HAITI NEEDS OUR HELP
By Caroline Saunders, the director of Jubilee Action, a Christian charity (THE GUARDIAN, 13/01/10): An earthquake of magnitude seven would be devastating for any country. In the wake of such force, death and destruction is tragically inevitable. However, the repercussions for Haiti , this small ill-fated Caribbean country, will be worse than almost anywhere else in the world, because of the long-term political, economic and cultural context that surrounds today’s natural disaster. There is a story often told among Haitians that when the Spanish came to Hispaniola (the small island shared between the Dominican Republic and Haiti) they surrendered Haiti to the devil in order to dedicate the Dominican Republic to God. When you consider their relative situations it is not hard to see why this myth is so commonly believed. Even before today’s tragic events Haiti was the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Nearly 80% of its population live on less than US$2 a day . Only 62% of its adu