All Entries in the "Haiti" Category

World Aids Day: The Epidemic in Haiti

An unassuming man driving a cab in Boston each winter, becomes a working class hero each summer, when he heads to Haiti to fight his own personal grassroots battle against AIDS.  Seems that during those harsh winter months, in addition to driving his cab, he quietly solicits donations from other Haitian immigrants -  as well as the sympathetic and affluent Boston medical crowd - and uses the money to provide medical supplies, condoms, and educational tools to the struggling Haitians.

Underground heroes like Mr. Cab Driver, unsupported by any government agency, work to help fight one of the most insidious diseases of all time- HIV/AIDS.

UNAIDS reports that globally, there are 33 Million people living with AIDS.  Economically struggling areas of Africa, southeast Asia, and the Caribbean have the highest populations.  Haiti sits near the top, with 2.2% of its adult population stricken with HIV.

Long plagued with political violence and government corruption, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.  60% of its population lives below the poverty line.

HIV/AIDS in Haiti

• 8,706,497: population of Haiti (2007 est.)
• 110,000: Estimated number of people living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2007
• 2.2%: Estimated percentage of adults (ages 15-49) living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2007
• 53%: Estimated percentage of HIV cases that occured among women (ages 15-49) by the end of 2007
• 6,800: Estimated number of children (ages 0-15) living with HIV/AIDS by the end of 2007
• 7,500: Estimated number of deaths due to AIDS during 2007

Source

• UNAIDS 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic.  July2008

International Programs struggle with corrupt political leaders, too little money, and too many patients.  In spite of all efforts, the numbers of HIV positive victims continues to grow.

It is a difficult situation, with no end in site.

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Haiti: Turning People’s Lives Around

As my regular readers already know, my Uncle Mike is very involved in assisting the poor children in Haiti. He has made friends with two other volunteers there, who have kept a blog of their experiences. It can be difficult reading, but it’s a first hand view of the difficulties this country’s people endure. We thought we’d share it with you.

This is from the introduction to Maria’s Blog, Live From Haiti:

“Maria and John Carroll spend several months a year living in Haiti. John works as doctor in this scandalously poor country. Maria writes about John’s hard work. Haiti is the kind of place that breaks your heart as it fills it up. The more people learn about this country, only 600 miles from the United States, with its lovely, suffering people, the better off we will be. And isn’t that what we all want, especially your mother?”

Hope you enjoy it. Does anyone out there have any similar experiences?

A Self Made Millionaire Gives Back

(Uncle Mike is on the left.)

My Uncle Mike is the youngest of 8 children. He was born to my Italian immigrant grandparents in the 1930s. They grew up quite poor. His father worked in a local shoe factory with other immigrants. I have heard that his mother, in broken English, would tell the milkman, “when my sons grow up, they’ll pay you“. The funny thing is, the milkman always left the milk.

From this poor childhood, sixty some odd years ago, my uncle has become a millionaire. He first put himself through college, then started his own travel agency. It was onward and upward from there. He lists a string of accomplishments that go far beyond what I would ever hope to do.

Today, he is retired, enjoying his senior years with family and friends. Always one to embrace new ideas, he has his own website, and has been to Tibet to study Buddhism.

He has also recognized that it is time to “give something back to the milkman”. What goes around comes around, after all. To that end, he has recently written a document entitled “An Action Plan for the Economic Development and Reconstruction of Haiti“, and is working with various organizations to enhance the life of those in this ravaged country.

In particular, he has grown fond of working with the priests at the Timkatec Orphanage of Haiti. This next short story epitomizes the type of innovation and creative thinking of a millionaire.

At the orphanage in Haiti, a school bus was needed for the children, and there was none to be had. Somehow, my uncle managed to locate one here in Massachusetts. Step one accomplished. Now the next problem was, how to get this school bus to Haiti. After all, he couldn’t drive it. What could he do?

Well, as it turns out, my uncle still has some friends in the Cruise line industry. He pulled a few strings, and got them to load the bus onto a Cruise ship and bring it down to the orphanage. Imagine the priests’ surprise when my uncle came driving in with the bus!

That is my Uncle Mike. He lives life out of the box. And he’s a really great uncle, to boot.

If you’d like to make a donation to the children of Haiti, there’s a link in my sideblog.

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