Book Review – Travesty in Haiti: A true account of Christian missions, orphanages, fraud, food aid and drug trafficking. By Timothy T. Schwartz, Ph.D.

Travesty in Haiti, written by Timothy T. Schwartz, Ph.D., recounted several instances of corruption in the island nation, relating to several factors, among them, food aid, orphanages, and drugs.  Using first-hand experiences from his many trips to Haiti, primarily during the 1990s, he anecdotally shares his experiences with the reader in a very witty manner.

Keywords: Haiti, missionaries, orphanages, fraud, food aid, drug trafficking

 

Travesty in Haiti, written by Timothy T. Schwartz, Ph.D., recounted several instances of corruption in the island nation, relating to several factors, among them, food aid, orphanages, and drugs.  Using first-hand experiences from his many trips to Haiti, primarily during the 1990s, he anecdotally shares his experiences with the reader in a very witty manner.

 

Although Dr. Schwartz’s text cites powerful statistics, which highlight the country’s educational and economic inadequacies, several of them are extremely old, dating back to the early 1980s and beyond.  This is surprising, given that the book was published in December, 2009.  Given the rampant misspellings and grammar errors sprinkled throughout the text, it is hoped that the manuscript is currently in draft form, and these shortfalls will be corrected in further editions.

 

This book, published approximately three weeks prior to the major earthquakes that shook Haiti to its core, provides critical discussions, which now have a renewed sense of relevance.  As of today, two missionaries are jailed in Haiti, accused of kidnapping 33 children.  The missionaries, originating from a Baptist church in Idaho, claimed that they were transporting the orphaned children to a temporary shelter in the bordering Dominican Republic; however, upon investigation, it was found that more than 20 of the children still had at least one parent living (Cook, 2010).

 

In Travesty in Haiti, Dr. Schwartz devotes an entire chapter to “Orphans with Parents and Other Scams That Bilk U.S. Churchgoers (p. 123), which outlines such practices.  According to the author, such scams continue to run rampant in Haiti, and one can infer that after the natural disaster, they will proliferate at a rapid pace.  Thus, the author provides the reader with a glimpse into the country’s recent past, as well as a taste of what may be to come.

 

Later in the chapter, the author recounts a case of a French woman named Nurse Matt, who allegedly “[took] children and they were never heard from again (p. 145).”  Nurse Matt would convince poor families that she would take good care of their five- to six-year-old children, and pay them large sums of money.  The children were then sent to live with a family in France, and never came back to Haiti.  According to Dr. Schwartz, 30 to 40 children were trafficked by Nurse Matt.  She was not the only person who utilized this practice, thus this was, and continues to be an epidemic in Haiti, as well as several other countries in the world.

 

The author further states that many of the children in one particular orphanage that he visited were not, indeed, from poor families.  Some of these children had parents who were wealthy doctors.  This further illustrates the scam perpetuated by corrupt missionaries, as well as certain greedy families.  However, it is important for the reader to realize that, unlike what can be inferred from the author’s recounting, not all families in Haiti participate in such negative, unethical behaviors.

 

In Chapter Ten, the author describes the “Disconnected Directors and the Arrogant Haitian Elite,” the latter of which whose apathy and condescending behaviors have historically been engrained in the Haitian culture.  The author portrays the Haitian elite as well-educated and refined individuals, who are ignorant to the plight of the poor, and turn up their noses at their struggles.  He tells the story of Rose, a 28-year-old domestic worker, who is grossly underpaid, and heartbreakingly struggles to provide for her family, although she has not seen them in over two years. 

 

One major shortcoming of Dr. Schwartz’s text is that he seems to over-generalize Haitians, and expects them to fall into one of two neat little categories: the arrogant, corrupt “haves” of the elite, whose vanity and greed has brought them to reinstate a form of slavery in the nation; and the “have-nots,” the poor, annoying, corrupt peasants of the island nation.  While even some Haitians agree that Dr. Schwartz may not be completely off-base, there are shades of gray that do not seem to be visible in the author’s spectrum.  There are some Haitians who are working for change, although many Americans refuse to realize it, and seem to think that Haitians must be rescued from themselves.  However, Dr. Schwartz does approach the realization that United States intervention has caused more harm than good in the island nation.

 

In Chapter 7, “The American Plan: How to Destroy an Agricultural Economy,” Schwartz discusses how the United States had intended for Haiti to be the “Taiwan of the Caribbean (p. 109),” meaning to train farmers as factory workers.  This would effectively eliminate the agricultural industry in the country, something which would completely undermine the country’s economy.  It did, leading to the declining of the per-capita GDP in the nation.  This, along with oppressive dictatorships, was one factor that led to a mass migration from Haiti to the United States, which included members of the elite, and professionals, causing a major “brain-drain” in the country, beginning in the 1960s.

 

In addition, Schwartz discusses how international food aid has continued to cripple the country’s agricultural system, by arriving at times when it has not been needed.  For example, during the trade embargo in the 1990s, food aid was needed in the country, because people were starving.  However, aid did not arrive until after the embargo was lifted.  When the aid arrived, it was often stolen, and sold to the public, thereby flooding the market, and lowering the price of goods.  Farmers, who once thrived, fell into poverty, and many people resorted to the drug trade in order to make a living.

 

Chapter 14, “Colombia and the Drug Trade to the Rescue,” details exactly that, a time when many honest, hard-working individuals turned to selling drugs in order to escape from poverty.  The previous chapter ended with how some Colombian drug lords introduced cocaine into Haiti one night, and how a radio DJ announced one night that Haitians now had the opportunity to, “go to sleep poor and wake up rich (p. 222)!”  Many people did just that, and changed the course of their lives by selling cocaine, and becoming instantly wealthy.  Schwartz ends the narrative with this chapter, citing pressure to get involved in the drug trade as the major reason why he left Haiti to return to the United States.  The final thought is left by his friend, as he muses, “Pa gen benefits nan chanjman anko (There is no longer any profit in change).”

 

This text was very useful in discovering what problems have plagued Haiti in the not-so-distant past.  Schwartz portrays remarkable analytical insight in this text, and it would be a valuable asset not only to those who have an interest in Haiti, but to anyone studying the Caribbean, or other developing regions.  Many of the problems identified are not unique to Haiti, and can provide information as to problems occurring in other areas.

 

However, in the future, more research can be conducted on how to remedy these ills, to have a fairer world, overall.  The impact of these issues is overarching, and affects the entire world.  As globalization makes countries affairs’ more inter-related, it is important to work in each nation towards equality and social justice. 

 

According to the United Nations, “Extreme poverty and the suffering it entails affect a large proportion of humankind, and major efforts by Governments and international organizations to reduce or eradicate poverty have thus far failed to produce the desired results (United Nations, p. 1).”  Thus, we have a long way to go in the struggle for human rights, nationwide.  Schwartz’s work was a step in the right direction, in terms of documenting the social and economic ills, in existence in Haiti and other parts of the world.  Further research must be conducted, from a value-free standpoint, on ways to remedy the inequalities and suffering that he described.

 

Critical Reflection

I chose Travesty in Haiti to review, because of my interest in Haiti.  With this as my ethnic background, I had this region in mind as my area of research, long before my doctoral studies at George Mason.  Since I was an undergraduate student at Howard, I have been researching and writing about Haitian current events.  In doing so, I was following in the footsteps of my parents, who have been heavily involved in writing about social justice in Haiti since before I was born.

 

My freshman year of undergrad, in a class about American government, I was further encouraged by my fellow Haitian professor to pursue this area, and it was in his class that I wrote my first paper on Haiti: U.S. foreign policy towards Haiti, 1991-1994.  Since then, I have written several other papers about Haitian-American relations, the bulk of which have been written during my current stint as a George Mason doctoral student.

 

Very early on in my coursework, I settled on my proposed research topic for my dissertation, which deals with the challenges faced by Haitian youth when entering United States public schools.  I was semi-familiar with this area, having experienced the American school system.  Although I was born and raised in the United States, I did face some cultural difficulties, and oftentimes felt like an “other,” because of both my race as a Black person, and my ethnicity as a Haitian American, while attending predominantly Caucasian schools through high school.  Thus, I could somewhat understand the psychological impact of the marginalization that may be experienced by immigrant youth. 

 

Of course, I had an easier experience, because English, French, and Haitian Creole were simultaneously my first languages, so I did not have to navigate linguistic barriers.  In addition, having lived in the same geographic region of the United States my entire life, I did not experience culture shock.  The closest I experienced was self-imposed, when I went to a predominantly Black university, Howard, for undergraduate and graduate school.

 

Schwartz’s text helped me to get a feel for things that were going on in Haiti.  I’ve never lived, or even visited, the country from which my ancestors came.  Unfortunately, the political situation has never allowed for that.  So, this book was very interesting, because it shed light on things that are going on within the country.  While reading it, as I stated before, it was important to keep in mind that the author of the book was an outsider looking in, and that his recounting would be subjective, as anyone else’s would. 

 

At first, the text infuriated me, because I felt as though it was playing into several long-held stereotypes about Haitians by Americans, perpetuated generally through the media.  He portrayed all the Haitians he came across as greedy, evil, and selfish.  However, when talking to my mother about how the book made me feel, she told me that there is some truth to Schwartz’s work.  Although not every single person fits into his portrayal, corruption does run rampant in the country, from Haitians, Americans, and other nationalities.

 

Haiti is not perfect.  The United States is not perfect.  There is no perfect country on this planet.  However, it is the duty of each country’s citizens and members of the Diaspora to work on equality and social justice.  Just as my parents continue to write in order to try to raise awareness, I will do the same.  This is necessary for change.  Hopefully through our work, and the work of others, one day, this change will be realized in Haiti, and throughout the world.

 

Works Cited

Cook, L. a. (2010, February 24). Jailed missionaries could be released. Retrieved February 24, 2010,                          from CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/24/jailed.haiti.missionaries/index.html?                iref=allsearch

 

Schwartz, T. (2009). Travesty in Haiti: A true account of Christian missions, orphanages, fraud, food aid                      and drug trafficking. Lexington, KY: self-published.

 

Thomas, M. (in publication). Clerise of Haiti. Miami, FL.