Hungry?

Haiti has long been the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, but recently things have gotten significantly worse. The price of rice has risen 40% in recent months and the poor no longer have anything to eat. Many Haitians have resorted to eating dirt cookies made with Crisco, dirt and water. International efforts have attempted to solve this problem. Yesterday Brazilian soldiers handed out food in slums in Haiti. While this may look good in the news, handing out a day's worth of food to a few hundred Haitians out of millions starving will serve no practical purpose.

With the rising food and oil prices across the world, authorities fear that third world countries will fall into chaos when the masses are unable to procure any food. Egypt is in the same boat. Starvation is threatening to unseat the governments.

Haiti has long been a place of chaos, poverty and political turmoil. The revolution of the 1790s by slave uprising completely destroyed the economy and infrastructure, and ever since Haiti hasn't been able to catch up. There was a military coup in the 90s, unseating President Jean-Bertrand Aristide until the US restored him to power a year later. Aristide was forced to flee in 2004 during another bloody military coup. Since then his friend Rene Preval has assumed the presidency. With the food crisis, the masses are calling for Aristide again, who is now living peacefully in South Africa.

While Africa and all of its woes are an ocean away, Haiti is close to America and therefore harder to ignore. In our school, we have helped with the ONE Campaign to reduce poverty and packaged foods for Kids Against Hunger. But to make a real dent in poverty and hunger, we need to help stabilize countries such as Haiti. Giving them food supplies will serve as a temporary measure, but we need to focus more on the long-term, which will require a more robust economy for Haiti.