Hungry Haitians Eat Dirt Cookies

[Hippie Staff]

Just when you think you've seen it all..

This is sad.

Hungry Haitians Resort to Eating Dirt


By JONATHAN M. KATZ,
AP
Posted: 2008-01-29
Filed Under: World News (http://news.aol.com/world)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Jan. 29) - It was lunchtime in one of Haiti's worst slums, and Charlene Dumas was eating mud.

With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some take desperate measures to fill their bellies.

Charlene, 16 with a 1-month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau.

The mud has long been prized by pregnant women and children here as an antacid and source of calcium. But in places like Cite Soleil, the oceanside slum where Charlene shares a two-room house with her baby, five siblings and two unemployed parents, cookies made of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening have become a regular meal.

"When my mother does not cook anything, I have to eat them three times a day," Charlene said. Her baby, named Woodson, lay still across her lap, looking even thinner than the slim 6 pounds 3 ounces he weighed at birth.

Click here for the rest of this story (http://news.aol.com/story/_a/hungry-haitians-resort-to-eating-dirt/20080129175709990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001)

[NCW_Woodnymph]

This is awful! The people live with such horrible conditions there. I've always wanted to adopt one of the many babies in Haitian orphanages put we can't afford that yet. When my little ones are old enough to do without me for a couple of weeks, I want to go on an aid mission down there. It is very dangerous for Americans though so we'll have to see. :(

:hippie:

[Buffalo Head '75]

This is just awful. I was really poor for a few years when I was a kid but NOTHING like that. That is just unfathomable that some people live with so much in this country and so many others have to suffer.

[LIBRA]

Its stories like this that make me realize how blessed I am. I wish there was more to do other then donate money to an organization that has overhead. I want to give directly to the people. Is there some way to ship food to families or clothes?? I donate to Oxfam every yr but its not much.

[Hippie Staff]

I think that the main problem lies in the severe corruption within Haiti. Although you could donate to a reputable organization, food is seized at checkpoints, or by the government, etc.


The relationship between Dominican Republic and Haiti puzzles me the most. ...I mean it's the same island.. The Dominican has luxury resorts, and caters to euro travelers...Haitians eat dirt cookies.

Here's an interesting article on it (in english and spanish)..anyway..it's a sad situation..similar to those in Africa. You can help, but does the help get there....

http://peruanista.blogspot.com/2008/01/haiti-dominican-republic.html

[Buffalo Head '75]

I won't pretend to know anything about this whatsoever but is the difference the tourism that the Dominican gets coupled by the money put in by the baseball players?

Although I know from guys that I work with that the Dominicans are very, very poor as well. Some living without proper shelter, etc.

[Unkle_John]

There are some black ladies in the south (Mississippi or Alabama) who eat limestone chalk. They did it when they were pregnant and continued for years after giving birth. And there are cases of mothers uprooting house plants to eat the dirt, they had no idea why.

[PEACE FROG]

I once made my brother a dirt sandwich. He was suspicious of the random act of kindness and checked the contents before taking a bite. He beat the shit out of me for that...... It was still worth a try. ;)