Not always paradisical

[La Gringa]

WOW!!!!!!!! You hear a place is bad but those photos depict worse than bad. And DIRT biscuits. Thanks for posting LaGringa. No matter how bad we may think we have it, there are those all over the world who manage to survive on so much less.

Hey, I didn't know either until we moved here. And these photos only scratch the surface of what is going on over there. These people just want a fighting chance and they won't get it in Haiti. I don't blame them for trying to leave. I think I would too.

[La Gringa]

Minimum wage in the Turks & Caicos is $5/hr. Not sure what it is in the States these days but I'm sure it's more than $5/hr.

I'm not trying to beat this to death - it's one of those things that you don't expect to get a bird's eye view of when you consider moving to a place like this. It's a hot topic here - the TCI has a $1 million bill after this latest tragedy. That's a lot of money for this little country especially right now.

Haiti lawmakers OK minimum wage hike after clashes

By JONATHAN M. KATZ (AP) – Aug 4, 2009

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Lawmakers voted to more than double Haiti's minimum wage Tuesday night after long hours of debate and clashes between police and protesters, who complained they can't feed and shelter their families on the current pay of about $1.75 a day.

The plan adopted fell short of the $5 wage demanded by the demonstrators, although it would more than double the minimum pay to about $3.75 a day.

The raise also would include workers at factories producing clothes for export, an idea that President Rene Preval opposed. After refusing to publish into law a plan passed by Parliament in May to nearly triple the minimum wage, Preval proposed giving the garment factory workers an increase to about $3.

Given the lateness of Parliament's 55-6 vote to adopt the new raise, there was no immediate reaction from the president or from the protesters.

Earlier in the day, police fired tear gas at some 2,000 protesters who gathered outside Parliament to demand a big increase in the minimum wage. As legislators prepared to meet on the issue, some of the protesters threw rocks at police and began ripping down flags of U.N. member countries near the building.

Most of the crowd dispersed before the Parliament session began, with no arrests and only two reported injuries, including a cameraman who was hit in the head with a rock.
Many of the protesters were minimum-wage factory workers, such as Banel Jeune, a 29-year-old father who sews sleeves on shirts.

"Seventy gourdes, that doesn't do anything for me," he said, referring to his current minimum wage. "I can't feed my kids, and I can't send them to school."

The issue has been inflammatory in Haiti, which is the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation. But despite the heated debate and occasional violence, few people would be affected by the wage increase.

Most of Haiti's 9 million () Haitians who are employed work on small farms or sell basic goods on the street. Only some 250,000 people have jobs covered by the minimum salary law, said lawmaker Steven Benoit, who sponsored the bill.
Still, some development experts argue that a pay increase would hurt plans for fighting Haiti's widespread unemployment by creating more jobs in the factories that produce clothing for export to the United States.

With new trade advantages that allow for duty-free exports of clothing to the U.S., such factories could provide "several hundred thousand jobs to Haitians ... over a period of just a few years," according to a report submitted to the U.N. in January.

But it said that plan requires costs be kept down.
The report had been requested by Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and prepared by Oxford University professor Paul Collier. It is now being promoted by former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the new U.N. envoy for Haiti.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[La Gringa]

http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/wor...ke-rocks-haiti

[Jer]

La Gringa, that is so sad. It's all over the news here because the brazilian army is there with about 1,500 men leading the UN forces.

[Reefraft]

It seems Miami is becoming the epi-center for relief. From my neighbor just left with her dogs for rescue, our churches every where even a veterans group I belong to is making inroads to see if we can go to help.....Like you said Gringa is this not enough for these poor people. I could not happen at a worse time. After the Hurricans of the past years and now this..They have to be in our prayers...I may be down soon. Hopefully we can do something...

[La Gringa]

They are definitely in our prayers here. Lots of fund raising and relief efforts being staged as well.

The plight of these people really cuts deep for me. I have to admit though that it's annoying at times that we are overrun with them and they hound you everywhere and all the time for work and are terrible drivers and steal papayas from your yard.... but when I take a step back and think about why they are here, how can I blame them? I would do the same - anything and everything I could for a chance at a better life.

[Robja]

LaGringa,

It seems like it has gone from bad to worse for those people in that country. A friend of mine from church just sold his medical practice this fall and moved to Dominican Republic to work with CURE. From the email I got from him last nite and him and his wife have gone across to Haiti to help out. Being an orthopedic surgeon I am sure he will be busy if they can get medical supplies. I am sure he wasn't planning on something like this so soon after going into missionary work.

[La Gringa]

LaGringa,

It seems like it has gone from bad to worse for those people in that country. A friend of mine from church just sold his medical practice this fall and moved to Dominican Republic to work with CURE. From the email I got from him last nite and him and his wife have gone across to Haiti to help out. Being an orthopedic surgeon I am sure he will be busy if they can get medical supplies. I am sure he wasn't planning on something like this so soon after going into missionary work.

thank goodness for people like your friend, tho....