David Brooks, writing in the NYT:
On Oct. 17, 1989, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 struck the Bay Area in Northern California. Sixty-three people were killed. This week, a major earthquake, also measuring a magnitude of 7.0, struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Red Cross estimates that between 45,000 and 50,000 people have died.
This is not a natural disaster story. This is a poverty story. It’s a story about poorly constructed buildings, bad infrastructure and terrible public services. On Thursday, President Obama told the people of Haiti: “You will not be forsaken; you will not be forgotten.” If he is going to remain faithful to that vow then he is going to have to use this tragedy as an occasion to rethink our approach to global poverty. He’s going to have to acknowledge a few difficult truths.
Here are the four hard things Brooks identifies: (1) we don’t know how to use aid to reduce poverty; (2) micro-aid is vital but insufficient; (3) it is time to put the thorny issue of culture at the center of efforts to tackle global poverty; (4) it’s time to promote locally led paternalism.
ASSIGNMENT – Please respond with at least two sentences each to the four points made by Mr. Brooks of the NY Times regarding the failure of public health in Haiti.
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On Oct. 17, 1989, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 struck the Bay Area in Northern California. Sixty-three people were killed. This week, a major earthquake, also measuring a magnitude of 7.0, struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Red Cross estimates that between 45,000 and 50,000 people have died.
This is not a natural disaster story. This is a poverty story. It’s a story about poorly constructed buildings, bad infrastructure and terrible public services. On Thursday, President Obama told the people of Haiti: “You will not be forsaken; you will not be forgotten.” If he is going to remain faithful to that vow then he is going to have to use this tragedy as an occasion to rethink our approach to global poverty. He’s going to have to acknowledge a few difficult truths.
Here are the four hard things Brooks identifies: (1) we don’t know how to use aid to reduce poverty; (2) micro-aid is vital but insufficient; (3) it is time to put the thorny issue of culture at the center of efforts to tackle global poverty; (4) it’s time to promote locally led paternalism.
ASSIGNMENT – Please respond with at least two sentences each to the four points made by Mr. Brooks of the NY Times regarding the failure of public health in Haiti. 1.
I think that other countries besides us should help Haiti. Haiti has many problems over there. They need clean drinking water and a clean place to live. Us as Americans should go over there and help them clean up their country and talk to them to make them feel better about themselves.
I agree with number four the most, it is other countries’ responsibility to lead their own countries. We can help them, but it is their responsibility to step it up, and get things done as well.
other countries don’t understand how badly we are in debt and they think we have all this money to spare and help others but we need to get out of the ditch before we attempt to help anyone else
On Oct. 17, 1989, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 struck the Bay Area in Northern California. Sixty-three people were killed. This week, a major earthquake, also measuring a magnitude of 7.0, struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Red Cross estimates that between 45,000 and 50,000 people have died.
This is not a natural disaster story. This is a poverty story. It’s a story about poorly constructed buildings, bad infrastructure and terrible public services. On Thursday, President Obama told the people of Haiti: “You will not be forsaken; you will not be forgotten.” If he is going to remain faithful to that vow then he is going to have to use this tragedy as an occasion to rethink our approach to global poverty. He’s going to have to acknowledge a few difficult truths.
Here are the four hard things Brooks identifies:
(1) we don’t know how to use aid to reduce poverty; we need to stop pooring money into a country that keeps getting worse. We need to help them use the resources that are already there to get them better.
(2) micro-aid is vital but insufficient; we need to find a way to help them without training out our own resources
(3) it is time to put the thorny issue of culture at the center of efforts to tackle global poverty; yes it is time to put culture aside
(4) it’s time to promote locally led paternalism. we need more local people to help just not one country.,
ASSIGNMENT – Please respond with at least two sentences each to the four points made by Mr. Brooks of the NY Times regarding the failure of public health in Haiti.
I don’t think the U.S. exactly knows how to help global poverty. I don’t see how we can fix global poverty when there is so much poverty in our own country that we are not taking care of even though much of our population is in poverty. We try to help everybody else with their problems, yet we can’t even fix our own problems. I think that we should take care of our selves before others. We should also only bite off as much as we can chew.
I think the aid in Haiti is a failure because the government there was not prepared and had no way to help those citizens. I think we should still help them and others should help them so they can recover from this issue. It has been a failure but if we don’t help them in any way then it will only get worse.
With hatit being a poverty area of the world most people would agree that this would/could of been way less if they weren’t controlled by a warlord. America and many other countries to need to involve themselves to save haiti from their selfless ruler. America though doesn’t need to be the only country helping with the medical area of this disaster the neighboring countries should made put some effort into it.
I think that the United States should help, but they can not rely on us to do everything. We are not invincible. We have our own disasters to worry about. I think that other countries need to step in along with the United States and help Haiti. Haiti is in so much poverty they need our help or they will not have a chance. Everyone needs to try and chip in.
On Oct. 17, 1989, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 struck the Bay Area in Northern California. Sixty-three people were killed. This week, a major earthquake, also measuring a magnitude of 7.0, struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Red Cross estimates that between 45,000 and 50,000 people have died.
This is not a natural disaster story. This is a poverty story. It’s a story about poorly constructed buildings, bad infrastructure and terrible public services. On Thursday, President Obama told the people of Haiti: “You will not be forsaken; you will not be forgotten.” If he is going to remain faithful to that vow then he is going to have to use this tragedy as an occasion to rethink our approach to global poverty. He’s going to have to acknowledge a few difficult truths.
Here are the four hard things Brooks identifies: (1) we don’t know how to use aid to reduce poverty; (2) micro-aid is vital but insufficient; (3) it is time to put the thorny issue of culture at the center of efforts to tackle global poverty; (4) it’s time to promote locally led paternalism.
I think The U.S. should help but at the same time I thought we didnt have any money ourselves…….?I think we need to fix problems in our own country before we start helping the rest of the world it dosent really make sense to me!
I feel that the second point is a major one because no matter how much aid gets sent, if it can’t get to the people or it isn’t what they need, it isn’t going to be effective for Haiti. Aid is so important to them right now in every aspect because they are in such poverty. They just need aid that will be efficient.
otheR countRies dnt undeRstand how badLy we R in debt n they think we have aLL this money to spaRe n heLp otheRs bt we need to get out of the ditch b4 we attempt to help anyone eLse
Haiti needs alot of Aid, in this time. thye need all the help they can get, but alot of things theey need can not reach them at a time like this.
Haiti needs a lot of supplies and money. The thing they need the most is fresh water and doctors.
Haiti needs a lot of supplies and money. The thing they need the most is fresh water and doctors. I think that if everyone pitched just a little money it would help them more then any of us even know.