I hope this isn’t true but word is that the United States is sending Levis and Hanes a wink and a nod by attempting to for Haiti to lower their minimum wage by 50%. Two years ago Haiti raised their minimum wage to 61 cents. However, to save these companies some dough United States would like Haiti to oblige them by being so kind as to make the new minimum wage a whopping 31 cents.

This infuriated American corporations like Hanes and Levi Strauss that pay Haitians slave wages to sew their clothes. They said they would only fork over a seven-cent-an-hour increase, and they got the State Department involved. The U.S. ambassador put pressure on Haiti’s president, who duly carved out a $3 a day minimum wage for textile companies (the U.S. minimum wage, which itself is very low, works out to $58 a day).
Haiti has about 25,000 garment workers. If you paid each of them $2 a day more, it would cost their employers $50,000 per working day, or about $12.5 million a year … As of last year Hanes had 3,200 Haitians making t-shirts for it. Paying each of them two bucks a day more would cost it about $1.6 million a year. Hanesbrands Incorporated made $211 million on $4.3 billion in sales last year.

Read more here

And you wonder why the people of Haiti can’t stop from being poor. I’m not talking about government regulation of minimum wage. What I’m talking about is the corrupt Haitian government once again not letting the employees and employers work out their own wages.

And Another thing. Why is the United States attempting to be a mediator between a private company and another country concerning daily wages? Hanes and Levis are big boys. If they can’t handle the cost of doing business then they have no business in business. Will the United States help the small mom and pop business when Wal-Mart of Home Depot comes to town. No, because it isn’t the governments concern.

One thing I learned when I stepped on Haitian soil is that the reason Haiti is so poor is because the government interferes with everything.

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Let me know what you think about the slide show. For more information click here.

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The week of being in Haiti almost seems like a dream. Other than the fact that I have photographs and video to prove I was there I would almost swear that I didn’t even go at all. But juxtaposed with that is the fact that I am still writing about my experience there. I am still talking to people about the trip and planning to return. So here was our last day of distributing food. We were in a rural community in Port Au Prince, Haiti such that the buses had to drop us off and we had to walk the rest of the way. What made this distribution the most dangerous of them all is that fact that there is not local police near by. This community is totally on it’s own. Although there are about 8000 people reside in the community there is no electricity or running water. Because this community is on its own there is a benefit that they must all work together to stay alive. This would work for us but when a necessity like food is in high demand and mothers and fathers are desperate to provide for their families a mob mentality can easily take over.

Let me give you a little context. Let’s say that your family desperately needed food and water. There are four other families in the same predicament. Everyday you see your children growing weaker and becoming more sick. Food is distributed but there are only three bags of food available. You get the line late and you are number four. Would you just politely wait in line and hope there is another bag of food? If you see a bag of food lying next to someone who isn’t paying attention would you pick it up and run? This is the situation what we came into this community.

What are your thoughts after watching the video? After you leave a comment then Click here to see the Haiti Relief Photo Gallery

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Everyone these days seems to like behind the scenes stories. Stories are what give meaning to the mundane, don’t they? So I thought I would do the same with a few of my photographs from Haiti. The first thing that everyone notices about Port Au Prince is the trash. It is everywhere! What you will also notice is that there is no interest in sanitation. In short, the reason Haitians typically have no regard for sanitation is because it isn’t available to them. If the only water that you have is unclean how long do you think it would take you drink a little bit of it so that you don’t die of thirst? Not very long I think.

Mothers would bathe their children in a nearby gutter while the same water that was just used for bathing is used for washing fruit.  You may ask, “how could anyone do this?” Well, first you only ask that because you have been taught that disease and germs and exist even if you don’t see it. Also, there is not a one-for-one ratio with germs. Just because you drink contaminated water doesn’t mean you will always get sick. TRUE STORY: As a child I would eat raw bacon every Saturday morning when my parents weren’t looking. Does that mean it is okay for children to eat raw bacon since I never got sick from it? Of course not. This is the same for Haitians and others in third world countries.

Haitian man washing clothes on sidewalk

During the bus ride through Port Au Prince I noticed a man cleaning his jeans with water from a drainage. Although washing clothes in the equivalent of river water is not necessarily bad this man would have no problem drinking it as well. One thing I want to point out is that I noticed that Haitians took care of their clothes. They dressed up for church in suits. They would have no problem in walking in the heat wearing their finest all day! I certainly had a lot of respect for them because this showed me that no matter how bad it got they would always hold their head high.

Hog eating trash on sidewalk in Port Au Prince Haiti

I know that you cannot tell but that pig on the left hand side probably weighs 500-600 lbs. He is eating the trash that lines the streets. Everyone just throws their trash wherever they like. Public trash bins do exist but most people will throw their trash in its general direction. While I was there I think that I only saw three trash trucks but they just cleaned up the trash bins and not around it. One thing you have to remember is that there really is no motivation to clean up since life is already pretty depressing.

Hog eating trash at food market in Port Au Prince Haiti

Here is a close up photo of another 500-600 hog eating the trash on the side of the street. Unlike the previous photograph this hog is eating trash in a public market. I don’t think this would go well in the mind of a competent health inspector. Since everyone is poor there is no need for a business man to clean up because it’s not going to increase his market share. In addition, when you are poor sanitation and aesthetics are relegated to the bottom of your hierarchy of needs. For more info on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs click here.

The heart of the matter is that the government is corrupt and all the money that the world has given to the Haitian government for the betterment of their people has only lined their pockets and Swiss bank accounts. The Haitians are an entrepreneurial people and I hold them in high regard and have a deep respect for their motivation. So the problem doesn’t lie with the Haitian citizens but with the government who has stolen their lives.

Leave a comment with your thoughts.

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Once we got to Santo Domingo Airport that split us up in groups and then gave us a quick run down on what to expect for the week. View photo gallery here.

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During one of our last food distributions for the week I had the opportunity to walk along Pastor Edmond, a local Haitian pastor, to talk a little about the needs of his community. He has been doing this for almost 40yrs. This is a man that anyone of any faith can respect. Leave a comment on what you think. View photo gallery here.

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Just before we landed in Santo Domingo. I forgot how loud it can get on the airplane. Hopefully, you can hear a little bit.  View photo gallery here.

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• Haiti Video From Plane pt1

Although I am a photographer I figured it couldn’t hurt to take a small point and shoot with a video option along. Sometimes a photo needs a little movement to help tell the story. I’ll be uploading the vids throughout the week. Enjoy. Oh, don’t forget to leave a comment or two on your thoughts! To view the photo gallery click here

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• Haiti Video From Plane pt2

From February 6-12 I traveled to Port Au Prince with Score International to help with food distribution.  To be honest, I did not know much about Haiti, it’s people, and especially nothing about their history. It was certainly an eye opening experience and I will share more in depth experiences later on this week.  With so many photos of death, destruction, and mayhem plastered all over the web and tv I wanted to do something a little bit different. I wanted to photograph and capture the faces of the people and especially the children that I came in contact.  Because we were required to always have security around we were only permitted to have very limited access to the public. As such, the photographs of sidewalks were captured during the bus rides. If you have any questions or comments please leave them in the comment section. Enjoy.

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As long as there are no airline cancellations, I will be stepping on a plane for Haiti today about 6pm tonight. This post will serve two purposes. 1) To let visitors know that I am not lazy and not posting but that I am out of the country and 2) To update all my supporters. Just to warn you this is going to be a little rushed since I have to get a few more things together.

Here’s an email for a little context of the terrain and environment that we will be going to:

If you flight is canceled or delayed and will NOT make it to the DR before Sunday, you will need to cancel your ticket and reschedule for another trip. We cannot make arrangements for Sunday pick-ups in the DR because the teams are leaving out at 2:30am Sunday morning. If your flight does not arrive on Saturday you will not make it in time for the bus.

If you do have to cancel your ticket, you should have one year to use it and we will be happy to reschedule you for another Haiti relief trip. Hopefully this won’t be an issue for anyone.Also, we received this e-mail from our missionaries on the field today. Please take into consideration the following recommendations:

Hey guys, please email the people who are coming to Haiti and tell them to bring as many snacks: granola bars, peanut butter, trail mix, etc as they can bring in their ONE backpack.  They will need snacks to live on during the week since they will probably only get one meal a day of rice and beans.

Also bring:

Bug Spray
Tent
Sleeping bag
Matt for sleeping bag
Mosquito net if you have one
Baby wipes  (Bathroom facilities are extremely limited)
Two changes of clothes

Also, our destination will be Fond Parisian, Haiti to work with Love A Child Hospital so hopefully I’ll get to play with the kids.

Talk to you soon,

peter

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