clothing and other necessities either in Haiti or nearby cities to not only make transportation easier but to help rebuild the local economies, according to Dykes.

“In disasters like this you work with the U.S. military, you work with whatever relief organizations are on the ground,” he said. “But we have our own response plans as well.”

According to Plaut, many people prefer to give donations to organizations with very little overhead costs and put their money to its fullest use.

“They want to get the most bang for the dollar. If you give a dollar, you’re going to see a dollar on the ground,” he said. “I think that’s been Mission Manna’s motto from the start. All volunteers here. And the only people who get paid are the ones doing a lot of work in Haiti, and they need to get paid.”

The average person in Haiti earns $2 per day, and Mission Manna attempts to provide salaries for its Haitian staff and move them from part-time into full-time work status, according to Plaut.

Rising costs in Haiti

Haitian staff bargain for supplies, rent the trucks necessary for traversing mountains and doctors purchase medical supplies with the money Mission Manna raises.

“They (medical supplies) used to get donated a lot more than they are now. It seems to vary from trip to trip,” he said. “Now there’s much less of that but there are warehouses of medical supplies, developed by mission groups, and the medicines are specifically for this kind of thing.”

In the past, some groups brought expired medical supplies into Haiti, causing more harm than good, according to Plaut.

“You have to be careful about that because people in Haiti are very particular about not having drugs that are out of date,” he said.

The earthquake in Haiti caused basic food supplies to triple and gas prices to rise to around $40 per gallon, Plaut said.

Recent growth in American food export weakened Haitian agricultural output when the Haitian government lowered the import tariff, allowing imported foods to flood the markets of Haiti. The tariff provided protection for local farmers, according to Plaut.

“When the Haitians lost that protection, that dumped a lot of American rice into the markets and the meant the local rice-growers were gone,” he said. “And then when the price of rice doubled in 2008, after the hurricane, people just went nuts. They couldn’t afford it.”

Mission Manna remains unaffected by the economic recession in the U.S. and continues to collect money and volunteers, Plaut said. Spreadsheets depicting children’s growth from week to week allow people to see how Mission Manna utilizes funds.

“I think we are doing a little better than before. And I think the reason is because we have been much clearer about what we’re doing,” he said. “One of the most important things is people want to see where their dollar is going.