Trenton Daniel

Adoption can be controversial.  In the case of Haiti, many orphanges are poorly managed and with little oversight.  Major challenges are a lack of livelihoods and access to family planning information and commodities.  Many children in orphanages are not really orphans as they have parents - albeit parents that could not afford them.  Trention Daniel notes Haiti is in the process of updating its adoption laws for the first time in 40 years.  This would being Haiti's adoption practices closer to international standards. 

While fragile politically, Haiti is much safer than media coverage suggests.  Any violent crime mainly takes place in Port au Prince.  Even there, homicide rates are decreasing (now at 3 per 100,000 people in three selected areas) vs. 52 per 100,000 people in Jamaica, generally viewed as a favorable tourism destination.  Even Costa Rica has a higher rate than Haiti at 11 homicides per 100,000 people.  Below is an article by Trenton Daniel on the decreasing homicide rate in Haiti's largest city.  To court investment and tourism, Haiti needs to rebrand itself as historically, culturally, and artisticly rich as well as safe.

Last week, Trenton Daniel wrote an article highlighting malnutrition and hunger in Haiti’s neglected rural areas.  Over the long term, the countryside needs agricultural modernization, better environmental management, and roads to move crops to regional markets.  Haiti first has to make it through hurricane season which began May 1st.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) anticipates an above normal hurricane season with a 70 percent chance of 12 to 18 named storms, including 6 to 10 hurricanes.  Storms put lives, crops, and infrastructure in Haiti at risk.