Due to the massive earthquake that has taken the lives of thousands of people and eradicated the government’s capacity of organising and regulating life on the island, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest countries in the developing world. With only two ministries still standing after the quake, Haiti is now facing grave problems with political instability, corruption and many other reasons why this country is trapped in the poverty cycle (Poverty in Haiti: Aid, Earthquakes & Imperialism, 2013).
One of the reasons why Haiti is poor is the lack of education. According to BorgenProject.org, only fifty percent of children living in Haiti are able to go to school, while 30 percent of them only progress
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Haiti’s slave labour was the most brutal in the Caribbean. Not only did the slaves work long days under tremendously unsafe conditions, the concept of forced cheap labour was passed on even after winning the independence from France in 1804 (Corbett, 1989). The French system allowed some slaves to win their freedom by doing exceptional work that increased the productivity of slaves but only a few managed to earn their freedom. Nowadays, people have no choice but to become bonded labourers when they are demanded as repayment for a loan. Once in debt, the person loses all control over their conditions of work and they are forced work for long hours and receive very little or no pay. This is called debt bondage and it forces families to sell their belongings in order to buy medical treatments (Debt bondage in the world: an underestimated and forgotten …show more content…
The lack of governance has affected the country over history. As stated in Worldbank.org, the “corruption and misuse of public funds have resulted in a decline in the quality of all public services, including fundamental areas of traditional governmental responsibility, such as the police, the justice system, and the provision of basic infrastructure” (Worldbank, 2015). Without a stable government, attention and investment in the basic needs, control over the negative behaviour of people and a growth in the economy, the Haitians will not be able to get out of the poverty trap. Poverty will not be wiped out in the absence of a strong