Cholera Outbreak in Haiti

The cholera outbreak in Haiti is so sad. It sure did take a while after the earthquake for some major health crisis to arise. There was hope for a while there that Haiti had avoided that.

Articles:
http://www.pih.org/news/entry/cholera-in-haiti-another-disease-of-poverty-in-a-traumatized-land/

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/10/21/1218715/at-least-53-dead-from-disease.html#storylink=mirelated

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=389&sid=2087190

Housing Crisis in Haiti- More homeless months after the quake due to sky high housing prices

I was so sad that to see that many of the organizations that have placed them selves in Haiti to "help" the country are in fact exacerbating the problem! I was surprised to discover that more people became homeless months after the earthquake despite all of the reported housing initiatives that different organizations implemented.

Conversations that I had with Haitians and foreigners residing in the country revealed that the organizations have come in offering homeowners renter fees well over the market rate therefore jacking up housing rent. Many people have had to take to the streets because they are unable to meet the new increases to their rent.

I was surprised to see that all nice properties and even the nicer hotels were occupied my countless different nonprofit entities. I paid the highest car rental fee in my life (being well traveled throughout the world) for vehicles that barely run because the nonprofit organizations came in and rented out all of the car rental companies at top dollar therefore causing transportation costs to rocket as well!

It was such a saddening paradox to see that the help for Haiti is helping the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. I definitely do not want to take away from the organizations that have gone into the country and have really affected some positive change but there is a serious issue that has arisen as well by nonprofits taking up space in the country and aren't really helping in the end.

See this Yahoo article on this subject:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/cb_haiti_earthquake_housing

Muhammad Yunus' Proposed Plan to Help Haiti

What do you think about What Muhammad has to say? I've already read opinions that his plan is "fluffy" and he is not to be idolized because he is a Nobel Peace prize winner for developing microfinancing.

He does present a compelling argument that I believe is worth thinking about but at the same time, to me, he is just presenting something old with new words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh6n9ghLm68&feature=player_embedded