Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere.  Haiti is so underdeveloped they don't have any of the big fast food chains there.  Imagine a country without a Macdonalds, Burger King, KFC or Wendys!  Some of you would exclaim that this is fantastic but these corporations provide investment, sponsorship for local culture and jobs.

 

Haiti has a population of 10M and is probably the second biggest island pop'n wise next to Cuba.  It is slightly larger than Dom Rep  - the other country that shares the island of Hispanolia with it.  In terms of selecting land on the island Haiti lost big time versus Dom Rep.  There are mountains that divide Haiti and Dom Rep.  The rivers of that mountain all flow into the Dom Rep side.  The rain all comes from the atlantic ocean and blows westwards.  The mountains however stop the rain from crossing into Haiti.  The mountains protect Dom Rep from hurricanes that blow in the channel between Jamaica and the island housing Haiti/Dom Rep.  They do the exact opposite to Haiti - the rain dump from the hurricane flows down the mountain and adds additional flooding.  In general the Haitian side has no forest, limited fresh water and very dry land.  The Dom Rep side has one of the most fertile regions in the world.

 

For my job I had the honour of driving around the entire country 6 times in 3 days.  In my drive I saw some of the most extreme poverty I have ever seen.  At one point I had to stop at one of our towers in a very rural area to talk to some engineers who were onsite.  I got swarmed by half-clothed little kids asking all kinds of questions about phones - most of these kids were straight from one of those "help the children" tv ads.  Dirty faces, torn/ripped clothes, etc.  We bought some water and sodas from one of the kids who had been selling to the miners up the road and handed a few out.

 

Shortly thereafter we drove by a small gov't run housing project beside a mine.  The men had just finished working at the mine and were all bathing naked in the mine water - with their horses.  The water was the colour of cement.  The women were on the side washing clothes.  Kids ran around - young kids had no clothes, older kids had t-shirts.  Everything and everybody was covered in limestone dust.  Still the people had a generally cheery air - perhaps because they do have jobs.