Haiti lost over 300,000 people after the earthquake in 2010. Haiti is the most vulnerable of all the Caribbean countries when it comes to extreme weather events. What would pass as a rain shower in the Dominican Republic leads to major flooding in Haiti. In the last five decades, more than 98 percent of the country’s forest has been lost. Floodwaters can come down the mountains like a snow avalanche. Tons of garbage and contaminants are breeding grounds for disease.

Haiti has the:

• Third highest rate of hunger in the world
• Less clean water than Ethiopia
• A malnutrition rate that is higher than Angola
• A life expectancy that is lower than the Sudan
• The distinction of being less than two hours by plane from the coast of Florida

The socio, economic, and political climate of Haiti presents a reciprocal problem for the people of the United States as well as Haiti. The causes of poverty that are prevalent in Haiti are probable predictors of outside influences that can deplete the human and intellectual capital of a country.

Some of the noticeable causes of poverty in Haiti are:

• Language
• Illiteracy
• The system of education (or lack of education)
• Soil erosion
• Export crops instead of local food crops
• Lack of logistical social infrastructure (roads, water sewage, medical, education, and power)
• Unemployment and underemployment
• Lack of economic competition
• Haitian self image

The nearest town that you can locate on Google Maps is Chambrun, Haiti, which is about 13 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince. Onaville currently holds approximately 150,000 “earthquake survivors” and is located about 15 miles due west of Chambrun. Both places are located in the Ouest region of Haiti.