Haitian Slums Rebuilt by VooDoo Construction Co !
 

...............The VooDoo method of Housing Reconstruction has been very busy in Haiti Rebuilding the Slums destroyed by the 7.0 earthquake ! The slum dwellers just started right in and took all the old wood and tin and before you could say.........Kawa Bunga , they done had they selves a , Brand new , Slum Condo !
................Things like surveys , plumbing , sanitation , basic health , garbage disposal , trash pickup\cleanup are just NOT necessary for Slums ! Walk out into the middle of the street , take a dump , and back to yo' condo for some Mo' Livin large !
.................All us folks here in the USA figured those poor blacks in Haiti , would want to rebuild with a much higher standard of living , like indoor plumbing , better construction methods , etc , BUT , VooDoo seems to be the preferred method of building , what do WE know . Simply amazing , fordy:coffee:

When a person lives in a corrupt society, this is what happens. I read about large areas of Havana where the basements of large apartment buildings were open cess pools because the plumbing failed and was never fixed.
If people don't want to put in the hard work to keep basic services working because it simply has been accepted that it will just be there, then that is what happens. If the people demand their immediate wants take priority, and don't think of the future, that is what happens.

Seems the US is going that way too. Too many unwilling to work at what needs doing and still demanding to be taken care of.

This reminds me of my first homestead. There was no house on the property, just an old falling down barn. I had three kids to keep dry and warm and fed. I salvaged a lot of material out of that old barn and built us a small cabin... no running water, no toilet, no electricity, no phones, but it gave us a place to sleep where it was dry. I used what I had and I didnt have much! As time went on I was able to provide more of the modern conveniences but those first years were pretty skimpy. Those folks in Haiti dont have much to work with either, but they have provided themselves with a roof using what they have available. Thats better than no roof at all. Someday maybe their economic situation will improve and they will be able to do better.

................I wish them all the best ! 'They' may have been broke before the hurricane , but , post hurricane several Billion dollars was donated to their rebuilding effort ! So , they certainly weren't 'Broke'..........maybe those funds disappeared down the governmental rathole , maybe they were invested in useless projects that didn't directly IMprove the health and welfare of the poor folks , regardless , the 'poor' have simply replicated their previous , disease ridden , rat infested , lifestyle , they had previously !
................I would simply say , IF enough new housing had been built to accomodate the poor , they would destroy it in short order because they can't even exert enough effort to cleanup the cess pool they live in currently . They simply don't care as far as I can tell . , fordy

What happened to the money that was donated? I understand billions of it. Rebuilding a country creates jobs and revenue. EVery carpenter, roofer, plumber should be working. Every nail and screw is needed. Brick makers should have a high time. What happened to the money?

Tabitha...that's why we donate time and effort...money always seems to go missing...sadly.

Matt

Yep , same thing happens right here in the good ole US of A . Nice new apartment buildings in the projects get trashed in no time .

.............Some , of the promised donations never materialized so the main Port Au Prince(spelling?) capitol looks like Berlin at the end of WW2 ! Basically , the whole populace should have been moved to a tent city , everything cleaned up , sewer , water and electric utilities installed and then the city could have been rebuilt . , fordy

It seems like these people assessed the conditions and did what they could to provide shelter for themselves. I suppose they could have waited around for someone to come in and lay out roads and sewers and water lines and other utilities and established building codes and all those other things we take for granted and sometimes rail against. Or they could do what they did, get on with life and survival as best they could. Sounds kind of homesteady to me.

.............Living in filth is not normal , and that is the lifestyle prior to the earthquake , and subsequent to it ! As I said before , they should have been moved to a tent city whether they liked it or not . , fordy:rolleyes:

Nothing like a little forced relocation to reassure the masses that the government is your friend.

People with nothing.. poor people who lost what little they did have, doing the best they can after an enormous disaster. Shame on them.

............The quantity they , ALL , seem to be lacking is Common Sense ! So , were you in charge you'd just allow them to choose their destiny and return to the Shanty Town lifestyle they have pursued for the last hundred years ? The one chance they have to move into the 21st century , with modern utilities and sanitation , and you'd just let them fall back into their previous disease ridden lifestyle . Your plan has been fully implemented cause they are 'There' ! , fordy

They WERE in tent cities whether they liked it or not. Then they moved out and tried to do something proactive for themselves instead of sitting waiting around doing nothing in tent cities.

I can't criticize people for trying to take back control of their own lives and working with whatever poor materials are available to them, even if what they build is primitive it's better than nothing at all.

It's better than sitting around doing nothing in a tent city waiting for someone else who's twiddling their thumbs to get their act in gear.

...............Actually , their communal Ignorance facilitates their 'lifestyle' , no wonder organizations don't follow through on their donations . , fordy

If I were in charge I could institute a cultural revolution like Mao or maybe follow in the footsteps of Pol Pot and the killing fields or relocate people from one region to another like Stalin. All for their own good, of course. Interesting that in a forum where many argue that you should be able to do with your land as you wish with minimal government input that you're advocating that these people shouldn't be able to follow their own destiny.

..................I'm only advocating forcing them into a tent City for as long as it takes to install utilities and survey the area in question for allocating land use between Commercial and Shanty town ! Once those services are up and running then open the system so they can make their own choices .
...................One item I would make non negotiable is sanitation and health............they would all be held accountable for keeping their homes and neighborhoods , CLEAN ! IF , they can't exert enough sense of community and put their trash in dumpsters , then they would be given one warning and then kicked OUT ! , fordy

I did a little research since my first post. There was a total of nine billion dollars pledged in aid of which about six billion was actually sent. The bulk of that aid wound up being used for tents food meds. Untold amounts were skimmed by politicians and aid providers. I think those victims have done well for themselves concidering there were several million in dire straights. Let's assume you lost everything you owned and were granted a thousand bucks to rebuild.... would you spend it on building permits and inspections or buy food and clothing for your family while you scavenge materials from the rubble?

Mitch Albom, from Detroit has raised many tens of thousands to a Haiti Orphanage and school. He goes down there once a month to check on everything.
While the US was hauling bottled water to Haiti, locals were hauling water from a well just outside town and selling for high prices in town. When asked what he would do if someone couldn't pay for water, "Too bad, business is business."
While the US has a crumbling infrastructure and 17 trillion in debt, we can't seem to accept the Haitian accepted standard of living, insisting on shoveling money directly to their corrupt government leaders.

Did you say Berlin?


This is what Berlin and every other big city looked like.
Notice that most of the women really are not dressed for that kind of work. They were city girls. Notice some are cleaning off bricks and stacking them, so they can be reused.
Winters were pretty harsh, and food was scarce.
On top of all that, some 15 million refugees who just had lost everything poured in from the East. In the middle of winter.

And there was no help whatsoever coming in. Not even bottled water.

A lot of boats went to Haiti from the Keys of Florida and even one large boat from right here on this island in Georgia. They were loaded with supplies and staples but were not allowed to be distributed to the people who really needed them. It was said that a lot of it rotted.:ogre:

.................Just watching that video just breaks my heart ! The Allied powers during the war tried painting every German citizen with the nationalistic brush as supporting Hitler , I never believed that assertion for a minute . The wives and children did work in the factories which effectively made them combatants and I'm sure they loved and supported the Army of Germany made up of their husbands , fathers and brothers ! That doesn't mean they supported Hitler and his genocide of the Jews , Pol's , Chec's , and a myriad of other non German races . In War , there is No humanity , morality , or compassion for those who just want to live peacefully as God would have us do . Syria is a smaller version of WW2 for it displays all the Killing and hatred that the Evil side of human nature can bring forth from Hell . Very sad indeed ! , fordy

fordy, actually my post is not about why and etc. of WWII but about a destroyed city ( in this case country) and how to go about rebuilding it.
Don't shilly shally around, roll up your sleeves, crying won't help , get to work, and rebuilding creates a lot of jobs. First, you clear your area of operation.

................Yes , I appreciate the difference between the collective conscience of the German ladies working to rebuild their country vs the people of Haiti ! They don't exhibit ANY interest in working together to rebuild their country ! This 'Attitude' is exhibited all over the continent of Africa . , fordy:eek:

You know don't you that Haiti shares the same single small island with another country called the Dominican Republic? The island's name is Hispaniola and the border line goes across the middle of the island. The difference between the 2 countries, the 2 nation's people's 'attitudes' and their 2 governments are like the difference between night and day. They came from the same place of origin and they both speak French but they are not the same.

Haiti is just one nation and I don't think Haiti's 'attitude' is exhibited all over the continent of Africa any more than it is exhibited all over the island Hispaniola that Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic. I think that's using too broad of a brush stroke to describe a huge continent that is composed of 57 countries, some of which are very highly advanced, westernized, multicultural, industrialized first world countries.

The problem with Haiti is not just the people or their attitude, the problem is poor government, poor education, terrible poverty and an atmosphere of violence, despair and hopelessness that blankets the nation of Haiti and no place for the Haitians to escape to to get away from that miasma of despair.

Where did their dignity and sense of self worth go? Maybe, they just don't care anymore! Apathy! They seem like liberals really. They seem to want someone to take care of them instead of picking themselves up and making their own lives better. Whether THEY want a better life is up to them.

I was wondering how long it would take. :hohum:

Is it ever possible to have a discussion on this board without somebody injecting their obsessive liberalphobia into the discussion?