“Killing with Kindness” was written by American Anthropologist Mark Schuller, he did research and fieldwork on globalization, the outreach of NGOs and development in Haiti. Basically, this book shed a light upon Haitian people who are living in poverty, violence and most recently the destruction and devastation of two earthquakes. Which left many poor people homeless, many die due to the collapse of buildings, starvation of food, and shortage of medical supplies? Schuller’s mission was to help the Haitian people. As a first responder of the earthquakes he investigates and monitors the relief efforts provided by various countries. As he completes his ethnography “Killing with Kindness” he explores the achievements of women and how the two women organizations NGOs Fanm Te`t Ansanm and Sove Lavi help women to survive in Haiti. My focus will be on the impact of developing aid, how imperialism affects Haiti, contributions toward participation and autonomy along with the purpose of globalization.
Haiti has to fix its economic crises and destruction caused by both the earthquake and mismanagement of its resources. It also has to educate its people about some of the most prevalent diseases such as HIV/AIDS. The two NGO non-profit organizations Sove Lavi and Fanm Tet Ansanm struggle to reach out to women, especially through training programs to help stop the contraction and prevention of HIV/AIDS. Violence against women is a common occurrence; Fanm Tet Ansam provides medical care for women, distribution of condoms and HIV/AIDS testing. This organization use different measures to help women understand the dangers of sexual transmitted diseases, by enforcing abstinence, birth controls and other prevention methods {p4}. However, the book d...
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...ds more countries to help with the development process, which may take many years to complete. The merging of countries enables one to become multicultural and has the benefits of surviving in one’s country. I believe many foreign countries can help Haiti to develop resources and lay a foundation that will be successful. By helping the country to produce more agriculture crops, educate the people so they can get jobs, build roads and irrigation systems to help with manufacturing of goods from place to place.
I totally believe that Schuller did a terrific job outlining all the problems and difficulties affecting Haiti. This ethnography “killing with kindness enlightens people about Haitian culture, poverty, violence and inequality of women. Schuller’s detail coverage of HIV/AIDS, the two NGOs, the earthquake and donors was extraordinary.
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When I started to read Miracle on Voodoo Mountain, I was quite moved by the faith and honor that Megan Boudreaux portrayed. In my mind, I could think only of how scared she must have been to leave here loved ones behind and venture a world away. Without a concrete plan of how she was going to survive, she put her faith in God and followed her dreams. I cannot say that I found the book to be as amazing as I originally thought it would be, but I have learned many things about Haiti and the culture, and I am thankful for the experience.
The Haiti earthquake that occurred on January 12, 2010 just fifteen miles south of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince was a severely large-scale earthquake, at a magnitude of 7.0. The initial shock was then followed by a series of aftershocks with magnitudes ranging up to 5.9. Over three hundred thousand people died due to this extreme chaos. Many buildings collapsed and disintegrated under the force of the quake; both the cathedral and National Palace in Port-au-Prince were heavily damaged. In the aftermath of this tragedy, efforts to aid the people of Haiti with medical assistance, water, and food were hampered by the loss of communication lines as well as by roads blocked by debris. Over one million people were left homeless due to this quake. Two days after the earthquake, journalist Leonard Pitts wrote “Sometimes the Earth is Cruel,” an article describing how the people of Haiti responded to the disaster. In “Sometimes the Earth is Cruel,” a major theme is that some things are inevitable.
Why are these background informations useful? Because these informations provide us some important basic knowledges of Haiti. As a country mainly composed of ex-slaves, Haiti is mainly composed of people of African origin. However, why is Haiti so poor compared to its other black majority neighbors such as Saint Kitts and Neves and Barbados? Because Haiti did not attain its independence through peaceful means. Haitian revolt against the French, and they indeed won, against Napoleon Bonaparte[2].
“… so you decide you’re going to get rid of them. You can’t do it with guns, though, because that would be inhumane. So you give them AIDS. It’s part of the American Plan, people are saying. It makes sense,so I sort of believe it. People sat that the CIRA developed AIDS, and you know that the Americans are always saying there are too many Haitians.” (Farmer, 232)
...victims of war and genocide, it is admirable to see his courage to remain engaged in service to his fellow human. With a bold, yet pragmatic vision, Orbinski is unconcerned with seemingly intractable problems of finding drugs for the poorest AIDS victims. The book illustrates his desire to get the job done without bravado and grand statements. Although the book was painful to read, it takes he reader to the extreme of human suffering. Nevertheless, it also inspires with its reflections of humanitarianism and the ingenuity brought to its implementation. It is heartening to know James Orbinski can inspire students in both the arts and sciences as they set out on their careers. Since after all he’s seen, Orbinski remain optimistic, not cynical, and committed to action. Do give this book to any students in your life, after you have read it yourself.
The world isn’t always fair, but in some cases it is downright cruel. In his poem, Pitt’s states, “Surely some homeless, dust-streaked Haitian can be forgiven for thinking it is always Haiti's turn this morning, two days after the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere saw its capital city smashed by the strongest earthquake it has ever known, a 7.0-magnitude monster.” Haiti seems to get knocked down by this cruel earth over and over again while all the other countries are just spectators. He then follows that up by saying, “It is to write relief checks, donate blood, volunteer material and time and to fear, even in the doing, that these gestures are small against the need, inconsequential against the ache of a people whose turn seems never to end.” The rest of the world tries to help as best they can while Haiti takes its turn in the ring over and over.
One important scene in the film ‘The Age of Aids’ is “Port Au Prince, Haiti”. In this scene it outlines the conditions in Haiti, which were very poor and it turn left the city defenseless against the new disease. In 70’s and 80’s the disease began to be seen by doctors and priests who were being sought after to cure a unseen disease which left the people with the “look of death, [making them] so skinny you could see their bones”. The scene then goes on to take a look at one of the first HIV clinics in Port Au Prince, which was opened in the roughest parts of town. One of the surprising things that this clinic found when they were looking at the patients coming in was that the mean they were analyzing had more contact with women then they had with men. This was extremely interesting because this was completely different from what the pattern of the disease had been in the US. The doctors believed this was because homosexual males had been coming into Haiti as tourists and where having sex with locals, who in comparison didn’t call themselves homosexuals because even though they had been having sex with men, the number of women they were having sex with greatly outnumbered the men. This was extremely important because it allowed people to open their eyes, and realize that this was not a homosexual disease, that anyone could get the disease. And that’s exactly what happened within the Haitian community. Within three years the disease had spread across the entire island effects all aspects of society. This scene was effective because it is able to change a viewer with little knowledge of the disease to understand how doctors were able to come to the conclusion that the disease was not in fact a homosexual ...
The Nation of Haiti has been plagued with excessive bad luck when it comes to external invasion. Whether it be larger countries taking control, or outsiders brought in as slaves, Haiti has endured many hardships. These issues, while very common in a lot of countries, are exposed in a short story by a native Haitian. In “A Wall of Fire Rising”, Edwidge Danticat illustrates a myriad of historical issues in Haiti from the 17th to the 20th century through a series of events in one family’s life. One such issue would be the Haitian Revolution and the consequences that came of it.
Casimir, J, & Claypool, M 2012, ‘Going Backwards Toward the Future: From Haiti to Saint-Domingue,’ The Global South, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 172-192.
The economics of Haiti has deceased in the last 4 years after the devastating earthquake that struck it 4 years ago. The Haiti economy has become very poor and one of the poorest country in the south, Central America and Caribbean region making it ranked 24 out of 29 countries in this area and its overall score is below average. Haiti’s economic freedom is 48.1 making it economy the 151st freest country while in the last several years Declines in the management of government spending, freedom from corruption, and labor freedom make its overall score 2.6 points lower than last year. Recovering from the disastrous earthquake in 2010 with the support of the U.S. recovering efforts “Haiti’s post-earthquake reconstruction efforts continue, assisted by substantial aid from the international community. Governing institutions remain weak and inefficient, and overall progress has not been substantial. The parliament has not renewed the mandate of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, which had been tasked with overseeing reconstruction efforts but was unpopular.”( .heritage.org). The open market of Haiti trade weighted to be 2.1 this is because the lack of tariffs hamper the trade freedom of Haiti. Foreign investors are given national treatment but the investment is small and the financial sector is remained underdeveloped and does not provide any adequate support.
...f Haiti was extremely deprived and the political power was non-existent. Second, the slaves who were supposedly going to take over Haiti, did not have the proper education or leadership to run Haiti as a successful country. Both Trouillot and I stand to affirm that the Haitian Revolution truly was unthinkable and pointless, but it did make an overall impact on the fight against slavery.
The AIDS epidemic has reached disastrous proportions on the continent of Africa. Over the past two decades, two thirds of the more than 16 million people in the world infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which causes AIDS, live in sub-Saharan Africa. It is now home to the largest number of people infected, with 70 percent of the world’s HIV infected population. The problem of this ongoing human tragedy is that Africa is also the least equipped region in the world to cope with all the challenges posed by the HIV virus. In order understand the social and economic consequences of the disease, it is important to study the relationship between poverty, the global response, and the effectiveness of AIDS prevention, both government and grass roots.
I share the opinion that the higher rate of HIV infection in the world stems in part from failure of personal responsibility and inattention to warnings from HIV/AIDS advocates, physicians and community organizations. However there are other elements that play an imperative role in the devastation that HIV/AIDS is causing in poor and minority communities according to the article “America’s Epidemic” by Gloria Browne Marshal.
From the above situations and examples, the globalized international society has helped reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS. However, it is because globalized, international organizations have been able to come forward to solve this issue. At the same time, it is important to remember that many international organizations or states act in self interest due to which many developing states like Brazil initially faced problems in solving the issue of HIV/AIDS. Therefore, health issues such as that of HIV/AIDS are not only shaped by the science of biology, but also through policies, decisions and events in this globalized international society.
HIV does not only affect the well-being of individuals, it has large impacts on households, communities and even nations as a whole. Peer discussions and personal research has also made me realize that some of the countries suffering from this HIV epidemic also rather unfortunately suffer from other infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, relative poverty and economic stagnation. Despite these setbacks, new inte...