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Critical Path Foundation provides life saving support to thousands of severely impoverished children throughout the Caribbean Region. Our primary humanitarian efforts are focused on Haiti and the islands of the Bahamas.
We have been working on the ground in Haiti for the past ten years and experienced first-hand the deep human suffering here. The truth is impossible to ignore. With 80% unemployment; 70% illiteracy; no health care; no public sanitation; limited access to clean water; out of control violence; the highest infant mortality in the western hemisphere; pervasive malnutrition; widespread homelessness; millions of orphans and abandoned children — Haiti has become a completely dysfunctional and economically broken country.
The incompetence and pervasive corruption of government officials at every level coupled with the widespread misappropriation of billions of dollars of international humanitarian aid, have trapped the Haitian people for decades in a perpetual state of squalor, dependence and despair. There is no way out for millions of these suffering people. It will take extreme measures to eliminate the pervasive government corruption and establish a uniform and accountable system of justice in the country. Most people recognize that without competent leadership and a clear plan for improved education, public health, increased employment opportunities, there is no hope for Haiti.
Millions of Haitians cannot find even meager work to feed their families, and are forced to survive on hand-outs from NGOs. Hundreds of thousands of these peaceful and humble people are extremely desperate to find a better life. Untold numbers are willing to risk everything to escape their living hell here. Thousands attempt the treacherous journey in small wooden boats across shark infested waters north to the Bahamas. Those who survive and land on one of the Bahamas Out Islands, arrive with nothing--no money, no food, no shelter, no documents — only their faith and will to survive. The refugee camps and slums of Abaco and Nassau are filled with frightened refugees who have no legal status or place to go. The innocent and suffering children trapped in these deathly conditions are the primary focus of our mission at Critical Path Foundation.
The billions of dollars of foreign aid donated to Haiti over the past 10 years has been more than sufficient to completely transform and rebuild the nation, and give every Haitian a chance at life. The single missing factor has been accountable servant government.
Critical Path Foundation is operated by volunteers who give their time and resources freely to protect and care for orphans and abandoned children living in extreme poverty in the Caribbean Region. We receive no compensation for our work. We deliver food, clothing, medical care, clean water and other critical support to children in need, and operate with complete transparency and accountability to those who financially support our mission. 100% of the donated funds we receive goes directly to the care and support of children in desperate need.
We are grateful to our corporate sponsors, Clearwater Holdings (Bahamas) Ltd. and PureH2O, Ltd. (www.pureh2ocaribbean.com), and the many people who have provided encouragement and support of our mission over the years. We pray that God’s favor will be upon you.
If you would like to learn more about our mission at Critical Path Foundation we welcome your inquiries.
Following is an article which summarizes the conditions that continue in Haiti.
Charles P. Beall
Chairman
Critical Path Foundation
Global Crisis Response For Children
501(c)3 U.S. Licensed Humanitarian Organization
Atlanta, Georgia USA
Nassau, The Bahamas
website: criticalpathfoundation.com
email: info@criticalpathfoundation.com
242.327.3541 (Bah)
770.904.1426 (U.S.)
Haiti plays host to over 10,000 NGOs, whose foreign workers make up an affluent class of their own.
By Nathalie Baptiste
(Photo: French embassy in Haiti / Flickr)
The devastating earthquake that struck Haiti five years ago was followed by a flood, as billions of dollars were poured into a reconstruction effort largely led by private non-governmental organizations.
Almost immediately, Haitians, activists, and well-wishing donors the world over began to ask: “Where did the money go?”
In 2015, ProPublica and NPR released a report on exactly where some of that money went. The headline — “How the Red Cross Raised Half a Billion Dollars for Haiti ¬and Built Six Homes” — neatly summed up the beloved charity’s big-picture failures in the country. But perhaps the most damning parts of the report concerned the Red Cross’ over-reliance on non-Haitian employees, who were highly compensated despite often not even speaking the local Creole or French.
While many Americans were rightly shocked, most Haitians just nodded knowingly. “The Red Cross has always been like that,” my mother said to me the day the report was released. “They pay people a lot of money so they can vacation.” International organizations that go to Haiti to “help” often spend a lot of aid money on overhead that doesn’t go toward helping anyone.
For example, ProPublica and NPR unearthed internal budget documents for a Red Cross housing project in Campeche. The project manager position, which is reserved for an expatriate, received allowances for housing, food, home leave trips, four vacations a year, and relocation expenses. All of these totaled a whopping $140,000. The top local position, by contrast — a Haitian senior engineer — earned just $42,000.
The Red Cross isn’t alone in hiring expensive expatriate staff. According to the Center for Global Development, high overhead costs are par for the course for many international NGOs. A single staff member at an organization in Haiti can earn $200,000 each year in salary.
With an estimated 10,000 non-governmental organizations operating in the country, it’s no surprise that Haiti is often referred to as the republic of NGOs. Among Haitians, expatriates who work for these organizations have become known as the “NGO class.” They live comfortably in the well-to-do suburb of Petionville in the hills above Port-au-Prince. Expensive grocery stores and restaurants cater to their tastes. Down below, many Haitians struggle to survive.
Among locals, widespread unemployment cripples economic growth and further exacerbates poverty. According to the CIA World Factbook, 40.6 percent of Haitians are unemployed, although there’s wide participation in the informal economy. With the jobless epidemic in Haiti, job creation should be a priority for NGOs. Instead, they’re often part of the problem.
After the earthquake, for example, many aid organizations outsourced the rebuilding of homes — which might have presented good work opportunities for poor Haitians — to international firms. “Outsourcing the construction drove the price up,” explained Jake Johnston in the Boston Review, “since international companies had to fly in, rent hotels and cars, and spend USAID allowances for food and cost-of-living expenses.” The U.S. government also gave contractors and employees danger and hardship pay, which increased their salaries by more than 50 percent.
The bonanza paid big dividends for for-profit firms as well as NGOs. The CEO of Chemonics International — a for-profit development firm that received the largest Haiti contracts from USAID — received a $2.5 million bonus last year.
By spending exorbitant sums on incentives for non-locals, NGOs effectively undermine the work they’re supposedly trying to do in Haiti. Shelim Dorval, a Haitian employee for the Red Cross, explained to ProPublica and NPR the problem with hiring expatriates. “For each one of those expats, they were having high salaries, staying in a fancy house, and getting vacation trips back to their countries. A lot of money was spent on those people who were not Haitian, who had nothing to do with Haiti. The money was just going back to the United States.”
These practices don’t just make for unseemly accounting — they make for abysmal outcomes. It’s how you wind up building six houses for half a billion dollars. Foreigners who come to Haiti with little to no knowledge about the culture, the language, or history can’t work effectively with locals to provide them with relief, shelter, or food, much less with jobs.
NGOs have permeated every aspect of life in Haiti. Because they provide 80 percent of basic services in the country, it’s imperative they operate in an ethical, equitable, and financially sound manner. Including Haitians in the rebuilding process could provide extensive employment for Haitians desperately in need.
Non-governmental organizations should partner with local Haitian groups, which will lead true sustainable development. And maybe they’ll actually get some homes built.
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