Posted on 01/30/2008 5:22:41 AM PST by Red in Blue PA
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at mcall.com ...
Should I care?
Only if you care at all about your fellow man.
These people are not terrorists, and do not deserve to be eating dirt. If you cannot see that and actually need that to be pointed out to you, then I cannot help you.
One more thing.
The USA gives hundreds of mills to the PA which overtly supports terrorism, which innocent people in OUR OWN HEMISPHERE are eating dirt.
Something is seriously wrong with that picture.
I read about it yesterday. They eat dirt along with shortening and sugar in a regular cookie. It probably has more to do with ignorance than being poor.
Is this a lefty paper or more centrist?
The end results of big government nanny state socialism.
These liberals are so dependent on the governmet, they can’t even feed themselves without the food being handed to them.
I guess the government didn’t give her a condom either.
Hillarys utopia.
Not sure what your angle is... are you saying the US should be buying them food? If so, I disagree, just as I disagree with a lot of the aid we give foreign countries. If you’re approacing it from a humanitarian / charity (read: NON-gov’t) then I couldn’t agree more.
Actually, read the article.
It has to do with economics. Nobody CHOOSES to eat dirt.
Thank you Bill Clinton for the Haitian misery.
Re: The end results of big government nanny state socialism.
Huh?
Haiti has no social security, nor welfare, nor unemployment benefits.
Do you have any idea at all what you are talking about?
How conservative of you, sir...you must REALLY be a Mitt Romney fan!
No angle at all.
But if you think people eating dirt is perfectly acceptable, that speaks volumes about yourself.
It’s heart wrenching. That, and the fact that North Koreans are eating grass.
It’s all because of politics - corrupt, selfish, power-hungry leaders in those backward Hell-holes, and apathy on the part of the rest of the world’s politicians.
Apparently Paris Hilton is more important, according to the “news” media.
One day this world will be run right. Come, Lord Jesus!
I don’t want to see anyone hungry but Haiti is a hodge podge of corruption ineptness and thuggery.
Billions have been dropped on the country in the form of international aid to no avail.
This basket case is a lost cause as is Africa. Doesn’t matter how much aid is given it is wasted or stolen.
I’ve lost any hope for Haiti.
Also I have met several Haitians from the higher class there and they are hard working good folks but the vast majority are woefully ignorant and uneducated and pathetic.
THAT’S cold
Re: the vast majority are woefully ignorant and uneducated and pathetic.
One could say the same about the corrupt ruling class of that country.
Charlene shares a two-room house with her baby, five siblings and two unemployed parents
No mention of father,or birth control maybe a shipment of condoms would be better?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.