Growing-up in Haiti

In 1804 Haiti drew attention by becoming the first black republic to declare independence, and today it attracts attention for its struggles with poverty and corruption. Even though in the past Haiti's individualism symbolized the ambitions of the world’s enslaved people, they made no effort to inspire or to help other slave rebellions because of the fear that the great powers could retaliate against them. For the sake of national survival, nonintervention became a Haitian tenet. As a result it is nowadays the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and has witnessed many corrupt leaders as well as substantial exploitation by foreign governments, especially by the United States, France and Canada. The country has always been considered as a place where anyone could make money off the backs of the poor, whilst major powers supported dictators to maintain their dominance in order to continue exploiting the country. It is the archetypal example of a system that sees the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It is perhaps no surprise that Haiti has been ranked as the most corrupt country in the World by Transparency International in 2006. The poor Haitians I met have lost faith in their leaders. Even though the violence has decreased since the UN started a razzia (breakdown) in the beginning of 2007, institutionalized poverty and the high rate of unemployment have created a hopeless situation for most Haitians. Clean water, food and electricity are in short supply whereas typhus, malaria, dysentery, tuberculosis and Aids are abundant. People’s only faith lies in god through their two main religions, Catholicism and Voodoo.