Katz/Farmer

Both of Katz and Farmer's work really tear at your heartstrings. Often times reading Katz work I had to stop and take a break from the stories and statistics, must be nice for me to be able to take a break, unlike those living those stories and statistics. Both Katz and Farmer present the hardships of the people of Haiti, through the stories they have experienced and stories as told by friends. Through these stories, I as a reader am able to grasp what sort of turmoil Haitians are going through on a day to day basis because of the people of the United States.

I say that Haitians are suffering because of the American because of Katz numerous stories of rescue workers putting forth the effort to the people of Haiti after the earthquake but in a way that tremendously frustrating for a reader. I wanted to yell at the book, why is no one going to the rural areas of Haiti, why are rescuers only helping the guest in the hotels, non citizens of Haiti. Farmer writes, "When in 1991 international health and population experts devised a "human suffering index" by examining several examples of human welfare ranging from life expectancy to political freedom, 27 of 141 countries were characterized by "extreme human suffering" (369). Extreme human suffering seems to be happening at the hands of the American people. We sit here and can donate money that accumulates to millions of dollars, but in reality have no idea where that money actually goes.

Katz also mentioned numerous times that government people were constantly worried about social unrest. Katz writes, "The aid response's greatest concern after the quake was social unrest. But the episode was a reminder that the threat came not from some instinctive panic, but the age-old machinations of political struggle" (Katz 159). In great crisis the people of the place affected look to the people in charge. After the tornado in Tuscaloosa a few years ago, students looked to the administration for help, while the citizens of Tuscaloosa looked to their mayor and higher. The city of Tuscaloosa answered by cleaning up and making the areas affected by the tornado better but also impossible for those who once lived their to return. With plans to totally redo the parts destroyed by the disaster, also came plans to "clean up" the once problem areas. So for officials of Tuscaloosa, this was their way to wipe out any problems once had in some of the areas.

While this may not be the exact situation in Haiti, it is sad to see that Katz heard people talk about dropping an atomic bomb on Haiti to just start over. Katz explained that people who had been working in the country for awhile didn't think this idea was that bad, out of frustration and hardship. I don't know the solution to the problem of something like this but I do know, just as we talked about last week, that now that I have this information, I have a duty to spread the knowledge and educate people on these problems.