Maggie's Farm

A temp worker I had was a Haitian immigrant. Her father was in the government some 20 years ago, during a coup when she was about 6 or 7, they fled the country. She had nothing but a doll and the clothes on her back, and left several family members behind.
The family members are in health care, nurses. She stays in contact with them. I asked her what was going on down there, and she said it's a mess, though mostly it's a mess in the larger towns and cities. Kidnapping and murder as gangs roam and impose their will.

She's a very smart girl, as is her father. He opened a restaurant and is now about 86 (she being the youngest child). But she increasingly has no interest in returning. She often laments that Haiti is as much a victim of its own bad decisions as it is being put upon by France after the slave revolt. The French reparations were punitive and kept Haiti poverty-stricken for many years. While there were moments Haiti managed to start to see some light on the horizon throughout its history - some event (manmade or otherwise) would snuff out that opportunity.

She wishes things could be different, but is happy to be living here and having the opportunities she has. But she feels awful for her native home and wishes there was a way to get people to 'fix' what's broken.

She points out that initiatives from private groups have largely fallen short because they are pushing unwelcome and unneeded agendas, and found groups like the Clinton Foundation to be ultimately useless and bordering on dangerous - doing great damage to their society and economy.