I'm going to go meet up with a guy named Jerry.
He's a graffiti artist, a very renowned graffiti artist.
There was a massive earthquake here in 2010.
Devastation in Haiti, stunned victims of the earthquake.
We are just now beginning to learn the extent of the devastation.
The entire world mobilized to send people to help.
Quite a few naval vessels are now anchored off Port-au-Prince from countries which are sending in relief supply.
There are 10,000 NGOs, non-governmental organizations,
here in Haiti. Ten thousand. Drive around town and you see tons of
international organization vehicles: UN vehicles, European organizations, American organizations.
Haiti's known as the "Republic of aid NGOs". Only a fraction
of that money went into the government, to help with long-term relief and things
like that. So it's the private organizations, these NGOs who are doing
really great work, but they're the ones who are taking on a lot of these
services, these services that typically a government would be responsible for.
We just had this interesting discussion about what foreign aid means for this country.
Jerry's now kind of thinking through what he wants to symbolize this as on the wall.
Gathering crowd here watching Jerry do his work.
We always represent Haiti as a beautiful lady.
The guy was about to steal the flag, and Haiti said no.
Keep your money, I have my flag.
I will figure out with our Haitian people, how we can
solve the problem. And now, when we have solved the
problem, we will call you to help us.
One of the weird side industries that has cropped up because of this NGO bubble,
is the demand for fixers, translators, and drivers, that pay really well.
Instead of getting a job that contributes to the broader society,
you have people who are saying
"man, I could make a ton of money if I just became a translator for a U.N. person".
And so you have this huge burgeoning industry: local Haitians who are choosing
to support the NGO bubble, as opposed to something that might
help the long-term development of this country.
These groups are doing amazing work, with education, with health, with food assistance
where there is a huge need, here in Haiti. The big critique is
that: this is a band-aid. They're here helping day to day, but in the process
they're hindering the development of the broader institutions, the institutions that
are going to be here for decades, the government forces that are supposed to
be the ones providing these services.