It's pretty much guaranteed that you're going to get
this question if you are thinking of traveling to Haiti
with Family Health Ministries. A June 2008 article in the Christian Science Monitor dispels this myth that Haiti is worse than the
rest of the world. (Read the entire article at http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0620/p04s01-woam.html .)
Unfortunately, Haiti's negative image has devastated
its tourism industry. In fact Haiti is safer than many
other places in Latin America where Americans visit regularly. Of
course, Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital, is a
large and sprawling city, but no more dangerous that other cities in its
league.
Even if you don't go to Haiti, you can share the fact
that one measure, the homicide rate, shows that Haiti is safer than the US as well as other places in the
Caribbean.
Haiti |
5.6 / 100,000 |
United States |
5.7 / 100,000 |
New York |
>6 / 100,000 |
Dominican Republic |
24 / 100,000 |
Washington, DC |
29 / 100,000 |
Caribbean average |
30 / 100,000 |
New Orleans |
38 / 100,000 |
Detroit |
43 / 100,000 |
Baltimore |
47 / 100,000 |
Jamaica |
49 / 100,000 |
Miami |
74 / 100,000 |
Other voices from the Christian
Science Monitor article:
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"It's a big myth," says Fred Blaise,
spokesman for the UN police force in Haiti. "Port-au-Prince is no more
dangerous than any big city. You can go to New York and get pick
pocketed and held at gunpoint. The same goes for cities in Mexico or
Brazil."
-
"There is not a large amount of violence
[in Haiti]," argues Gen. Jose Elito Carvalho Siquiera, the Brazilian
former commander of the UN force in Haiti. "If you compare the levels of
poverty here with those of São Paolo or other cities, there is more
violence there."
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"The worst that has happened was being
pick pocketed during Carnival, but that could happen anywhere," said
Katherine Smith, a young
ethnographer who has been traveling to Haiti since 1999, traveling
to poor neighborhoods using public transportation.
"How little I've been targeted is remarkable given how visible I am."
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"It's so frustrating," says Jacqui Labrom,
a former missionary who has organized guided tours of Haiti since 1997.
"f we didn't have such bad press, it would make such a difference."
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